MP&C
Well-known member
When I complete a project in the shop, I typically use some of the fundage to pick up an additional piece of machinery, just to continually add to my capabilities. The Fairlane I recently completed has been gone for a while now, and I have been keeping my eyes peeled (i.e.: money burning a hole), and I found what I was looking for on South Jersey CL the other day. It was listed as a bead roller with 14 mandrels, and a quick phone call to the owner indicated it was made in Germany. I'm not too keen on the stuff coming out of China anyhow, so I decided to head north today to take a look. (just under a 4 hour drive) I was keeping my fingers crossed, and it looks like a couple of the dies can be used as a tipping wheel, so I should be able to make bends around a radius, just what I need for making the flanges for door skins, if needed.
First order of business when I got it home was to fit it to one of the 1/2" plate "tripods" I have, as well as weld on some 1/2" bolt "racks" for the dies.
As a bonus, this thing came with a back fence, a material support, and a circle cutting/forming fixture.
We have one of the Ohio built bead rollers at work, and it tends to be at least a two person operation when using that machine. So I grabbed a piece of 18 ga and thought I'd give this a whirl, for a comparison.
Although my cut edge on the metal wasn't too straight, and shows in the bead I rolled, this was practically effortless even for one person, and left nice, crisp lines. For anyone looking for such a tool, I think the older, used, quality versions would be worth waiting for one to pop up on ebay, CL, etc, than settling for one of the cheaper models we see so much of.
First order of business when I got it home was to fit it to one of the 1/2" plate "tripods" I have, as well as weld on some 1/2" bolt "racks" for the dies.
As a bonus, this thing came with a back fence, a material support, and a circle cutting/forming fixture.
We have one of the Ohio built bead rollers at work, and it tends to be at least a two person operation when using that machine. So I grabbed a piece of 18 ga and thought I'd give this a whirl, for a comparison.
Although my cut edge on the metal wasn't too straight, and shows in the bead I rolled, this was practically effortless even for one person, and left nice, crisp lines. For anyone looking for such a tool, I think the older, used, quality versions would be worth waiting for one to pop up on ebay, CL, etc, than settling for one of the cheaper models we see so much of.
