Intercooler Tubing Bead Roller

[Tom]

I'm working on some overdue intercooler pipes I promised someone here and thought I'd try my hand at making a YouTube "short" showing Vibrant's very cool little bead roller. It makes a textbook perfect bead on the end of intercooler pipes.

[gruhsy]

Nice

I was always curious how effective that tool was.

[Tom]

Nice

I was always curious how effective that tool was.

In the past, I use the bead roller on top of the 3-in-1 brake press, but this tool makes a perfect bead every time with virtually no skill needed, which I can't say for the 3-in-1 machine. I just checked and see the price has more than doubled since I got mine though -- about $300 most places. Jegs appears to sell a knock-off for half the price, but hard to know if it works as well. It's one of those single-purpose tools that is hard to justify unless you use it a lot, but it sure makes a nice bead.

[gruhsy]

I should get my ass in gear and go visit Unobtainium welding and see what they have for pipes.

I could build a bunch as I don’t think anyone makes any anymore for our cars.

You should see the terrible new pipes that came with the red 86 car I bought.

I don’t know who my old neighbor contacted to build them but the inside of them are a joke.

I will have to cut and re-weld them to fix them.

I will post a few pics if I remember.

[michaelmount123]

So.... Tom, would you like to offset the cost of your bead roller and help the community at the same time? Offer to put beads on folks pipes! I'd pay for the service since I can't justify cost of the tool. It certainly does a nice job.

[Tom]

So.... Tom, would you like to offset the cost of your bead roller and help the community at the same time? Offer to put beads on folks pipes! I'd pay for the service since I can't justify cost of the tool. It certainly does a nice job.

Of course! No fee necessary for active Carpokeans, just cover shipping and I'm happy to do them.

[michaelmount123]

Such a deal! Very kind offer, Tom! Thank you.

[Thom]

Fantastic work Tom, I'm pretty sure those pipes will be the nicest parts in the engine bay of the lucky guy who is getting them... Btw, does the video suggest you do that running on laughing gas?

[stitch2k1]

Of course! No fee necessary for active Carpokeans, just cover shipping and I'm happy to do them.

I might take you up on that. I got a 951 motor I think I'm going to use in a car in the near future. I'll probably make a standalone post about that tonight, trying to plan out that project for a simple 300whp as cheap as possible. Lol

[Dave W.]

Nice vid. That tool also rolls a nice bead on flat sheetmetal, too. This can be handy if you're repairing a corroded battery tray or any other sheetmetal project and need to add extra strength and stiffness. It can only roll a bead 1/2" from the edge so it's not great for larger pieces.