Dcal
Member
- Messages
- 3,859
- Location
- Antrim Northern Ireland
I've been thinking about making an English Wheel for a long time.
Long is a relative term.
It seems like a long time but the truth is I had no idea that such a thing existed until I started reading this forum.
The only wheels I've seen in the flesh were at MPH's wheeling course in Cornwall when I went for a beginners course last year.
Even before the course I wanted one, after it i was sure I needed one in my life.
I want to make wings for one of my next project, (if I ever get around to it) so I can even convince myself it's a sensible idea. (I know it's not)
Being the sort of person I am I decided to make one from scratch.
Wheels are very thin on the ground over here (I still don't know of anyone that has one locally) and since I know nothing about them nor have anything to compare with, I won't really know if it's any use until I finish it. (and even then I'll just be guessing.)
This should steer me in the direction of a tried and tested design but where's the fun in that.
I would like to go back to MPH when I've got to grips with my wheel and compare it to a proper one, but this is a real learning curve.
When you start looking, there is lots of information on making wheels.
On allmetalshaping.com there is a tutorial on building the imperial range of wheels.
http://allmetalshaping.com/showthread.php?t=980
On metalmeet.com Anders Norgaard went to the bother of providing dimensions for a range of throat depths so it seemed churlish to ignore the work he put in.
http://www.metalmeet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9061&highlight=english+wheel+plans
I could have copied @Burdekin excellent looking Scottish Wheel made out of profiled plate on this very forum.
https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/scottishish-wheel-build.39166/
But when I pulled a 3m length of 200 x 150 x 10mm box out of a skip I thought it would be a good (and more importantly) cheap basis for a box section frame.
If it turns out pants I can always weigh it in and start again.
It will also be a great practice piece for welding butt joints so it won't all be lost if i do.
I started with Ander's drawing of Kerry Pinkerton's Imperial wheel.
I don't do cad or sketch up so pen and paper is my preferred tools for sketching.
I do know people that do and could get them to draw a mm precise drawing but my fabrication skill are such that I would not be able to make it to the dimensions so whats the point?
I could just make it as drawn, but I do like to change things just for the sake of it.
I can't really understand people who buy plans to build simple stuff, but that's just me.
I like the tapered strut for the lower anvil mount, and it looks similar to a Ranalah Wheel (like Geoff's at MPH)
I'm not so taken with the horizontal top beam, which looks heavy and out of proportion to the lower member.
The Americans do seem to like very stiff wheels that can apply massive pressure, so I can understand why it is sized as shown, but the cast iron wheels all seem to have a fair amount of spring built in so I thought I'd arch and taper this as well.
Cast is stiffer than steel but it is also a lot weaker so there will be a lot of trial and error here for me.
What I ended up with when I decided on height and throat depth and used the section size I have was this.
It has a throat or just over a meter and an over all height of 1.7m so is a big lump and maybe not stiff enough but I can add stiffness if I need to, or as I said scrap it and start again.
All the welds will be full penetration (or as close as I can make them)
No doubt it will change in the making and on reflection I've just copied Geoff's Ranalah, but that's not much of a surprise and maybe no bad thing.
We will see.
It would be great to get advice and comments from experts and amateurs alike.
Long is a relative term.
It seems like a long time but the truth is I had no idea that such a thing existed until I started reading this forum.
The only wheels I've seen in the flesh were at MPH's wheeling course in Cornwall when I went for a beginners course last year.
Even before the course I wanted one, after it i was sure I needed one in my life.
I want to make wings for one of my next project, (if I ever get around to it) so I can even convince myself it's a sensible idea. (I know it's not)
Being the sort of person I am I decided to make one from scratch.
Wheels are very thin on the ground over here (I still don't know of anyone that has one locally) and since I know nothing about them nor have anything to compare with, I won't really know if it's any use until I finish it. (and even then I'll just be guessing.)
This should steer me in the direction of a tried and tested design but where's the fun in that.
I would like to go back to MPH when I've got to grips with my wheel and compare it to a proper one, but this is a real learning curve.
When you start looking, there is lots of information on making wheels.
On allmetalshaping.com there is a tutorial on building the imperial range of wheels.
http://allmetalshaping.com/showthread.php?t=980
On metalmeet.com Anders Norgaard went to the bother of providing dimensions for a range of throat depths so it seemed churlish to ignore the work he put in.
http://www.metalmeet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9061&highlight=english+wheel+plans
I could have copied @Burdekin excellent looking Scottish Wheel made out of profiled plate on this very forum.
https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/scottishish-wheel-build.39166/
But when I pulled a 3m length of 200 x 150 x 10mm box out of a skip I thought it would be a good (and more importantly) cheap basis for a box section frame.
If it turns out pants I can always weigh it in and start again.
It will also be a great practice piece for welding butt joints so it won't all be lost if i do.
I started with Ander's drawing of Kerry Pinkerton's Imperial wheel.
I don't do cad or sketch up so pen and paper is my preferred tools for sketching.
I do know people that do and could get them to draw a mm precise drawing but my fabrication skill are such that I would not be able to make it to the dimensions so whats the point?
I could just make it as drawn, but I do like to change things just for the sake of it.
I can't really understand people who buy plans to build simple stuff, but that's just me.
I like the tapered strut for the lower anvil mount, and it looks similar to a Ranalah Wheel (like Geoff's at MPH)
I'm not so taken with the horizontal top beam, which looks heavy and out of proportion to the lower member.
The Americans do seem to like very stiff wheels that can apply massive pressure, so I can understand why it is sized as shown, but the cast iron wheels all seem to have a fair amount of spring built in so I thought I'd arch and taper this as well.
Cast is stiffer than steel but it is also a lot weaker so there will be a lot of trial and error here for me.
What I ended up with when I decided on height and throat depth and used the section size I have was this.
It has a throat or just over a meter and an over all height of 1.7m so is a big lump and maybe not stiff enough but I can add stiffness if I need to, or as I said scrap it and start again.
All the welds will be full penetration (or as close as I can make them)
No doubt it will change in the making and on reflection I've just copied Geoff's Ranalah, but that's not much of a surprise and maybe no bad thing.
We will see.
It would be great to get advice and comments from experts and amateurs alike.