working boro on the cheap

[glassdog]

I see all these fancy tools when I go shopping for glass stuff and wish I could afford them all. But I cant. So I am forced to make do with what I can make myself. I was wanting a roller to help out with my goblet making, and general use. I found what I wanted on the internet for about $200 plus shipping. I though there had to be a cheaper way to do it. So here is what I came up with
For about $6 I found a piece of "all thread" that was about 3/4 inch in dia.
For about $16 I found 4 bearings that just fit over the 'all thread'
For about $10 I found 8 Nuts that fit the "all thread"
I used scrap wood that I had laying around the house to build the frame with. And here is what I came up with. Sorry its a computer image, I had mine loned out when I wrote this.
Mike

ps..Deb here is a roller for you

[gmarv]

very cool there glassdog, looks simple enough that i,ll have to try making one.

[nate-d]

Glassdog there is a home made tool thread somewhere in here, that would be a great addition.

[Bunyip]

Mike, that's a great idea. Where did you source the parts? The bearings in particular? I'm thinking of using a double layer of 18-20 gauge sheet metal rather than wood for the frame (or a triple layer of 24 gauge maybe) as I have access to a sheet metal break and shear and lots of stainless "drop" to play with. What do you think of that idea?

[glassdog]

Sounds great to me Chris. I did one too with metal, but I used angle iron and welded the frame together. Then welded the all thread to it. it worked good too.
I found the bearings at Lowes. but Tractor supply would work too. Actually any hardware store should have them.

[deb tarry]

Thanks but I don't get how you use it. Where do you put your punty and what end do you hang your piece off. I know this sounds blunt but i ask these question with all due respect and appreciate making my own tools. I made some peter tweezers out of pliers once which was great because it only cost me 4 bucks, but I did almost stick my foot in my mouth at GS West when I was bragging about how good they were and how much cheaper they were than the real 'peter tweezer' and the guy who made the 'real' ones was there. Oh I hope he didn't hear me.

[menty666]

Originally Posted by deb tarry

Thanks but I don't get how you use it. Where do you put your punty and what end do you hang your piece off.

They come in handy when you're rolling big pieces of tubing for one reason or another, or have a very long punty rod working on something large like a bigger marble.

[glassdog]

Deb, let me play with my photo of my roller a bit and I will show you a picture of how to use it.
Probably tomorrow.

[deb tarry]

Thanks or even a photo of you using yours in your studio. Thanks for sharing those rollers from the manufacturer are expensive.

[glassdog]

I got to it sooner than I thought. I would be happy to show you a photo of me using mine if I still had em. I have them loaned out right now so I cant take any photos. but here is this one.

[deb tarry]

Ok that makes sense now, that is so cool. I will have to make myself one or two of those. Those graphics are great too.

[cheng076]

The bearings for this do not have to be super precision. I found a source of great standard bearings to be K-Mart or WalMart in the toy/bicycle section. The bearings are used in roller blades and a set of 8 cost me about $6.00. Another place is the sliding door section of Lowes or Home Depot. There are rollers there with ball bearings in 2x packs for about $3.00 that have a larger outside diameter pulley that would make great glass rollers.

I work more in metal but your idea and execution is execellent. Way to go.