Bwaaaahahaha Kat! His head is fine, but I swear one of these days if he don't straighten up it won't be! ;) Marigene that is VERY reasonable! I could have sworn this one was $45, did they come down in price or what? LOL Thanks all, Summer DH does have a Dremel too so will see what we can come up with!

I have not even used the ram yet. At least I don't think so. I went through last year and updated/ painted it - made a pair of new pusher bolts as they can get damaged and bought the draw bar. It was then I fashioned the ram to work with the draw bar. The front bar was heavy channel b4. Wandering in the hardware store I saw they had ACME thread- like a vice would use. Of course, that was after I did the pusher bolts! Those I have in 3/4 and 5/8. I need the smaller for the double D axles. Remember- this thing started as a whim years ago to solve a particular rider dilemma. So to answer your question, I looked at the rectangular tube chart online and I believe the 2 rear bars are 1x2" and the pockets they slide into are 1.5 x 2.5" . They show it online in .120 and .083, so I think is .120" with out having it here. It has to side into the pockets. The two pockets are connected by a piece of 3" channel. It would be great to find some drops. If you can't and you have room, you could possibly get a length of 3" channel if you can get something behind it to draw from. I say that as in the scheme of things, 3" channel is one of the more affordable things that I buy when I need tough stuff. If you are buying 10 feet, just get a 20 and have them chop it in half as it is the same price. Be safe. As you said there is lots of pressure on this bad boy. I don't know what you have to work with , but good penetrating oil with some time may help. So will heat. Some say heat and drawing wax in between the wheel and axle is the way. I like your idea of running it w/o the pins as a way to get this thing to budge.

It would be fine for general baking. My fondant roller is 20". (IC, it's more industrial looking than pretty.) It needs to be bigger than the sheet of fondant if you're going to cover a full sized cake. The set sounds useful and Christmasy and appropriate for a 14 year old, unless she specifically asked for a fondant roller for covering cakes as in wanting a big one. You originally asked about the difference from a regular rolling pin. The fondant one should be a smooth tube. No markings or creases or handles. Some rolling pins are like that -- plain dowels. Many rolling pins are tapered or have handles, have logos, measures and other markings, etc. For fondant, it's supposed to be straight and smooth and creaseless. Otherwise, it's just a rolling pin and should be perfectly fine for cookies, pie crusts, etc. Re sticking, the concern I had with the silicone is specifically for use with fondant. I suppose people might oil it. You don't want flour for fondant, though it's fine for cookies and pastry.

My favorite is my mother's. '60's yellow plastic with red trim (melamine?), kind of textured, with ball bearings. It works so well! I have a black with white trim, 1990's version which is a little lighter and doesn't hold the flour on the surface as well and just isn't good enough for pastry. It's good for cookies, though, and rolled biscuits. What I use most is a cutesy-poo Joseph Joseph one which is a straight, fat wood dowel and has rings you can put on to measure thickness. I'm guessing about 2.5" thick? The rings work fine for small amounts of dough, but there has to be room between the edge and the rings. I don't usually use them. There are also measuring marks on the rolling pin which can be handy. It works great for pie crust all on its own, as well as with the Perfect-A-Crust pie diameter rings. I really like the weight, heavy but not too heavy and it's only 14" so very maneuverable. It doesn't hold flour at all and I have to use a "sock" with it to roll something sticky. I also have a little wood one, which is about an inch in diameter and a foot long. I think it was meant for pasta, but it's good for anything wee and fiddly. It holds flour really well. For oversized stuff, I have a 20" metal (chrome?) fondant roller, which is another cylinder. It's easy to chill. Probably 2" in diameter. Does a good job but hard to put a sock on.