I bought some aluminum pipe that came with the ends bead rolled, big help btw.

Well, if you have to cut an end off, and don't have easy access to a bead roller or tig welder, you can use this easy trick.



As you can see the right side has the factory rolled bead, and the bottom is where I cut it.

I had seen this done years ago, but my cousin reminded me about it just the other day. A cheap harbor freight bead roller is still like $99 dollars, and most decent tig welders will charge ~$50/hr so this comes in as a very inexpensive solution.

I bought a set of vice grips @ harbor fright for $2.99
A 3" muffler clamp (sized per your piping dimensions) @ Auto Zone/Advanced for $2.99
Old washer laying around $Free



I first off I cleaned and prepped the vice grips to weld the muffler clamp to one of the jaw sides. I then tried to use the U bolt as a press on the bottom side of the other jaw, however, it proved to be to much to press into and I had to cut it down and weld on a washer. Which is the way I saw everyone else do it online, and now I see why, lol.

Finished product below.



My bead is on the right, with the factory bead on the left.

Entire project took me 20 mins maybe.

Overall, for a total cost of $6.00 bucks and similar results to a "real" beadroller, I am very satisfied.

 

Nice!
I just wish you would have showed us how to use it for those of us that dont know how.
I love DIY's

 

Put it on the pipe and squeeze until it crimps it down, then just continue around the pipe until done.

Took all of 2 mins. Now, keep in mind I wouldn't want to do every end like this, but the 2 ends I had to do, turned out just great, I practiced on a spare piece I had to get it down before I fubar'd my good stuff.

Pretty easy imo.

 

please give credit to the person who originally came up with this

 

I made mine about a year ago. Got the idea from a DSM forum. I think it'd be hard to find out who originally came up with this one.

 

Read the thread ***, I said I have seen it done years ago. Never once did I declare it was my idea.

 

Cool idea! Wish I knew this a few years ago when I did this as a job; would have helped in a few of those "pinches" I got myself into.

...as for giving credit to the person, of course credit is deserved; however, I doubt any intellectual rights are being violated here. In other words; REALLY???LOL

 

That's a nice idea. I was wondering, it may work similarly with a c-clamp. The c-clamp may be able to put more force on it (for steel and other less malable materials).

 

Good idea, in theory it would work the same I'd think. I have a 12ton press, you could even rig something up and use it to crimp the material.

Several possibilities.

 

Now I can usually get the hang of things by reading a DIY thread. This on on the other hand, is horrible! I can't, for the life of me, understand how to do this. I would really like to though. Could you please take some better pics, and explain a little bit more? Maybe a link? How is the piping flared? How does the clamp work on the inside of the piping? Please enlighten me!

 

Clamp gets welded to the inner top part of the vice grip, the washer gets welded to the bottom part of the vice grip. The washer part gets inserted into the opening of the pipe, where the clamp is positioned on top of the pipe. Squeeze the vice grip closed. The clamp part is pressed firmly against the outside edge of the pipe, and the washer is pressed against the inside part of the pipe. With enough squeezing force, the washer forces the metal up, bending it into the crevice of the clamp.

Here's a link to one from a DSM forum: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/cust...bead-tool.html

 

i built one of these and for 1-2 ends its ok, but i thought about building something that i could tap w/ a hammer as i rolled the pipe around... it would need to be hinged and the "muffler clamp" would be clamped in a vise while the "washer" would be welded to some sort of punch so that you would just tap it as it turns....

 

Please post a video

 

Thanks, thats what I used to go by.