A simple Meccano plate roller
by Peter Sullivan
Based on Arup Dasgupta's design
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Using the same inverted "V" framework as Arup's design, this design
is based around some home made rollers. Being too impatient to wait
for special 59kD
brass spacers to come from Ashok
Banerjee (apologies Ashok!), I constructed my own out
of short lengths of 12mm OD copper water piping.
When cut to about 3" lengths with a rotary pipe cutter, two short couplings (p/n 63d) fit nicely into the slightly compressed ends of the piece of tube. Passing a stainless steel axle (excellent ones available from Ashok) through both couplings, these are soft soldered in place, the rod keeping them aligned along a common axis.
The resulting roller diameter is larger then 59kD 3/8" spacers, but is very effective on flexible plates. No apologies for the tatty state of the parts used on the prototype - it has to earn it's keep! The finished machine has been screwed onto a piece of chipboard to keep it stable during operation.
Construction details
Click here for printable construction details (html)
Click here to download a version in pdf (384kb)
Rear view of plate roller
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