From home shop to garage shop to your first commercial address, your fledgling company is beginning to grow some legs. Here’s the thing: every once and a while your best customer sends over a drawing for a new part he needs made, and the piece part requires some sheet metal bending — what will you do? Do you purchase your own machine finally, or do you job out that operation again? You have to weigh the pros and cons, but it’s nice to control your own destiny as far as delivering the finished parts on or ahead of scheduled delivery. It is also quite possible that you could perform that operation in-house and do it for less money than you’re outsourcing. So, those are some of the pros; what, if any, are the cons? (We’re trying to think of some of the cons, but just can’t).
No, really, think about it: these smaller manual slip rolls take up almost no floor space to speak of and are easily moved when necessary. Because we are talking about manual machines that do as advertised when listing the capacities that they will process, these manual slip rolls are very affordable to even the most constricted budget. The demure cost of these slip rolls literally should put them into the hands of whoever needs the services of one.
The answer is “a pretty nice range,” considering these are manually powered slip rolls. Bud's Machine Tools offers four different models of Roper Whitney Bench Rolling Machines, as well as seven different sizes of Durma manual slip rolls. Since the latter line is our house brand, those are the ones we will focus on here. Durma slip rolls range in bending length from 3' 4" to 6' 7", with bending capacities ranging from 12 gauge thickness (about .105") to 1/8" thickness. There is one caveat that applies to all slip or pinch or initial pinch rolls: you can actually bend thicker material than maximum capacity if your piece is narrower than the maximum bend length of the roll (yep, it applies to manual rolls, as well as the bigger boys). “Remarkable” is the only way to describe it. Some of the architectural or ornamental pieces that have come off these man powered slip rolls are amazing. Undoubtedly, many worldwide known metal statues have probably been constructed with pieces from a manual slip roll machine. Artisans have been heard to say, “You can feel the metal on the roll and make the necessary corrections to the bend as you go.” Of course, artistic needs are just one of many industrial applications for these small but highly effective, well-made manual slip rolls.
Why, it’s funny you ask that question. In fact, yes, they do! How about, for starters, as standard equipment we put up conical bending capable? How about a cast iron frame, hardened A.I.S.I. 1050 high carbon steel rolls, bottom and pinch rolls easily adjusted with wire grooves? Not a bad list of standard features for a slip roll that is manually operated and priced for every shop, big or small.
The place to go, of course, is Bud's Machine Tools in Salt Lake City, Utah. At Bud's, we are carrying on a family tradition of offering each customer a good value metalworking machine at a competitive price and then service said machine for the next… well, it could be decades! We’re here in a brick and mortar facility that you can come visit any time (though it helps if you make an appointment prior to your visit). We love to have our customers come and see what we look like. We are also heavily invested in selling on the Internet (which you’ve probably figured out, since you are on our website). Buy a new or used machine from Bud's Machine Tools and experience the difference with dealing with people who know their business.
