Using English Wheel Anvils with a Bead Roller?

[RIP]

I came across this video where someone made English Wheel anvils for their bead roller to pre-stretch the metal before rolling a bead. Is anyone else here doing this? Finding anvils to fit will be challenging. Maybe I should machine some non-hardened ones since I have only one project to do.

 

[droopsnoot]

I tried pre-stretching prior to rolling bead but I don't think I could stretch it enough. What I do now instead is roll the bead, then run the narrow wheel in the base of the bead. It doesn't make it perfectly flat, but it makes it close enough for what I'm doing.

 

[RIP]

I did some Googling and decided to just buy a small Merz English Wheel Vs trying to make anvils for the bead roller. I'm only doing aluminium panels as it's for a buggy, so a cheap wheel might be fine.

@droopsnoot I'll try your idea.

 

[droopsnoot]

Mines a very small wheel, but it has a wheel that's small enough to fit in the ribs I put in. The other thing I found when trying to pre-stretch was that I lose track of where the bead needs to be put - as I'm fitting beads into a dimple in the top of a chassis rail, I have to get them in a specific location.

 

[pressbrake1]

Put beads in then planish tension out