Tubing bead Roller

TonyK

True Classic
I purchased this bead roller from Ebay which is made in China $131 USD plus $15 shipping by UPS.

The roller is rated for .040" Stainless and Steel, but the tubing I am using is .068". It still managed to form a bead but I took it in small steps and must have cranked the handle a 100 times or more to do this. I did take the roller apart and put grease on the bushings as stock from the factory is only oiled. At times it takes 2 hands to turn the crank handle. There is some drag produced at the crank handle support block and this hole does not have a bushing. The block is fairly big and installing a ball bearing may get rid of the drag of the aluminum to steel mating surfaces.

The 2" section of pipe is one that I did TIG weld so take a look at the pictures as you can see the weld on the outside of the tube, the inside seam line as it is only welded %80 and how the tube former pushes the metal up to form a bead.

TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
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Appears to work well. Is that stainless tubing you rolled? If so, that is a good result. SS is probably the hardest to roll, especially at that thickness. Agree, add bearings wherever things interface.
 
Smallest would be 5/8" I.D. So yes there is lots of room as the small roller goes in the tube.

TonyK.
 
Nice batch of firewood you have there in the background.:cool:
Slab wood from the local saw mill. At the bottom of the picture was a coal scuttle (empty). I have about 1200 pounds of hard Anthracite coal that I burn in the stove as well to help heat my shop in the winter months.

Good eye.

TonyK.
 
Smallest would be 5/8" I.D.
So if should be able to bead even the tiny 5/8" heater tubes on many cars. That's great, you could replace a lot of the rubber hoses with hard lines. Polished SS if you want a 'show' look.
 
Tony, did you investigate this design roller (pic attached) - more of a table mount design - I would take it to offer greater leverage, but maybe not? I messaged them to see if it is suitable for tubing.
 

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Hussein that is a sheet metal bead roller and I have one. The issue at hand is that they normally have a 5/8" shaft and interchangeable rollers. I suppose I could turn up a set of rollers, but I would have to limit the size of pipe most likely to something over 1". The shafts on the bead die roller use key ways and keys to drive the rollers. This limits the minimum size of the beading roller to about 1".

TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
 
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