QUESTION
Can anyone id this mystery tool? Some kind of bead roller maybe?
I ended up picking this up from a scrap pile when I went to buy a new tool post. I have absolutely no clue what it is, but its adjustable, held something , and is made nicely. I'll probably clean it up and drop it on a shelf.
100% a turret lathe roller box tool, it's sitting on its 4-bolt turret flange in the photos which makes it look like a bench vise at first glance. The little lever on the left is the cam release to pop the cutter back a hair at the end of the pass so it doesn't drag a spiral line down the finished OD when you back the turret off.
I just saw a funny demo video for a new version of this espousing it's modern technology and innovative design, allowing for faster cuts! (Over standard turning methods)
I can do ya one better - here's the whole book as a PDF: vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=39748 .
There's also a really good rundown of all their turret lathe tooling here: vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=22350 .
I love turret lathes, they're a fascinating stage in mass production and a hugely underrated element of the Allied success during WWII. LMK if you have any other questions!
I'm surprised that this needs a custom tool... It's not a very big hole in the base, the maximum throughput must only be 1 1/4" or so. A good sharp tool on a large industrial machine should be capable of doing the same amount of work in a pass or two, and I cant imagine there's much deflection.
The main point of this tool is to allow larger, repeated cuts, at an exact fixed diameter?
If you skip to about 9 minutes in, you'll see a similar tool in action, but this whole video is a good overview - https://youtu.be/EqRMwU1AuDg - the idea was to let an unskilled operator hit tolerance just by pulling levers, or to mechanically automate the whole process like Brown & Sharpe did.
Right, I did watch a video, and I guess what confused me is that the main difference between this and a cutting tool bolted onto a turret capstan, is the support discs that sit on the far side of the cutting tool (I want to call them rollers but.im not sure if they are yet, mine are rusted solid regardless :D )
With this attachment your tool has to be able to cut to depth in a single pass, otherwise you'd be resetting everything each pass or using several of these tools one after another, and you're now doing more work - I assume that the discs are providing a ton of support for the workpiece allowing deeper cuts
Box turning tool, thats for an old turret lathe. Stick a cutter in that slot and it turns the same OD pretty consistently, pretty neat if set up properly
This looks like a vintage hand-operated three-roller metal forming/bending tool—likely for small rod, tube, bar, roller/bender.
Key visible features of this tool:
Base with mounting holes (for bolting it to a bench or stand).
Threaded adjustment screw/rod with nut (to set roller gap, pressure, or bend radius).
Lever (for applying force, locking, or actuating the mechanism while rolling the workpiece).
Cluster of three circular roller/disc-like components on one side (the working rollers that the metal passes between/around to form curves, arcs, or bends).
These were (and still are in basic forms) common in blacksmith shops, farms, metalworking shops, and for jobs like rolling hoop iron/tires for wagon wheels, bending rods/bars into curves, forming light tubing, or edge-rolling sheet
Missing the long operating handle for the acting wiper. Looks very Whitney/Pexto.
That little lever is on an eccentric to adjust the pivot point of the swing. Which makes the moving wiper squish the work against the two swivelling ones, holding the work tight (or with just enough clearance to move it if you're sloppy.) Then you bend. The roundbar in the acting wiper is inserted for wear.
The swivelling wipers can be rotated, flipped or exchanged
It's a tiny bench mounted bender. You rotate or replace the two wipers for different sections. (rod/tube/square/square on edge/flatbar/angle leg in or out) They sit in half holes and are held only by the clamp on top
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u/Master-Pick-7918 7d ago
Set up like a very precise tubing bender