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Another home made diy star roller. Variable tilt and folds flat :-)


jl88

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Hey guys and gals.

 

So as you will soon see, I am no carpenter. However I had a shot at making a star roller. Not really knowing a lot about the machines or rolling I didn't know what angle was ideal, and couldn't find it readily. So I made it adjustable. There is also no room in my house so it had to be compact. This is what I came up with. You just move the dowels to change the angle and I went with the bucket in a bucket bowl approach. It then folds down flat when not in use. I do still need to wire a proper switch in...

 

It uses a two speed (and intermittent if your into tolling your stars that way lol) wiper motor, however after rolling two batches of small stars the motor fells quite hot. This was on the faster speed. You can only touch it for a couple of seconds before it becomes uncomfortable. Is this normal? The motor came out of a daily driver and the wipers worked perfectly.

 

Here are my first attempts at rolled stars...

 

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A couple of support wheels on the bottom edge of the bucket would reduce the offset loading on the motor.

Edited by Col
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A couple of support wheels on the bottom edge the bucket would reduce the offset loading on the motor.

I thought this as well, I even have the rubberised wheels too fit. However it seems more than sturdy enough as it is. so I ommitted them. Maybe with more large and heavy stars it will be required.

 

Ther other thing is, the bucket doesn't seem perfectly round, or perhaps perfectly centred, which may make it hard...

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I used a couple of skate wheels on mine. The bucket wasnt perfectly centered but it was slightly flexible which,with the help of gravity, kept it in constant contact with the wheels. The motor (240v 60w) got warm after a few hours but not overly hot.

 

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Yeah I can definitely see that helping. I will have to give it a go... Stay tuned. Lol
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Wiper motors are usually air cooled as the car is moving. They can draw up to 10 amps under load which will cause overheating. Possibly an electronic speed control would help.

As Col mentioned, the bucket weight not being supported might cause excessive mechanical loading and heating also.

 

Bucket shape is not as critical as speed regulation and tilt angle. Two speed should work.

 

Good job!

Edited by Bobosan
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