# Forum Home Renovation Metalwork & Welding  DIY roller

## PlatypusGardens

Put this together today.
A bit crude but it works. 
Work in progress   
Note the removable/extendable handle.
Socket welded to the roller and extension shafts for crank handle   
No bearings, just bushes and a bit of grease.   
Does 7-8mm easy.
Will do 10mm with a bit of effort.    
I'll take some more pix tomorro

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## ringtail

Crude is good. Simple machines  :Wink:

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## PlatypusGardens

Yep.   :Smilie:   
Need to take some of the slop out of the roller with the crank.
Also thinking of welding a socket on to the end of the threaded bar so I can use a ratchet handle to tighten it.    :Biggrin:

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## PlatypusGardens

I made this ball (about 800mm tall) from the rings from some old crabpots which were beyond repair.      
Hoping to be able to roll 10mm bar and make some big heavy balls!   :Shock:

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## Marc

Good stuff! It looks like it would take more than 10 mm !

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## PlatypusGardens

> Good stuff! It looks like it would take more than 10 mm !

  
Mmm only problem is the rollers pinch and jam a bit when tightening it too much.
A 2-plate setup with tube over bearings and everything a bit more secure would probably work a bit better for thicker stuff.   :Smilie:

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## PlatypusGardens

A bit better now.
Mocked up a bearing support for the top rollers which keeps them more in line.
Also added the socket and ratchet handle to the threaded rod so I can tighten it more and easier.

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## Marc

That looks beefy enough to roll the springs of your trailer back in shape ...  :Smilie:

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## PlatypusGardens

Still having a bit of trouble with the rollers slipping/grabbing every now and then.
But getting closer.
Might need to roughen up the roller with the crank.
It's very smooth and shiny, not much grip.  
just rolled some 10mm round and it was a lot easier with the bearing support up top.
Also got rid of some of the slop in the other roller by changing things around a bit.  
A few more little things to fix up.

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## PlatypusGardens

Ended up replacing the main roller with a bit of tube and bearings inside.
Had to work the rod a bit with the flap disc to get it down to size, all worked out in the end. 
Huge improvement.
Idler bearing on top of the other two rollers also helps.
They may well get replaced with tube and bearings as well at some point.      :2thumbsup:

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## Uncle Bob

Pretty good PG.
I take it, that it's pretty quite on the gardening front  :Biggrin:  Maybe that's due to the mobile number being wrong on the website I found  :Wink:

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## PlatypusGardens

> Pretty good PG.
> I take it, that it's pretty quite on the gardening front  Maybe that's due to the mobile number being wrong on the website I found

  
Um...which website would that be?   :Unsure:   
Maybe you got the wrong platypus....

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## phild01

Yes, I noticed quite a few platypuses out there when I went looking, you'd think they'd be trademark suing each other :Smilie:

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## PlatypusGardens

> Yes, I noticed quite a few platypuses out there when I went looking, you'd think they'd be trademark suing each other

  
It's funny, you know, I've always had a soft spot for the platypus, mostly because it's such a weird creature.
"And on the 7th day God was hungover and created the platypus, giraffe, ant eater and a few other strange looking creatures"  :Rofl:   
Anyway, it must have been at least 15 years ago, when we were still living in The UK, when I thought that if I ever start my own business I'll call it Platypus Gardens.
Little did I know I'd end up in one of the areas known for the platypus haha.   
Anyway, the roller is more or less sorted now.
Made a bracket and clamp for attaching it to the bench.

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## PlatypusGardens

Poifick   :2thumbsup:

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## Marc

That is a good size bender PG ... 
You could have a groove/s in the roller for round, or for square and flat on the edge. Also some sort of border on the rollers to stop flat bar to come out sideways when on the flat. 
Yes, there seems to be your website and then green platypus gardens and then platypus landscaping.
No giraffe gardens though ...  :Biggrin:

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## PlatypusGardens

> That is a good size bender PG ... 
> You could have a groove/s in the roller for round, or for square and flat on the edge. Also some sort of border on the rollers to stop flat bar to come out sideways when on the flat.

  Looks smaller in the scheme of things hey.   
Yeh a few little mods here and there to be done. 
I just rolled a bunch of 10mm bar to make a bigger ball, about 600mm dia.
Ideally I would have liked to roll a full circle but didn't have enough lengths of steel to do so, so had to try and make 8 matching half circles. 
A groove has formed in the big roller, but the round bar still wanders off at times.
A couple of little tabs here and there should take care of it. 
The ratchet handle for tightening the roller has proven useful.
I can work out how many turns to tighten it from the start and only have to roll each piece once.
(only figured this out on the second last piece I did...) 
My head is currently exploding with ideas and all the new stuff I can make haha. 
I think some flat bar balls for plants will be an idea.     

> Yes, there seems to be your website and then green platypus gardens and then platypus landscaping.
> No giraffe gardens though ...

  I set up my business when we lived in Perth and I think I was the only one there at the time.
A few more in this area though.
There's Platypus Timbers, Platypus tours or something and Platypus Dreams (home made soap I think) As well as a few other platy-things haha. 
So yeh, all of a sudden I'm not that original.
Ah well, it happens.    :Smilie:

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## Marc

I remember making scores of round balls for our shop made of flat bar. They were made with 3 circles, two one inside the other at 90 degree and the third as the equator if that makes sense. Then riveted together at the junction with solid rivets. We would hammer the flat bar with a texturing hammer, made by drilling lots of holes next to each other on the hammer's surface. A good clobbering on each side and the edges would give the steel the appearance of being corroded and pitted. Then a ballpeen hammer on an open vice would do what your machine does.

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## PlatypusGardens

Sounds good Marc. 
 Been thinking about doing a ball inside a bigger ball kinda setup for the hanging plant stands.  
As for the theory I had of replicating the same bend multiple times......that's a bit flawed haha.
Differences in the steel, not tightening the rollers exactly the same amount etc all makes for different curves.
Lucky this stuff is so soft and it's easy to do a bit of reshaping after. 
Especially if the bend is too tight it's easy to pull it back out a bit.     :Smilie:

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## Marc

When you use a bending machine, usually you need to do a few passes because of differences in the steel. Even when bending against a jig, you need to make corrections, unless you do it hot of course. Best is to do the first pass a bit large and then correct it. A home made machine will be a bit more fiddly but to buy one like that would cost a mint.

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## PlatypusGardens

Yeh it's all learning new stuff. 
My pulley bender is 99% accurate most of the time.
Sometimes the bar springs back a bit more when released tho.  
can't expect too much from gear built from scrap haha

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## Marc

I like this one, but would probably use it very little. Manual Roll Bender (R-M10) | Baileigh Industrial | Baileigh Industrial

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## PlatypusGardens

> to buy one like that would cost a mint.

  I'd hazard a guess and estimate that this (the roller) cost me about $10 in parts plus welding wire, gas etc.  
Dunno....had all the bits here already, all acquired at different scrapyard scavenging sessions.   :Smilie:

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## PlatypusGardens

> I like this one, but would probably use it very little. Manual Roll Bender (R-M10) | Baileigh Industrial | Baileigh Industrial

  
That's cool!
But you could build your own  :Wink:    
If I come across a bottle jack (and everything else required) one day I might make something like THIS!     
Actually....I probably have most of those things already haha.      :Smilie:

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