Minature Bead Roller

I was thinking miniature tubing cutter with modified (blunt) cutter wheel and grooved rollers, but it's probably too wide and no drive.

Pete Keillor

It'd be the wrong kind of bead, too -- I need more of a step.

I think I need to make something, but it astonishes me that there's not something out there already.

Forgot to mention: currently I'm using 32 mill 1100 aluminum. I may try

40 mill 1100 or 32 mil 3003, but that's the biggest/hardest I'll ever try to go.

... and, I'm pretty sure it's thicker where the end of the thing rounds over. Shaping this is amazing -- I have a rounded form and I'm just beating on it with a body hammer. After several dozen passes the metal just starts shrinking up and doing what I want. Of course, it's DEAD SOFT aluminum...

If you can push or pull the metal through instead of using geared shafts like a real bead roller, maybe you could make two roller axle support blocks that replace the jaw plates of a drill press vise, and slowly close the vise as you roll the bead deeper.

jsw

Go to

and put 34104 in the search box to see their manual bead roller. You can download the manual for better views and blowups. I have it and it works fine. If you have a step in each die then that is for "flanging", not bead rolling; it will fold the edge down and then back to horizontal but offset from the original height. Useful to overlap seams to join sheet metal. I needed to "improve" mine to roll some beads in 0.06" 304 stainless steel, but didn't need the 18" throat, so I added a strap from top to bottom using the mounting bolts for the pillow blocks right at the dies. Worked great, stopped the top and bottom jaws from deflecting so they aren't in line. I start with a shallow bead, and use the vertical bolt which is visible above the top pillow block to add pressure for each successive pass until I get my full-depth bead. Anyway, just thought that you might get some ideas looking at the pictures.

----- Regards, Carl Ijames

I'm working on a project (it's a visual pun -- because if you're going to name an engine part after a body part, it should look like the body part, right?)

Basically I'm making a model airplane muffler (of a style called a _tongue_ muffler, hence the near-obsessive search for a solution just to make a god-damned PUN) by soldering two aluminum shells together (see pictures). Later I'll solder the shells to a base that bolts to the engine. If I just make one shell a little undersized compared to the other and squeeze them together, I have a honkin' big seam that I'll need to fill and file to get everything looking nice.

So I'd like to make a shell, then roll a little bead in it, then solder everything together.

But I can't find any little bead rollers!!!

So, does anyone have any suggestions for what to do (other than perhaps to abandon the project, or see a good shrink?) I'm thinking that for a roller all I need are a pair of little wheels that are machined with the correct 1/32" step, rounded to fit the interior of the shell, running on bearings in a block and geared together.

Does that sound about right, or is there something I'm missing? I'd like to make the amount of squeeze between the rollers at least somewhat adjustable -- are there any known-good ways to do that, or is it unnecessary?

Thanks in advance.

The pictures are here:

usp=sharing

usp=sharing

How about a bit more primitive method? Grab a pair of flat nosed pliers and use a dremel to grind a notch in one jaw face. Then solder a piece of correct sized round stock in place on the other jaw. Place aluminum in jaws, squeeze and you have a bead, For corners use needle nosed and go slow. Good use for the cheap dollar store tools.

A blacksmith's spring fuller:

Try searching on " Flange " on Harbor Freight. They have an air tool for putting a flange on car body bits. I think they used to have a manual one that was essentially a vise grip with some blocks welded on. A bunch more work, but a bunch cheaper. Maybe try Eastwood or some other car tool place .

Dan

Maybe it would be easier to do a smaller version of this?

Tinsmiths roll beads without a bead roller often. Just turn one edge to about 90 degrees and then tap that edge down to 180 degrees over the mating piece. I am not a tinsmith, but we made a bunch of tin lanterns that way some years ago. I made a few tiny "set tools" (flat ended punches shaped to fit the task at hand) to get to close the seam. Maybe take a look at:

Regarding the soldering part: Once I got some aluminum "brazing rod: at a state fair. The seller showed how he could even "weld up" a hole in a pop can with it. I bought some. A couple years later, I had the cylinder head on an old Cub cadet lanwn tractor fail over by the exhaust valve, so I tried that stuff. It worked great! Flowed well and everything. I put the head back on, torqued it down and fired it up. Worked great------- for about 2 minutes. Once the engine heated up, the stuff blew right out of the repair area. Don't know how hot the exhaust on the model airplane engine gets, but I sure remember burning my hands from time to time.

Pete Stanaitis

---------------