We're Rolling Now

The parts for the slip roll showed up - sprockets, hubs and collars. They're sitting on a piece of 3/4" plate that will be the end pieces. I've got my lay-out done but still need to drill some holes before heading off to the college and the track burner. 

That's a piece of 3" channel behind the plate. That's going to be the base. I found a mistake in the plans while laying out the holes in the channel. The print calls for holes 2-5/8" on center but the mating part has holes 2-1/4" on center. Not that big of a deal but glad I found it before I made the mating pieces and had to backtrack.

The plans call for two pieces of angle welded to the ends of the channel to fasten it down to the benchtop. However, that means the handle has to stick out an extra 1-1/2" to clear the angle and the shaft the handle mounts to is only 1/2" in diameter. That's going to be a little "spindly" so I'm going to weld clip angles on the front and rear to bolt it down allowing me to shorten up the shaft for the handle. I'll probably just shorten it an inch which will also give me a bit more clearance when working the handle so I don't whack a knuckle.

Since bench top space is at a premium, I think I'll drill a couple more holes in the channel so I can bolt on a mount that will fit in my vise or I could make something to bolt up to the frame I made for my shear and bender.

I made this frame to accommodate my Hossfeld style bender, stake plate, tubing bender, and Beverly style shear. Normally I keep the bender and shear bolted up at the same time. If I rig something up for the roll to bolt to this, I'll have to unbolt everything else and then bolt the other tools back on when finished. Plus, I'll have an issue with the handle unless I make the roll with the handle on the left side. Don't think that will work good. First off I'm right handed, secondly I've broken my left wrist twice over the years and it I'm pretty sure it would complain if I put it to work on roll duty. Looks like that's out then. Always good to talk it out before jumping in. I'll see about some sort of bracket to clamp it in the vise when I get it finished. That's what I do with my bead roller and that works OK.

Anyway, progress is being made. Cold weather's back so I don't know how much I'll get done in the next few days. Cold like single digits and negative numbers at night. That takes the fun out of working in the shop unless I want to run the heater all day. which I don't. I'll just take it day by day and see what happens.