I've been tasked to make wheels for a Cinderella-type pumpkin coach which is
to receive gift cards at my daughter's wedding (no 3520 in my near future!).
I had the idea to turn a piece round, then, using the index, rest and boring
guide, bore through-and-through, assuring alignment of the spokes for rim
and hub. Didn't work well at all, as the bit followed the grain, resulting
in a visible misalignment.

Anyone out there build spoked wheels short of the way they used to, by
boring the felloes and hub on the press, then gluing up? I'm under sixty
days to the wedding, so I do have some experiment time before I have to
settle for solid. If only the bills could all be paid within the same time
frame....

George wrote:

I've been tasked to make wheels for a Cinderella-type pumpkin coach which
is to receive gift cards at my daughter's wedding (no 3520 in my near
future!). I had the idea to turn a piece round, then, using the index,
rest and boring guide, bore through-and-through, assuring alignment of the
spokes for rim
and hub. Didn't work well at all, as the bit followed the grain,
resulting in a visible misalignment.

Anyone out there build spoked wheels short of the way they used to, by
boring the felloes and hub on the press, then gluing up? I'm under sixty
days to the wedding, so I do have some experiment time before I have to
settle for solid. If only the bills could all be paid within the same
time frame....

I just finished a spinning wheel for my daughter (we do the oddest things
for our kids!). You might want to use the technique I used on it. Make
the rim of the wheel from four segments, (you could use six or eight, I
would recommend 8). Cut the miters on the corners and dry fit the blank
for the wheel. With the blank firmly clamped, tack a piece from one outside
corner to the other, with shims in the other two corners, and flip the
piece over. Take one of the cutoffs from the miter cuts and place it dead
center on the piece you tacked across. The, using a tramel on your router,
rout out the inside radius of the wheel. Draw a tangent the outside
radius, which you have not cut yet, and divide it into four pieces(you will
have three marks on the line). Ignore the center line, the other two
indicate the location of your spoke holes. Continue the line around to the
freshly routed inside and center. Align the table of your drill press with
the angle on the rim piece and drill with a fostner bit.

On the hub. IF you have an indexing lathe, turn the piece for the hub and
build a jig to fit over the hub, with a hole drilled for your marking awl,
which you will then center over the hub piece while it is mounted in the
lathe. Set your index and punch a mark with an awl, rotate 90 degrees and
make you second mark and continue for the other two. After you have all
four marked. Move the jig and the indexing pin, find center between two of
your marks and mark it. The replace the jig and center the awl over the
freshly marked point. Index and mark the four holes at the 45 degree
points. Then remove from lathe and drill with a fostner bit.

It is easier than it sounds. One thing to watch out for is that you get
your wheel blank absolutely flat when you are gluing it up. Apply pressure
from all four sides (naturally) but also clamp the pieces to a perfectly
flat surface also. (I will do this next time :-))

Deb

"Dr. Deb" wrote in message
...

Anyone out there build spoked wheels short of the way they used to, by
boring the felloes and hub on the press, then gluing up?


I just finished a spinning wheel for my daughter (we do the oddest things
for our kids!). You might want to use the technique I used on it.

SNIP


Sounds like traditional wheelwright technique. My lathe has indexes for six
spokes, so that'd be the way I go. Six felloes, center bored.

Thanks, though you _do_ know that wagon wheels are made with a "belly," for
tracking, don't you? I watched Roy's show on wheelmaking twice.

George, if you run out of time to make the coach, use a shoe that fits
Cinderella.

Congratulations to the groom, best wishes to the bride... and courage to
her Mom & Dad.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

"George" (clip) I had the idea to turn a piece round, then, using the index,
rest and boring guide, bore through-and-through, assuring alignment of the
spokes for rim and hub. Didn't work well at all, as the bit followed the
grain, resulting in a visible misalignment. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If I understand you right, you are trying to make disk wheels, with round
bored holes through the web, to create "spokes." I can picture these,
perhaps painted in a bright red, with fancy pin-striping, kind of like a
circus wagon. Very attractive.

