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Bead roller for thicker aluminum sheet (0.100-0.125")?

Adamimal

Plastic
Joined
Mar 27, 2021
Hey,

Working on a project where we need to stiffen up some aluminum panels, yet not carry the rib to the end of the sheet. Been looking at corrugation dies for our brake, but the issue is ending the punch before the sheet edge and the tooling cost is significant with no guarantees.

In NZ I've seen large bead rollers rolling roughly the equivalent to 0.125", but they were all home made / shop built by those crafty kiwi's.

Has anyone built one, or are there any commercial units available on the market? Seems like the largest capacity I've been able to find is 14 gauge. Tried reaching to a couple manufacturers of bead rollers for a custom unit, but no luck.

Cheers
 
Feasibility depends a lot on either how "shallow" a bead is acceptable, and/or the formability of the Al alloy and temper.

A better description of the actual bead for you'd like, and the alloy/hardness of Al you're working with will help.
 
5052-H32 aluminum, examples would be a 1" wide 1/8" deep U shape rib, and a 2" wide U shape rib 1/8" deep and a le flat Z. I know it's feasible, I work exclusively in aluminum and have seen it done.
 
Yabutt...the Op said "Roller" so I figure he would need an open ended machine.

He also mentioned corrugation dies and ending the punch before the sheet edge. For aluminum, a piece of hot rolled will sure work as proof of concept, polish as necessary after you modify it to work.
 
My quick thought is that this can be done with a shop-made machine, but you'd need really good stiffness in the frame and linear slide that controls depth, and careful design of the male/female rolls to prevent unevenness and wrinkling of the sheet outside the rolled-in channel.

This isn't a trivial matter in design or construction, if you half-ass it I suspect you won't be happy with the results...
 
Most of the major sheet metal tool companies made power rotary machines capable of this- like for example this Pexto on ebay- Pexto 3617 CRIMP & BEADING MACHINE | eBay

This beast would absolutely do what you need- Used GMC BBM-08E CRIMP BEADING MACHINE, 8 Ga. 3HP 220V 3PH POWER BEAD BENDING MACHINE for sale - 152842

I have done this often on thinner material with a hand crank rotary machine, its easy to mark the stop and start points of the bead, and even the power machines are geared down enough that you can be pretty accurate.

Used Roper Whitney Pexto Rotary Beader Machine - Model 3617D Item #1388 - YouTube
 
Perfect application for a Pullmax machine if the budget allows.

thats just what i was thinking. pullmax, thrump, lenex, should be able to find someone around that that has one. I have a trumpf and i would bet it would have no problem doing that thick of material
 








 
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