I'm trying to refurbish an old wrapper I picked up recently. It's 12 feet long, and the rod motor is on a platform that runs on a 12 foot rail, so the thread carriage/holder is fixed and the rod moves along a track. Hope that's clear enough. lol
Anyhow, the rollers are machined nicely out of aluminum, but I need to replace the wheels. I'm looking for 1 1/4" diameter wheels , 1/2" thick, that will accept a 1/4" axle. The current wheels are very hard phenolic or something and I want to replace with soft, no-mar material. Anybody have any idea for sources? The closes I found today was wheels for a robot, but the axle diameter was off and I dont want to drill them out unless I have to.

This is turning into a fun project--I'm building a 12 foot bench for this monster and I made a lot of headway this weekend, with some helpful suggestions by Mark Griffin.
Thanks, all.
Chuck Horan

Check a good hobby shop for RC airplane wheels.

Or, inline skate wheels on bearings. These will be much larger, starting at about 70mm and going up from there, but they work well.

............

Well, I can't use the skate wheels, because this thing is machined to accept only 1.25 inch diameter wheels, and I hate to start altering it too much. So far I've found some great wheels that are close--1/25 ball bearing pulleys that will take an o-ring, but they are too thin. I could get those and put a spacer front and back, I suppose. Thanks for the suggestion, though.
Chuck

Charles, what about Mc Master Carr

I saw some aluminum ball bearing wheels at Lowes that were about 1 1/4 diameter and about 1/4 in thick. They were used on rolling doors of some sort. They had white nylon "tires" on them. They were quite expensive , 4 in a pack. I am guessing at the dimensions, it's been a couple months ago.

Hey Chuck,

You might be pleasantly surprised if you stop by that little door/window shop at Pasadena St. & Route 66. The guy has a HUGE selection of rollers. Some flat, some grooved that you could add an o-ring to. This stuff ---> [www.slide-co.com] Scroll down the page and you'll see a lot of sizes.

Mark Griffin
[]
C&M Custom Tackle
San Dimas, California

In addition to Marks excellent comments, after obtaining the grooved rollers you need, stop over to your local hardware store.
Then go to the plumbing department and pick up the rubber O ring that will fit nicely into the groove of the roller.
When you get the O rings, pick up a bunch of spares, so th at if one breaks or wears out, you will have a spare.

Good luck and a good project.

Roger

check here
[www.mudhole.com]

Charles-
The sliding glass door rollers I used finished out at 1 3/8" diameter with O-rings. They are ball bearing mounted with 1/4" bore. Width of center bushing or race is 3/8 ". Had to order O-rings from Grainger to fit just right. They are 1" ID and 1 3/8 OD Rollers came from H. Depot-If you have to use something like these I have some O-rings I could send you-came in a box of 50. Shoot me an email if you need them.

Chris

Try here these companys have several styles of rollers / Idler pullys

[www.savacable.com]

www.smallparts.com

Sorry Double Post



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2008 03:47PM by Barry Thomas Sr.

Hey, wonderful information, guys! I really appreciate it. I made great progress today (I'm on vacation for a week). The
12 foot bench will be made up of two benches 42"long, with a 5 foot span in between that is just benchtop. Both ends will have storage under the benches, and on the 5 foot span I will mount a flourescent light and my thread holders. This is fun, so far. Just routed out my pencil holder on the front of the top. lol Once it's all done I will try to post a couple of pictures
THanks again, everyone, for the great advice on the wheels.

Chuck Horan

Charlie if the only problem with the current rollers is they are too hard why not just cut some grooves in them and slap on a set of O rings?

It would sure save re-engineering the whole wrapper.

Jan, I thought of that but I don't know how I would cut an accurate groove around the circumference of that wheel. But your idea gave me one--I might solve the problem by putting a thin rubber sleeve over each wheel--like a circumference of thin bicycle inner tube or something like that! That should provide a non-marring surface and it will work if the wheels have enough space in between them. One way or the other I shall prevail!! LOL