The first suggestion I will make is to find some wood that has hardly any
grain structure (like pine) so the drill does not have a soft off-center
path to follow. I would use a close-fitting drill guide attached to the
toolpost, to minimize drift. And, I would use a Forstner bit--they have
very little tendency to wander.

Another possibility, if your lathe is big enough, is to make an off-center
jam chuck, so you can TURN the holes. By rotating each wheel to six
different positions in the chuck, you will create the spoke pattern you are
looking for. This also has the advantage that the holes do not have to be
straight-sided, so the wheels will look lighter, and more "sophisticated."

If nothing else works, you could just give in to the problem, and make the
wheels out-of-round, like a cartoon coach. And never reveal that it was a
"cop-out." It was a humorous innovation.

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"George" (clip) I had the idea to turn a piece round, then, using the
index,
rest and boring guide, bore through-and-through, assuring alignment of the
spokes for rim and hub. Didn't work well at all, as the bit followed the
grain, resulting in a visible misalignment. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If I understand you right, you are trying to make disk wheels, with round
bored holes through the web, to create "spokes." I can picture these,
perhaps painted in a bright red, with fancy pin-striping, kind of like a
circus wagon. Very attractive.


No, I was boring through the disk from the edge, after which I separated
first the rim with perforations ready for the spokes, then turned down to,
and parted off the hub, also perforated. The wood was cherry, which isn't
too hard, but six inch holes at 3/16 don't seem possible without travel.

Second attempt was solids and the scrollsaw, but you pretty much have to
leave the spokes broad going across the grain, so not too pretty. Looks
like the thing should be rigged as a drozhky, with a troika up front, or
something like the tumbrel that took Marie Antoinette to the Guillotine.
Come to think of it, maybe Craig would get the humor....

Plan "C" goes to cross-laminated disk and scrollsaw, reserving as "D"
jigging the drillpress and standard wheelwright technique in miniature

"George" wrote: No, I was boring through the disk from the edge,(clip) but
six inch holes at 3/16 don't seem possible without travel. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I think you are right--6" deep holes 3/16 diameter are going to wander. But
why not try me idea--a thin disk wheel with six holes through the web, like
a circus or popcorn wagon? Seems fairly easy, and I think it would look
elegant if painted and striped.

Leo Lichtman wrote:
"George" wrote: No, I was boring through the disk from the edge,(clip) but
six inch holes at 3/16 don't seem possible without travel. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I think you are right--6" deep holes 3/16 diameter are going to wander. But
why not try me idea--a thin disk wheel with six holes through the web, like
a circus or popcorn wagon? Seems fairly easy, and I think it would look
elegant if painted and striped.


Or a thicker disk, bore the spoke holes then turn thinner in
the mid-portion leaving a thicker hub and rim. I did similar
wheels for little red wagons to hold salt and pepper shakers
for the table. They turned out well, but I gave them all
away so can't send you a picture.

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

My wife said I never listen to her. At
least I think that's what she said.





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how big a wheel do you need?
if 1-3/4 or 2-3/4 will work look at the links below
http://woodnshop.com/CRAFT_TOY_WHEELS_AXLES_.htm

http://woodnshop.com/craft_images/wheelwagon1.jpg


On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 10:18:58 -0500, "George" george@least wrote:

I've been tasked to make wheels for a Cinderella-type pumpkin coach which is
to receive gift cards at my daughter's wedding (no 3520 in my near future!).
I had the idea to turn a piece round, then, using the index, rest and boring
guide, bore through-and-through, assuring alignment of the spokes for rim
and hub. Didn't work well at all, as the bit followed the grain, resulting
in a visible misalignment.

Anyone out there build spoked wheels short of the way they used to, by
boring the felloes and hub on the press, then gluing up? I'm under sixty
days to the wedding, so I do have some experiment time before I have to
settle for solid. If only the bills could all be paid within the same time
frame....