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Part 106/106a: Rollers

106	Wood roller	1916	1978	2	2	0		initially 'Roller' then 'Cloth roller'
106a	Sand roller	1916	1940	1	1	0

The parts

The wood and sand rollers were designed for use in the Meccano loom, along with the other special loom parts from 101 to 105.  The original part 106 was initially called simply "Roller" at the time of the 1918 parts listing.  In 1919 part 106a the sand roller was introduced, and part 106 was renamed the "Cloth Roller".  These parts were introduced by the line "Wooden Rollers for Looms (one of each required in a Loom)", in the December 1919 price list.

By June 1922 (or perhaps earlier, no doubt someone will correct me), the names Wood Roller and Sand Roller were in use in the parts listings.

Two wood rollers are required in the later Loom supermodels – one holding the warp before weaving, and one to collect the finished cloth.  To maintain tension in the finished product, the sand roller is held tightly against the final wood roller by two tension springs, and the rough surface of the roller prevents the cloth or warp threads being pulled out.  The tension on the warp is quite high, to allow the loom to work properly.

In 1921, outfit 7 was launched with this complement of rollers (two wood rollers and one sand roller), continuing to the outfit L in 1934.  In 1937 with the launch of the outfit 10, these parts were dropped, and after the war they were discontinued.

However, the wood roller was one of the few 'obsolete' parts to be resurrected.  In 1953 part 106 was brought back.  It seems to be because it is useful as a drum for cable in larger cranes, particularly with face plates or something similar at both ends, and this has been its primary use since then.

Chronological variations

The first issue wood rollers had no groove in them. Fairly early on (perhaps around 1921?) the groove was added, allowing an axle to be locked in place within the profile of the roller.

With the wood roller, it is pretty easy to spot the difference between the pre-war and the reintroduced version from 1953 onwards.  The earlier ones are much better made, from finer grained wood (perhaps beech?), and the ends are smooth.  Post-war versions are from a coarser wood (probably pine?), and are rough at the ends as you can see from the photo to the right.

Variations and oddities

The sand roller, being a very rare part, was one of a number of parts manufactured by W R (Bill) Inglis in the early 1970's and sold by him directly through adverts in the Meccano Magazine. There are a number of obvious differences between the Meccano and the WRI part. The metal plate is much coarser, the roller itself is 1/16'' larger in diameter, the part is stamped WRI on one end, and there are only four nails holding the plate to the roller (as opposed to eight on the Meccano part). More information on the manufacture of these obsolete parts is shown here.  

Dealer spare parts boxes

Individual part numbers

Part numbers for the parts on this page are as follows:    Unique part numbers
For identification, each variation has been given a suffix to the main Meccano part number. These suffixes consist of a two-character code for the colour, and if there are many variations, a further number and sometimes letter code to identify each variation. See the bottom of the 'Parts' page for further details.

You don't need to worry what the codes are, just click on any one for a photograph.

The button above turns on and off the display of DMS numbers (where they are known). The DMS (Development of the Meccano System, Hauton and Hindemarsh) published in 1972 and added to in 75 and 82, suggested part numbers for every variation of every Meccano part. These numbers aren't perfect, but they are recognised and also referenced in the EMP (Encyclopedia of Meccano Parts, Don Blakeborough).

Description	from	106	106a
Wooden roller, with rod and two collars, no groove	??	.xx2
Wooden roller, with rod, two collars, and groove	??	.xx
Sand roller, metal grater surface	??		.xx
Wooden roller, post-war	53	.xx1
		ALL	ALL

Please send us pictures of missing parts! Hints and tips for pictures
Take a picture of the part in very good light, preferably on a plain yellow background, without a flash but with a tripod.
Ideally, trim the picture to about 150 pixels per inch of the Meccano part (unless the part is particularly big or small), save it as a reasonably good quality jpg file with a filename of exactly the part number, for example 19b.ni1.jpg, and email it to us by clicking on 'Contact us' at the top of the page. Thanks!

• A greyed-out box shows that no part exists for that colour combination.
• Part number codes with a green background have an attached picture of the part, just click once on the code to show a photograph of that part in a separate window.
• Parts marked "†" were temporary or economy parts, or existed only within specific themed outfits. The previous part continued throughout or afterwards.

Further information

Total number of messages on this page: 12.  This is page 2 of 2.   

Michael Rogers      (at 6:45am, Thu 20th Jan, 11)

The sandpaper roller I have is the same diameter as the plain wood roller at 0.98" and length 3.44 as acurately as I can measure. they appear to be a matched pair with no grooves. I guess there must be a variance of types and sizes as occured in the development and production of early meccano parts. Reply: I'm fairly sure the post-war Spanish production Meccano included a sand roller which was just a plain wood roller (without grooves) with sandpaper glued round it. That would probably be the source of your parts.

david smith      (at 3:57am, Mon 3rd May, 10)

The diameter of a one of my 1930 rollers is 0.97" and the length 3.53" and the other is .98" diameter and 3.44" long. I think they must have been individually turned probably from a 1" diameter stock.

David Hilton      (at 11:48pm, Sun 2nd May, 10)

Please could any informed member tell me the actual length and diameter of the (beech)roller of part 106. I wish to replicate a couple and am finding it unreliable to scale off the precise dimensions from the few oblique photographs I have found. Thanks most kindly, dsh

Charles      (at 2:25am, Mon 15th Feb, 10)

I'm pretty sure that sandpaper-covered slightly smaller diameter sand rollers were made in the Spanish factory post-war. Someone will know more about this...

Ian Soutar      (at 1:40am, Mon 15th Feb, 10)

Hi Michael - still interested in sand rollers? I found a sandpapered version, with a grove, along with 6 wood rollers in a lot of ex shop stock. It appears to be slightly less in diameter than the others. Please let me know your findings - Ian.

Michael Rogers      (at 5:17am, Tue 9th Dec, 08)

I have just obtained a pair of early wood rollers (without grooves)along with two sizes of healds. One appears to be a sand roller, but appears to have sandpaper stuck to its surface instead of the metal plate. These rollers are obviously very old by their appearance, and if the sandpaper was added it must have been done many years ago as it looks to be of a similar aged appearance. Has anyone else seen such a roller? I can provide photo's of the rollers if you wish and am interested if anyone has further info on these early rollers so I can date them and know if the sand roller is genuine or a home modified 106.

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