Do these rollers need to gave matching profiles, ie. one roller is concave, the other is convex, both with the same radius curve? I have in my junk box some self-aligning bearings that fit into a pressed metal housing. The outer shell of the bearing is convex and so would press down on the centre of the band and place no pressure on the outer edges. The only concern I have is for the other roller. Could it be made of something like hard rubber that would compress ever so slightly to take the shape of the steel roller? Varying the ammount of pressure applied to the steel roller would alter the depth of the indentation and so change the amount the blade was flattened, or perhaps over-flattened so that when the pressure is released the blade springs back to "flat", sort of like pushing a saw tooth just a fraction too far when you re-set the teeth.
Sounds good to me!
'Hilly,
I think what we have been able to gleam out of this thread is that the profile of the rollers is that the top one has a bead, and the bottom is flat. Several of the beading machines have a bead on top and matching profile for it, but the band roller is not like that, it's as shown in the pics.
The pics say it all, although hard to see, beggars can't be picky.:blush:
Seems that the bead rollers have what is needed by swapping top/bottom rollers with different sets. I was just looking at the
Beading Tool on the Harbor Freight site. Odd that they call it a metal fabrication tool, because if you download the manual they call it a beading tool.
This is very similar to what FJH got in Canada.
The Harbor Freight model I linked to has a 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" bead. From the looks of the profile of the Cooks band roller, the bead is bigger. But I don't think that would matter as long as the bead was round in profile.
Andy, can you measure the width of the bead, and the height of the bead? I think I can see the pics there pretty good, but not clear how the guide and/or adjustment works to determine how much of the blade will run through the roller? Can you try to explain that? I'd like to know the sizes on those pics, like the total diameter of the rollers, the width of the rollers, and the height and width of the top bead portion.
Thanks for your help.