Harbor Freight bead roller mods

[screamin_c10]

As many of you know the HF bead roller is a good starting point if you want to build an inexpensive bead roller. For ~80.00 you get the frame, shafts, gears, a crank handle, and an assortment of dies. The 18" deep throat design and pure Chinesium construction allows the main frame to twist when rolling beads on thicker gauge materials. Out of the box it works well for thin aluminum.

I had four goals for this tool:

1. Single man operation, which meant motorizing it with a speed and directional control.
2. Reinforcing the main frame to eliminate flex and twist.
3. Automating some of the features and making the set-points repeatable.
4. Building in a modular "quick connect" stand mount so it can be interchanged with other stand mounted heavy tools such as a tubing bender, etc.

After unpacking and assembling it I decided to start my installing a HF 110V winch motor I had picked up for this purpose. The most difficult part of this mod was connecting the motor to the drive shaft.

I'm a pack rat and tend to keep parts laying around for re-purposing. I happened to have a SBC timing chain hanging on the wall that fit the bill.
After pulling the cable spool off the winch I found that the shaft was a 5/8 hex. I grabbed a cheap six point socket and welded it into the crank sprocket of the TC set, slid it over the winch shaft and voila...
The crank handle was removed from the collar and a nut welded in, then I simply bolted the top sprocket on.

More to follow: