This tool is used to put a bead on an inter cooler pipe,although it will bead any pipe from 15mm to 125mm.
I first made one of these for my son,he has a Fiat Coupe and bought a universal inter cooler kit for it.As we all
know universal means it won't fit anything.Since then I have made a few for his mates and people on tuning forums.
Engineering is my hobby,in my home workshop I make all sorts of tools, camera accessories,steam engines. many tools
for the coupe.Everything I make is first designed in a cad program,that way I only make things once instead of
prototyping as I go,If it works in cad it will work when I make it.
Let me tell you what you will not get,you will not get fancy packaging,you will not get powder coating (it only
comes off when you clamp it in a vice,work mate ect) I don't even paint them.
What you will get is a tool that works,the wheel and former are made from oil tempered steel everything else is
blue steel.
This video demonstraights my pipe beader,this is the original version with a larger femail forming wheel. A word or two about forming the bead.The process of forming a bead is a friction process because of this there is a tiny amount of endfloat in the handle to allow for slight expansion due to heat. It is not necessary to make a huge bead you only need a couple of milimeters,if you try to put a 2mm bead in 1mm wall pipe the beader will become an affective pipe cutter because you will over streatch the pipe. The picture below is 50mm x 1.5mm steel exhaust pipe, It's thicker than I recommend. I just used it in the development of the beader. If it will bead this it will easly bead intercooler pipe.  |
 The pipe above is aluminium from a roller shutter, It is 100mm x 1.5mm. Beaded just to show capacity.
 | This is the latest incarnation of my pipe beader.The main differance between this one and the original is the size of the femail wheel,it is smaller than the first one and the reason for this is to increase the number of turns of the handle it take to make one turn of the pipe.It now take 3.5 turns of the handle instead of 2.5,I find this makes it slightly easier to get the bead started.The design of the handle has also been tidied up.
  This pipe is 22mm x 0.75mm stainless steel. I just used this pipe during testing, it came from a Vax vacuum cleaner. |
This pipe is 20mm x 1mm Steel. The ruler is to show the size of the beader.
One guy complained after recieving his that it looked bigger on the video.
Just a few pointers to guide you along the way to a perfect bead.
1, It may be necessary to remove paint from the tube.
2, Only turn the tension screw about a 10 deg turn at a time.
You can't bead a flat spot
3, It may help to heat the pipe with a blow lamp to make it easier to bead,this is especially so with aluminium pipe as aluminium hardens on it's own over time. Just heat it to a dull red colour and let it cool naturally.
4, If the pipe has a seam file it flat. If you don't the bead will split at the seam.
5,You only need the bead OD to be 2-3mm larger than the pipe OD.
6, If the pipe walks off the former in the early stages just turn the handle in the opposite direction
7, If the pipe does not turn with former help it a little by turning the pipe by hand. This may only be needed during the first part of the beading process.
8, Put 1 drop of oil on the bottom roller and I do mean 1,Cooking oil will do just fine.
9, Please note you have not bought an industrial Strength floor standing tool costing hundreds of pounds.(the cheapest I have seen is £255 + vat)Take your time to form the bead and if you have to turn the pipe by hand that's OK.Practice on a piece of scrap to get the hang of it,There is a knack.
10, The crossbar on the pressure screw is it's size deliberately,it is still made from 2.5mm tool steel. If you bend it it's because you are trying to make the bead to big or your tightening it more than I suggest.
The bead (2-3mm)is to stop the pipe coming off, it's the clamp that seals the pipe.
The small piece of pipe in the parcel is a test piece done with your beader.
Finaly you may notice the femail wheel is smaller than the one in the video,The reason for this is the new wheel take 3 1/2 turns of the handle for each turn of a 75mm pipe as oposed to 2 with the larger wheel.This make it slightly easer to form the bead.
I have updated the video to demonstrate the beader with the smaller female Wheel.
Any problems Email me and I will help if I can.
andromeda431@hotmail.co.uk
