Bead roller ideers

[zzrodder]

Very cool craftmanship! [cl
We just got a beadroller and have not yet used it! We will this wk end.
is 20 ga. what your using?

Some were done on 20 ga. because I ran out of 18 ga. While the 18 ga. is tougher to roll, I prefer it as it doesn't warp as much and you've got more metal to work with when rubbing out the boo boos.

Ok, first of those panels are really cool,very nice work.I imagine there would be lots of areas to incorporate that kind of artwork in a car.What I cant figure out is how you can get bored,with all those cool cars and trucks you build and working ,you must be up 24 hours a day.

Yeah, I'd like to do some crazy stuff someday on cowl sides or firewalls [ddd - also thought about beadrolled flames on body side panels or on pickup box sides.
Pics are of the my first attempt, using conventional beading rollers, on the firewall of one of my scratch built roadster bodies.
Since I'm relatively new to RRR, what you're seeing is years worth of car playing compressed into my postings here. Admittedly there are plenty of hours spent in the garage as I often put 2000 plus hours into a build so it's a balancing act trying to keep my wife happy too. My work year has been from mid Feb to first week Oct for the last 18 years so that gives me the winter to build, we get plenty of snow and as low as -30c, plenty of incentive to hide in a warm garage. At the end of last season I decided work was interfering with play so I retired, though now I have to contend with the "honey do" list....

 

[rustybeercan]

ZZ,
That firewall is awesome! Guess I better get a bead roller now. Got any pictures of yours?

Beercan

 

[pushrod249]

amazing

how about a thread on how made your roller n dies?

 

[zzrodder]

ZZ,
That firewall is awesome! Guess I better get a bead roller now. Got any pictures of yours?

Beercan

how about a thread on how made your roller n dies?

Here's some pics of my home made bead roller. I went to the scrap yard and for about 15 bucks got all the materials, just paid by the pound.
The main body is a piece of 1/2" plate, I cut an 18" throat in it. The gears were out of an old hydraulic motor, I welded some 1" bar onto them to make them longer, bearings are just pieces of pipe or round bar that I drilled out. I made two sets of rollers that are held on by a bolt on the end and set screws, one is for regular beads, the other set has a flange to roll a step in sheet. Since I work alone, the crank didn't work for me, so I globbed on an old Ford pickup steering wheel to turn it thru.
It looks kinda caveman crude but I like it that way, plus it works for me.

 

[Motorhead]

Awesome! [dr

 

[cornfield customs]

here are some i have been playing with. i have more over at the pin stripers shop getting painted up.

 

[cornfield customs]

 

[zzrodder]

There ya go !!!!! Looks like you have a steadier hand than I do - I found that once you do a few, the ideas really start to flow - endless possibilities....

I'm trying to think up a quick release mechanism for my bead roller to cut down on the time tightening it down and backing it off each time I want to change direction.

 

[cornfield customs]

for a quick release, look at harbor freights plannishing hammer. it has a sort of stepped quick release. you could fine tune it for different sheet thickness

 

[cornfield customs]

here are some more for today, i made 3 of the v8 sign. love the way they turned out

 

[ratdog]

Those are pretty sweet, great job.Beadroller is next on my list.I have an old antique one but it only works close to the edge and only does a small bead.But I have used it for some parts on my model a.

 

[cornfield customs]

here are some more from today, i am going to re do the 55 sign not real happy with the way it turned out

 

[zzrodder]

Love the MR Horsepower woodpecker, I did a couple of those too, though without the cigar. This is one of those cases where the tips of the points were a problem since the lines overlap - just have to do a little massaging with the hammer & dolly.

 

[cornfield customs]

and some more lol, orders for these things are keeping me pretty busy

 

[cornfield customs]

zz one thing that may help you in your corners is to not put som much pressure on the panel, i run mine about .060 just over on thickness of the material i use it makes tight radius's much easier and tons less warpage. when i first starting doing them i was having problems with overlapping tips, just backed off the pressure and stop 1/8 short of the stop point

 

[cornfield customs]

been working on tons of new signs for the labor of love car show. if there are any you see and want shoot me a pm and i will shoot you a price

 

[howiess2000]

Here's is my 2 cents...SAH-WEET!! [dr
I really like the Chevy-Girl one and the Thrush!
Nice

 

[93blazer4dr]

i heard with overlapping beads you can use a skate board wheel because its hard but soft enough it wont mess up the previous bead that was rolled so you can roll one bead into another without messing up the bead. maybe you guys could try it but im sure the skate board wheel will have to be made to fit on there.

i got a harborfrieght bead roller havent used it yet but im getting my shop setup and im going to make a stand for my bead roller and then try to make my own dies for it.

very very nice work [dr

 

[international rat]

Wow! Looks like I need to get me a bead roller!

 

[cornfield customs]

here are some more i have done recently