I was seeing what you guys are using for bead rollers. I looked at some of the previous threads with the hf, and vibrant ones. I'm wanting to do a bead on 16ga. stainless. Have any of you done it with the hf and vibrant ones. I noticed it says up to 18ga. in their descriptions, but I'd like one that could do 16ga that doesn't cost 3k. lol.

 

whatever you get, id recommend a manual one over a powered one

 

Yes, I couldn't afford a powered one. Kinda leanin towards the hf one being it looks like it can be reinforced as seen on here. but wondering if anybody has any experience with the vibrant one. seems to take up less space, but might not work as well as a "modded" hf.

 

we have an old manual one that looks like its from the 1970's. about 4 years ago, we splurged and got a Mittle Bros. powered one...that is laying in the corner now and the old titanic looking manual one is up on the bench.

i know there are quite a few people that have had good luck with the hf one with a little reinforcement.

 

Yeah, goin for the hf one and reinforce it. The vibrant one doesn't look like you can do sheet metal panels very far in from the edge. Mostly looks like it is for charge piping. Thanks for your input.

 

http://www.beadform.com/

The #2 HD or #3. We've used these since 2003. We replace the guts about once every 5 years from just massive use.

 

i think you can use anyone just you need to make more pass with less pressure than alu or copper.