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Thread: Bead Roller

  1. #1
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    Default Bead Roller

    Has anybody got any experience with cheap bead rollers?

    I am designing a large tool chest build and plan on making the draws (~515x900mm) out of 1.3-1.5mm sheet steel. Most of the cheap bead rollers state a capacity of 1.2mm steel. Anybody know if 1.3mm can be put in it? Would 1.2mm drawers be strong enough? I will be putting a return on the 2 sides and probably using 3mm steel for the front and rear edges for strength (welded on as I do not have a finger brake). The beads in the bottom of the drawers was for extra rigidity.

  2. #2
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    1.2 should be plenty thick enough. Your biggest problem will not be strength but sag (deflection) in the middle of that drawer.

    Michael

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    Default

    Thats where the bead roller comes in.

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    If you can see the where the structural limitations of the bead roller are you probably could strengthen it to cope with thicker sheet.

  5. #5
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    If you’re going to roll strengthening ribs into it, 1mm will be sufficient.
    If you have a press, you can also achieve the same end result with a fairly rudimentary die set.


    If you want to bend them rather than weld them feel free to message me, I have all the machinery you would require, and I have some rec leave coming up.

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    Quote Originally Posted by racingtadpole View Post


    If you want to bend them rather than weld them feel free to message me, I have all the machinery you would require, and I have some rec leave coming up.
    It is so nice to see people making offers to fellow metalworkers like this.
    Rgds,
    Crocy.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by racingtadpole View Post
    If you’re going to roll strengthening ribs into it, 1mm will be sufficient....
    Hmmm that would save a heap of cash if I could go thinner. So you think rolling in some ribs on 1.3mm would be overkill? The returns and the front and rear 3mm should make the basic box strong so I think it is just a question of whether the drawer bottom will bow to much. Some drawers will have a compartment system fitted which will make it super rigid but probably not all of them.

    Thanks for the offer of the machines - greatly appreciated. I am currently designing up a metal brake for me to make. I find that 1 project leads to more and I enjoy building tooling (although I don't enjoy the cost!) that I then have for life.

    ...and you gotta love when the rec leave group comes round!!

  8. #8
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    What is the widest and length of your drawers, asking as this will assist in the correct thickness of sheet metal?
    If the widest of your drawers is to be say 500mm then with ribbing that should be sufficient on 1mm sheet. If on the other hand you want to go 750mm then a thicker metal would be beneficial. Another way to gain extra strength, would be to make the ribs deeper/higher, which may lead to making special rollers.
    Are you going full length with the Ribs? If going part way with the ribs, your sheet will need to be stretched, otherwise it WILL distort.
    I presume that you've seen a few you tubes on using a bead roller???
    Kryn
    To grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

  9. #9
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    What sort of weight are the draws expected to carry?

    I made some draws several years ago. The largest where 650w x 500d x 150h. Two of these draws carry about 50kgs each with no problems.

    They were made with 1.2 sheet, bend up in one piece on my home made dodgy sheet metal bender and welded in each corner. I was going to press in some groves with the press but never got around to it.
    There was a bit of a belly in the bottom of the draws but it has not been a real problem to date but I did leave enough distance between each draw.
    I would say that 900 span would not be to much of a problem with something rolled or pressed in the bottom to add strength and take out any bellying you might get.

    I have no direct experience H&F rollers but from what I have heard from some I know 1.2mm is very optimistic. One does 1mm and it was not to bad. The other trying to grove some 1.2mm said it has so slow as it took so long he gave up and went down to a sheetmetal shop and they did the job in an hour.

    Tony

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by KBs PensNmore View Post
    What is the widest and length of your drawers, asking as this will assist in the correct thickness of sheet metal?...
    Cheers Kryn. The drawers are 520 wide by 820 length and are either 46, 60 or 100mm in depth. The runners are rated to 45kg a pair so the drawers will not be expected to carry more than that. I was thinking about rolling a bead across the wide at say 150mm spacing and stopping the bead say 25mm from the side.

    From what Kryn and Tony have said of their experiences I am tempted to use 1.2mm without a bead (saves $500 on a roller).

    Kryn, not sure I understand why the sheet metal would need to be stretched before rolling? Will the beads I described above cause me issues when bending and welding?

  11. #11
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    For funsies last night I took a picture of my Kinchrome roll cab that is around the dimensions you’re making, and also put a mic on it to see what it was constructed from..

    Mic said 0.82mm finished with powder coat on both sides. Internet says average thickness of a layer of powder coat is .1mm so the steel is around 0.6mm. So with 45kg slides, 1mm would still be overkill.

    Strength in sheet metal generally comes from design over thickness of material (aerospace and Motorsport are the poster children for this). If you look at the picture there are two prominent features that allow the use of thin material. On the top the folding for the handle goes some way to preventing deflection, but they have backed it up by folding a small V profile into bottom where it attaches to the bottom of the drawer. A little feature that adds a lot of strength.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  12. #12
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    The idea of stretching the sheet first is to minimise any distortion, have added a link for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pteWv4-1mAU
    Instead of going to the expense of a bead roller, which might never see use again, you could fold a few "V"s, these could then be tacked to the floor inside the drawer. Short welds/tacks about 5mm long every 100mm will suffice to hold them in place.
    I know it's not as neat as a rolled bead, but made to run the full length of the drawer, they'd be hardly noticed.
    They can also act as dividers, so the tools will stay in that place.
    Kryn
    To grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

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    Thanks Kryn. I think a few folds of scrap make alot more sense than buying another new machine.

    That is really interesting Tpole. I can save myself $450 by using 1.15mm instead of 1.5mm!! Nice one.

  14. #14
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    I made myself a small tool box a while back out of 0.7mm (stainless). Worked alright, but that was darn heavy even at that thickness.
    May be worth getting some pieces of various thicknesses starting at say 0.6mm and going up, see what works. If you weld in stiffeners, you may be able to get away with something under 1mm.

    Michael

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    Keep in mind if you have 45kg slides, you don’t want to use the entire payload of them on the drawer itself

    1.2mm MS sheet is about 9.5kg/m2 you’ll eat around 20-25% of your slide capacity

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