What sort of bead spacing have you found to work for cabin floor panels?

[rcx132]

I don't have much metal forming experience.

I'm going for aluminium panels to build the floor, firewall and cabin area of my trials 4x4 buggy. What sort of bead spacings have you found to work? I'm planning on using a cheap eBay/Vevor bead roller.

I'm keen to keep the weight low, as it's more of a half go-kart hybrid than a true 4x4. The 2.0 Fox shocks loose effectiveness the closer I get to their ~200kg per corner capacity. What's the thinnest alu I can get away with? I think modern cars use 0.8mm sheet steel, which equates to 1.2mm in aluminium. Thank you!

 

[Wildefalcon]

More beads, thinner steel?

 

[rcx132]

I've just seen that the bead rollers can create a step, so I can roll a rectangle and recreate factory type swages. I'll just copy their spacing

 

[Smallfry]

I've just seen that the bead rollers can create a step, so I can roll a rectangle and recreate factory type swages. I'll just copy their spacing

Did you buy the swager in the end ? If so, any comments on it ? I need to do some in 1.2 steel.

 

[rcx132]

Did you buy the swager in the end ? If so, any comments on it ? I need to do some in 1.2 steel.

Gosh I don't remember what I even needed this for. Maybe I was thinking thru options for the floor of my buggy, but I used aluminium tread plate in the end.

 

[Smallfry]

Gosh I don't remember what I even needed this for. Maybe I was thinking thru options for the floor of my buggy, but I used aluminium tread plate in the end.

So thats a no then

 

[Matchless]

I have just motorised a Vevor (generic Chinese) deep through bead roller, I started a thread, there are many "how to modify" threads on youtube,