With a cheap bead roller only available on eBay or elsewhere online and the local sheet metal shop not wishing to touch my home-built fuel tanks for fear of litigation, I came up with this rough and ready solution.

 

Thought I would share it with you. In all I got the device refined enough to complete my tank beads in a weekend.

 

I used some wardrobe door rollers and made up a couple of hardwood discs simply by cutting them out of hardwood and sanding them on a bench sander to match the large female roller. Then it was just a matter of devising a method to squeeze the material between the two rollers.

 

So instead of waiting a week for a roller to come in the mail, the job is done and I can move on to the next stage.

 

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I saw your method Dan, and it looks quite effective, but I'm wondering how you did the long runs along the back of the tanks?

Here's a picture of the long bead.

I had 2 sets of blocks.  One for the long ones and one set for the short ones. Here's a picture of the long bead being made.

"Lot of thought and work" in yours and Dan's solutions, good job both. I got lucky and could borrow a bead roller from a friend.

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