Question:
I am looking for a bead roller, to roll flanges and beads into sheet
metal for auto restoration and hopefully for some sculpture or
furniture design. I do this strictly as a hobby, but it is one I take
seriously. I am trying to choose between a good quality US made
(Proformer) roller for $330, or a harbor freight bead roller, on sale
for $89. While the US made machine is definately of higher quality, I
am wondering if the HF model would meet my needs and hold up for
awhile. I avoid throw-away tools, but try not to spend more money
than I have to. If the HF model actually works and is of decent
quality, I would be happy to spend less money. Does anyone have
experience with this particular tool? Is it still working away in
your shop, or did it end up at the curb? BTW, the HF model comes with
a full set of dies, while the US made model comes with one. Dies are
$60 each.
Answer:
-when I have. The only minor complaint I have with it is that the edges on
the dies seem to be too sharp but since it's the only one I've ever used
there may be a reason for it that I'm not aware of.
The only other gotchas are that it's tough to keep the work straight so the
optional fence (I think it's about $30) would be a great help, plus it's
really tough to use by yourself. There's enough distance between the crank
and the rollers that it's a fight to work the crank while steering the
metal. Of course a motorized version would be even better so that's a
project on my todo list
-worked fer me. You can see an example on my MaXum website,
where I made a bead-rolled aluminum enclosure for the 1KW
genset I built for it.
See:http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth/gen.htm
