Buying A Budget Beed Roller

[Retro Rust]

I'm leaning more to buying a Beed Roller than buying all the Panels I need for my Capri. 2 panel are more than 1 Beed Roller . I'm sure a lot of people will say these are awful but I've watched a few videos of the cheaper ones and to me they look ok for what I would be doing.

Any Experience with these as I'll probably order something today so I can get started.

Starting at the cheapest. I saw a good youtube video on this one.

This most likely is the best one as I've seen Urch Fab using it on youtube and its in the sale!

They also do this smaller version which looks easier to use. I'd be making Inner Sills, and half floors so I guess this might work? Any thoughts on this?

Just wondering if the Dies would be big enough for my needs though

Right, i'll be outside scraping off some underseal. All advice welcome.

 

[DanZac]

I'm not sure if a bead roller is the tool you want for doing those bits (although I could well be wrong).

I'd be tempted to look at making up a template / die from hardwood or similar and beating the metal into shape for a bit like that.

Although I'm sure that there's a million other easier ways to do it.

 

[bricol]

I would have though a folder would be more suited to making sills and inner sills? Bead roller needed for putting the stiffening creases into floors etc.

However, are there not repair panels available? By the time you've bought the bead roller, bought steel, struggled to wind it and feed the metal in straight, simply buying it done would probably work out cheaper and allow you to get on and get it repaired and in use again?

 

[dave h 2]

The 8" Metz looks like it means it with the capstan handle. Don't forget the inner sills are thicker than the floor and some Chinese stuff has ambitious capability stats.
in other words good luck and be careful out there.

 

[Retro Rust]

They are availible but I guess 2x inner Sill is £264 2x Toe Board £168 2x floors £360 so thats = £792 and It looks like I may only need bits of these (we'll see when I start cleaning it up today).

If you look at the pannels I need they have the indentations for strengh in them. As I have more time than money I thought a Beed roller and sheet metal would be the way forward.

 

[winchman]

I feel a press and basic punch and die would be easier and quicker, unless its an electric powered roller you will need two people and a bit of practice to get it right.
I will guarantee the cheap bead roller won't have the dies you need its just how it is!

 

[dave h 2]

You will have to make the toe boards in two pieces, maybe 3. The inner sills might patch. The main floor under the sound deadening may not exist except as a colander.

 

[indykid]

There are only a couple of details on those panels that I'd be looking to use the bead roller on, the rest really need pressing.

If you're set on making your own panels, also have a go with hammer forming the swages with a punch and a negative relief cut into some wood under the sheet. If you're not going for concourse and only want them to be functional, you can probably stand a bit of rippling but with time and practice, you'd be surprised how tidy you can get them.

For the roller, the deeper the throat, the deeper the section of the frame needs to be to retain sufficient stiffness, but only the 8" Metz one looks like the right aspect ratio to me. For any of the cheaper ones, the first mod probably needs to be a sliding brace/clamp to hold the frame together with just the amount of throat you need.

 

[bricol]

I've been repairing my own cars since I was 18 (54 now) - made do with a hammer, vice and lengths of angle iron etc, even gaps between paving slabs, to bend and form sheet metal. I've been pretty lucky in never having to buy raw material, either stock from my dads business, or from the scrap bin at places I've worked. And been lucky to use folders etc at work, despite mostly being a CAD jockey . I've never owned a car where replacement panels have been available from aftermarket, so had to repair or make my own.

I bought a simple folder, and maybe a decade ago, a 4ft Edwards box and pan folder. I've had a shrinker and a stretcher for maybe 15 yrs - they have been very useful in making repairs to window/screen reliefs etc.

Maybe 5 or 6 yrs ago I bought a larger Metz bead roller like you pictured - it looks up to what I intended to use it for, in aluminium. But as yet, I've not used it. I don't know what that says about its usefulness . . .

 

[tom2207]

weld a ballbearing to a length of bar and set up a couple of flats with a gap ,,, you will soon have those done ,, especially if you have some heat to hand too

 

[MetalMonkey]

Echo the above, I can't see much use in one for that work - most of that needs pressing in - you could make some forms and do it on a workshop press if you have one, or hammer it in.
Or make it up out of sections and weld it together ((Fitzee's Fabrications has used this technique to good effect)

Either way I don't think a bead roller is going to be all that much use for you.

 

[Matchless]

But if you do get a bead roller, and only have two hands I would highly recommend motorising it, I did mine using a wheelchair motor / gearbox and a foot pedal, you need two hands to feed and guide the sheet! Also you want the rollers to run VERY slowly, it can be hard to keep up if the rollers run too fast!