• The Biplane Forum is a large global active community of biplane builders, owners and pilots. From Pitts to Skybolts, to older barnstormers, all types are welcome. In addition to our active community, our content boasts exhaustive technical information which is often sought after for projects and maintenance. This information has accumulated over the 12+ years the forum has been in existence.

    The Biplane Forum is a private community. Subscriptions are only $49.99/year or $6.99/month to gain access to this great community and unmatched source of information not found anywhere else on the web. We are also a great resource for non biplane users, since many GA aircraft are built the same way (fabric and tube construction). Annual membership also comes with two BiplaneForum.com decals.



bead rolling

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

JimW

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2006
Messages
1,149
Reaction score
1
I saw the other post about bead rolling and decided to report our progress on our wing tank. The Delta plans call for an 18 gallon wing tank with four baffles and beads rolled each side. This we presume will help with distortion while welding.

We bought an 18" bead roller from Harbor Freight on sale for $129.00. There is definitely a learning curve with this tool! In fact we wrecked our first piece of sheet aluminum. Fortunately it wasn't for the skybolt. We overtightened the tool and the dies mangled the skin. Also the edges of the female die are pretty sharp and left nasty scratches on the underside. We chucked the die in the mini-lathe and filed and sanded the sharp corner off. Then we learned to hand tighten the bolt that compresses the dies followed by a prescribed number of turns for the results we wanted. This just happened to be 2 1/4 turns for us. Below are two pics of the wing tank. The first is before beading and the second is after the beading was finished. I will snap more pics of our progress soon. Right now we are waiting on parts to run our internal vent line. Then we will try our hand at riveting.
20070710_073253_rolled_beads.JPG
20070710_064058_wing_tank_ready.JPG
 

Latest posts

Back
Top