d.i.y. FENDER Roller

[8ball]

I've been reading hondataeg6's thread on a tube roller. Great info there. So as not that hijack that thread*... has anyone made a homemade FENDER roller? Or know where I can get a factory or one-off machine? In accounts I've read online, a Harbor Freight english wheel was both recommended & debunked by bloggers.

Here's a pic of vintage fender roller off Web...

* I did a RRB search w/o results yet if this topic has been discussed previously I would appreciate the link. Thanks

 

[Walker]

A fender roller is on my to do list. But its down near the bottom.....

I've seen a thread on another bike forum where a guy was making them new, but I cant tell if that ever happend.

 

[hondataeg6]

I've been reading hondataeg6's thread on a tube roller. Great info there. So as not that hijack that thread*... has anyone made a homemade FENDER roller? Or know where I can get a factory or one-off machine? In accounts I've read online, a Harbor Freight english wheel was both recommended & debunked by bloggers.

Here's a pic of vintage fender roller off Web...

* I did a RRB search w/o results yet if this topic has been discussed previously I would appreciate the link. Thanks

This doesnt look hard to duplicate, the only thing that can be tricky is the roller dies

 

[8ball]

A fender roller is on my to do list. But its down near the bottom.....

I felt the same until I saw some fat tire fenders, original paint with perfect patina, rolled nice as new. It really looked miles better than with the dents and creases associated with getting that patina.

 

[Walker]

I should look through some of the catalogs at work, there are probably rollers like that already made. The lower wheel could even be like a 6" diameter pulley with the flanges milled off and a knurling tool applied.

Its a simple mechanism. In order to make them affordably it would be necessary to make quite a few. What is the value of preserving original fenders? And how much is one of these really worth? $100.00 $200.00 more??

 

[2manybikes]

I think the ones that were being made by a guy in Cali were selling for around $300.
I use my english wheel with pretty good results. I had to make a couple of different sized dies to get it to work though.

 

[KZ1000]

There has been a couple on ebay in the last year, both brought around $300. each. expensive, but no different then any other 1 of a kind tool for auto or other repairs.

 

[8ball]

After I saw those aged fenders made smooth again, I was researching fender roller a lot online. That's when I came across the vintage photo* and the $250-300 range on eBay (Completed Listing) was what I found too. As mentioned (2manybikes), apparently there was a guy producing them, but blogs can't find him as far as my reading went. Also found this D.I.Y. ** in looking...

There seems to be two camps: steel wheel and bearing *** rollers.

* another pic here: http://www.50sville.com/tools.htm

http://www.schwinnbike.com/twn/eng/foru ... hp?t=78656 (** images lost)
*** http://www.roddingroundtable.com/tech/a ... wheel.html

 

[KZ1000]

The article about the guy making the fender roller was on the CABE several months ago

 

[8ball]

The article about the guy making the fender roller was on the CABE several months ago

What's "CABE", please.

 

[KZ1000]

sorry, it is The Classic and Antique Bicycle Exchange
http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/content.php

 

[Ace]

Just thinking out loud here: how about the diameter of a snooker/poolball ? How cool would it be to have a fender roller with an 8-ball incorporated ?

 

[8ball]

How cool would it be to have a fender roller with an 8-ball incorporated ?

I'm getting high with the thought.

 

[DJ Bill]

I know this is an old thread but has anyone gotten any farther building their own roller? Thinking of how to do it and looking for anyone else who has tried. I do own an English wheel but the dies are not appropriate for the thin fender shapes.

 

[outskirtscustoms]

I'd like to have one but till money randomly falls out of the sky I'll stick to my bench vise anvil and a ball peen hammer to slowly massage out dents. I just work around the perimeter of the dent and slowly work my way around and around to the center till the dent disappears.

 

[onex29er]

This isn't going to help much straightening old fenders, but I make new ones by bending tubes ans splitting them down the middle.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

This isn't going to help much straightening old fenders, but I make new ones by bending tubes ans splitting them down the middle.

Been thinking about this myself, can you post a pic to show how they come out?

Luke.

 

[Bicycle808]

Maybe I'm a huge ball of turdz, but I'm completely happy with Wald 962s. That being said, I really do wanna make my own fenders... I kinda wish I could build every component. I'm thinking we, as a community, can come up with a cheapish DIY fender roller. I'll put my boy Harry on it, although he seems to think an English Wheel would do the trick.
-Rob

 

[RichL]

The harbor freight tubing roller comes with 3 dies, 1", 1 1/2" and 2"
As a source for material for this discussion shapiro metal supply in st louis mi has 4130 tubing in those dimensions.. 1 1/2" can be had in. 035 thickness, unfortunately 2" is only 083
The roller in the pics above is not hard to duplicate, though i have never tried to roll a bicycle fender in such a machine. I would think the more traditional way would be using a stretcher/shrinker for the side and than an english wheel to smoothen iit out and create the radius.

The disadvantage of the tubing roller is you loose 1/2 the material you bought, and you have to cut the tubing after the bending.... And if you want that nice bead roll finish, you need a bead roller and 1/8" rod...

There is no "bicycle fenders for dummies" aproach :mrgreen: it does still take some technique to do... Though very approachable for anyone with some basic skills, basic tools and ambition.

 

[8ball]

I ended up buying one. Here's pictures. Mine's #128 (no other markings except MADE IN USA!).
Friend who has similar had second wheel made without knurls since they will leave marks on chrome fenders.

These do work great.