So when I took my 1950 GMC 2T apart for my latest build what should come rolling out from under the seat but a chunk of 3" bar stock. I have been wanting to get more dies for the bead roller for a while but have been to cheap to pull the trigger. So I have had an extra 1/2 hour here and there and filled my time with making some dies. Are they less expensive than buying them? Not at all. I didnot spend any out of pocket cash making them but I did spend about 6 hours total along with electricity, welding gas, supplies etc. that makes these more expensive. But they are just what I needed to keep my adled brain in line and I can make any profile I want.
Cutting Bar stock
holes bored and 1/2 of them broached
start of my tipping die
finished tipping die
Test panel of the tipping die with the complete wrong lower! Still need a skate board wheel to finish the set so I just used the 1/4" bead lower to run this. This was done with 20 seconds of tipping and 30 second of hammer work on the anvil.
Cutting Bar stock
holes bored and 1/2 of them broached
start of my tipping die
finished tipping die
Test panel of the tipping die with the complete wrong lower! Still need a skate board wheel to finish the set so I just used the 1/4" bead lower to run this. This was done with 20 seconds of tipping and 30 second of hammer work on the anvil.
