Custom bead rolling....lotsa pic's

I have a technical question that I am hoping someone who is posting on this thread can help me with. I have been playing a little with a roller, and when working on light aluminum and light weight, the little bit of distortion is no big deal to straighten out. I tried a test piece for a firewall on my 53 chev. Using 18ga steel I put in 5 fairly deep steps to get the backset I wanted for the 472 I'm using. I ended up with over 1" of bow forward at the bottoming the piece. That is 2" from where I wanted it. I know some of it will relax when I cut out the trans tunnel (about 5"x 16" at the bottom). I don't want tension in the panel. I don't have an English wheel to pre stretch the panel before I bead it, is there a way to do this without a wheel? Could I add a bead in the design that would gather up some of the stretched material? Is there a way to shrink this after beading other than heat? I'm not sure how or where to try heat shrinking. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. I don't mind experimenting as this is more of a test piece to see what will work.

 

I keep getting a message that it is not an image file, even when I use the camera icon to post. Used to work fine.

 

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if you dont have a wheel to pre stretch the panel you can use a hammer and dollie, with on dollie hammering to stretch the panel. it takes a while but works

 

Thanks for the reply to my question. On a panel like the firewall, would I give it a 2" crown centred at where the bottom beads are? I have a planishing hammer, so that would be faster. If I just do a spiral pattern with that and a low crown anvil, I can get a nice shallow bowl shape. My question would be if I am better to start with a crowned panel, or if I should just run the hammer and stretch along my planned bead lines?
I sure appreciate what you guys can accomplish with a roller and I am having fun figuring out how to get the results I am after.


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i always just stretch right where the bead goes, and then the panel will be flat after it is bead rolled

 

Make a couple of wide radius dies for your bead roller, you should be able to use it to prestretch since you don't have a wheel...










Where I was using this with a skateboard wheel to add radius to a panel, two wide radius wheels aligned together in your bead roller with pressure applied should work to add some stretch to the panel prior to beading..

 

Great way to do it! Many thanks for taking the time to post it.

 

That's a great idea! Thanks, I'm going to make one right away. I was wanting to have flat panels between the beads, and wondering how to achieve that.


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This is from a customer of ours in Germany

 

Floorpans! 1936 ford

 

Nicely done; gonna be a shame to cover 'em up!

 

I helped a friend build his car a few years ago. We used my Woodward Fab bead roller............he loved it. When we were done, he bought a good bead roller ( Jamey Jordan signature model ) and made a panel for me as a thank you. It is the exact same size as the grill in my car. It was his first real piece he did..............I still marvel at it every time I see it

 

Some recent work:

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^^^^Damn you are good^^^^

 

The seats and door panels look great, but I'd cray if they got dinged.

 

A few more...

 

I'm in awe over the quality work in this thread! Thanks for sharing!!


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Excellent work everyone, Allways amazed when I see the work,Love the Diamond type door panels, Would love to see them done in copper, then aged! Merry Christmas to everyone, Lucky

 

Your wish is my ......... Not mine .

 

Up

 

Anchor Mom.


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Customer design panel.


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Praying Hands


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55 Bel Air.


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Hope everything is going good buddy. We miss you and Kim says hey.


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Friend [Tony Humphries] did my door trims on my pickup. He is doing some pretty nice work from home in Perth West Australia.

 

Batman


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Big Owl


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