Grassroots Tubing Beader

My dad was working on a fuel tank filler neck for an old truck. The filler neck was going to connect to a rubber hose so it needed a bead put on it. I built the following tubing beader in about 10 minutes out of a set of crappy chinese locking pliers I had laying around.

I drilled a 5/16" hole in a piece of 1/4" thick plate and cut that in half for the bottom jaw. I welded a piece of a 1/4" bolt to the upper jaw. Make sure that you have the flat area behind the bolt on the upper jaw or it will just curl the edge of the pipe over. I added some weld and filed it down to create that part of the upper jaw.

Here are some pics of the completed tool, and the results on steel tubing, I would think that aluminum would be even easier to work with.

worked pretty well, did you have to heat up the tube to do it?

...and people ask if they really need a welder...

Welder + Harbor Freight Tools = Wide world of highly specialized tools.

Well, if you've got a welder, you can just lay down a bead of weld around the outside of the pipe :) But I like this. I think I need to make one.

I didn't heat up the tube to put the bead on it. It took about two trips around the tube to do it.

That is slick, thanks for sharing

Neat trick. FWIW, the local radiator shop said they charge $5 per bead to roll them on custom stuff. Not nearly as DIY as your Chinese plier mod, but if you only need one or two beads that's an easy, cheap alternative too.

Bryce

A tip, make sure to get large pliers. I made one of these and used the small pair... needs more leverage!