Thread: Radiator Tube Bead Forming

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Had someone stop by the shop needing to add a bead to the end of the aluminum tubing he had to install in his Cobra project. He had trimmed one end for a better fit and needed to replace the bead for the radiator hose...





......to match the other end.





The dies on the bead roller were much too large in diameter, so I thought to make a manual device out of a pair of vise grips... Once the teeth start to wear these make ideal candidates for purpose-built tools. For the punch part of the tool, started with a thick 5/8 washer and gave the edges a nice radius in the lathe.





The vise grip bottom teeth were welded in and sanded smoothed to provide a flat area for the punch to push against (for less marking of the tubing), then an 1/8" thick 3" dia cut off wheel provided the recess in the lower jaw of the vise grips.





The washer was notched and bent to better fit the vise grips for welding....











Masking tape added to use as a reference/stop mark to align against end of vise grip jaw.





The vise grips with their adjustable jaw setting work well to make one revolution, then adjust tighter, etc..





Finished product....

WoW hit one out of the park on that one. great idea

Very nice, good thinking hope you will not mind that I keep this in my head for later... thanks for sharing.

That is slick. Nice job.

Thanks for the comments guys, I had been wanting a tool to perform this function but could never justify the cost just to have the tool sit in a drawer. The vise grips, which I bought used for about $5, made much more sense.

Super idea! Visegrip has some special purpose tools that evolved from these types of solutions you may want to mail the idea back to yourself. But dont open the envelope!

neat way to do it. a woodruff key would work to for beading forming as well . friend has a very old aviation kit for beading tubing when i need it i see him .he told me he gave one kit away i was going to make up one with rollers that would hold a ball bearing for a former

I have one of those roller kits for forming those beads but i think you have come up with a better way to do it. Good thinking Robert!