Half round Beading

[jordanleeds]

could anyone please reccomend a supplier for 1/2 Steel half round beading ? I have found suppliers online for this in metric form in stainless steel but it would be wasted as it is being painted

[kingwilliam111]

Try half round flat bar

[Jim]

I'm not sure if it is of any help but for the 3/8" half round beading on my 3" Burrell I made up a jig for the metal band saw to guide a suitable sized round MS bar so it was cut in half lengthwise to form the half round beading I needed. The same jig could be used for any diameter.

Jim

[jordanleeds]

Hi Jim, any chance of a photo of your Jig please? anything to save a few quid in the long term

[Jim]

No problem posting a photo of the jig but first I just need to recharge the camera's battery . 

jim

[robmort]

I found it was easiest to make by milling 3mm soft iron wire.
First make it as straight as possible then make some thin packing in the milling vice of a height to grip the wire at a few thou under half its diameter. Set the end mill height a few thou above the vice jaws.
You can do only a vice width at a time but it's quick and you can slide the wire along to do the next section

[Jim]

Having recharged the camera battery I took these photos of the jig I made. It's very basic, crude in fact, but it did the job of creating 3/8" half round beading from a length of 3/8" black mild steel rod. As mentioned earlier I needed the beading for the 3" Burrell 'Devonshire' SCC traction engine I was building

The photos show the jig and in use. I should say that the metal band saw is a very useful item to have and well worth considering if you don't have one.

Edit: I should have mentioned that in use the jig is aligned with the saw blade then clamped to the saw table to prevent further movement while the rod laid in the angle iron guide and is fed into the saw. As you can imagine cutting a metre long rod is not the most exciting job on hand  







Jim