Stock Roller Stand

Updated 8/10/2006

Here's a stock roller stand just completed, but started eons ago. This is designed to be used with my metal cutting band saw for stock support. It was built in three stages, so to speak, with the first part being the roller heads. They were built about 20 years ago and just laid around collecting rust and dirt. After running across a couple of old CRT stands a couple of years ago, I got the urge to work on the stand again, cut the CRT base tube to height and turned a piece of 1-1/4" pipe for a smooth slip fit inside the stand tube. Then other projects got in the way and the project was put on the back burner again. Now, it's finally complete. Wow! Now that's a long term project! A shame too, because I could have used it a thousand times between it's conception and completion....now I need to build it's twin! Another 20 years?

The CRT stand came from an old drafting computer system and was on it's way to the junk pile when I spotted it. I have 3 just alike, and will build another roller stand from one of the two remaining.

I built 2 roller heads many years ago from scraps and salvage I had laying around. The cross piece is made from a 10-1/8" piece of 1"x1"x1/8" angle iron milled square on the ends. Two pieces of 1"x1/4"x3-1/2" bar were welded on the ends of the angle iron(V facing up). A piece of 1-1/2" steel tubing was cut for the roller and the ends machined square. The ID of the tubing was about 1-3/8", and I had some 15mm ID x 35mm OD bearings that would press fit nicely in the ends. I had some 15mm shafting to fit, probably from the same salvage as the bearings. One end of each shaft had an 8mm threaded end about 1/2" long that I left. The shaft was machined to length and a 5/16"-18 thread was tapped in the end opposite the 8mm threaded end. The shaft mounting holes were drilled in the uprights and 1/16" washers are used as spacers to center the roller in the support frame.

The 1-3/4" OD vertical tube on the stand was cut so it was 20" high when pressed in the base. The ID of the tube was 1-5/8", so a piece of 1-1/4" schedule 40 pipe was machined square to 16" length and a slight 60° chamfer machined in each end. This was then mounted between centers and machined to 1.62" OD for a nice slide fit in the stand vertical tube. The roller heads were clamped on the end of the machined pipe and welded on each side.

A clamping device now had to be made to lock the roller head at various working heights. My first thought was a 1-3/4" ID ring with a theaded hole for a clamp knob. I had nothing suitable laying around. Then the idea of using a 1-1/4" pipe T came to mind. Bore it out to 1-3/4", drill and thread a pipe plug for the clamp knob, and viola! A simple clamping device. So, off to the hardware store to pick up a couple of pipe T's. While looking at them, it occurred to me that they were way over kill for what I wanted. I spotted some black iron couplings and decided they would better suit what I wanted. A little more work than the pipe T, but that's OK. I bored the coupling to slightly over 1-3/4". I wanted to use a clamp SHOE, rather that just the end of a bolt to lock the adjustable roller head. So, I machined matching 1" square openings centered in the side of the pipe coupling and in the stand tube, about 3" down from the top. I machined small flats on the side of the pipe coupling, lined up with the 1" square opening. A 1"x1/4"x2" bar was cut and a 9/16" clearance hole drilled in the center. A 1/2"-13 nut was brazed on the bar centered over the 9/16" hole, and that assembly in turn brazed onto the side of the pipe coupling. The clamp shoe was made from 1-1/2" schedule 40 pipe. It has an ID right at 1-5/8", so I cut and machined square a piece 1" long. Then a 1" segment was cut from the ring to make the clamp shoe. A #6 clearance hole was drilled in the center of the shoe and countersunk from the inside for a flat head screw. The screw holds the shoe captive to the clamp bolt, but free to float and align with the roller head pipe when clamp pressure is applied. The clamp knob is just a 1/2"-13 x 1" hex head bolt with a 3/8"D x 2-1/4" bar brazed on for a handle. The bolt thread end was machined square and a #6-32 hole threaded in the center for the clamp shoe captive screw.

Everything was cleaned up and painted with the result shown in the pictures below.