English Wheel Build

[FOMOGO]

Got all the butt welds done today except for 2 where the back brace meets in the middle. Wish I had left a gap to fill and get full penetration. I will take the cut off wheel and create a gap Monday so that I can weld it properly.

Progress from today. Not very exciting but it is progress.



This is the butt joint that I need to open up with the cut off wheel.

[SAT]

Thanks for the additional image. Great method for keeping things accurate.
I use CoolTool II whenever I’m working on harder steel or stainless. Any time I’ve got a USA made twist drill working, I use it. It makes tiny amounts of smoke at a pretty low temperature, so you’ve got plenty of warning prior to overheating an expensive drill bit.
Great thread, informative posts everyone, thanks all,
Steve

[FOMOGO]

Making progress. Got the frame finish welded yesterday and it now sits on its own legs.




This morning we started fitting the upper wheel and the jack screw. It was a struggle for some reason so we quit and went to lunch. Came back and cut it all off. We had tacked the jack screw in place and then tried to locate the upper wheel assembly to it. For some reason this just wouldn't come together. Started again but this time we located the upper wheel assembly and then fitted the jack screw to it. Worked like a charm.

Tacked the upper wheel assembly in place and then tacked the jack screw at the top center so that it could be adjusted to line up with the top wheel. This gave it a back tilt and a right - left adjustment.





It all pretty much fell into alignment this way and I tacked the jack screw with 4 good tacks so that it couldn't move. Double checked the alignment. All was good so I pulled the upper wheel and yoke along with the lower wheel and cradle. Welded it all solid and left it to cool. I am very happy with the results so far. There is a lot of adjustment built into this kit. You can adjust the upper wheel right and left a total of 3/4''. Plus the upper yoke has an adjustment set screw on all 4 corners so if there is a slight misalignment it can be adjusted back to zero. Plus the lower yoke has adjustment on the right and left end of the axle that will allow you to tilt the lower anvil to match the upper or to do a tight corner by kicking the anvil up tight on the edge.

Pics of it fully welded.





It should be a very good wheel. It is plenty heavy enough and should have good rigidity with just a minimal amount of flex. A little flex is not a bad thing as it is what makes the wheel work.

Looking forward to getting it home and painted. Should be soon.

Doug

Let me add... In the earlier pics you can see that I welded a stiff leg in between the arms out near the end. The instructions called for 30'' and the arms need to be parallel. "make sure the arms are 30'' apart" I cut a piece of 1'' X 1'' X 1/8'' wall tubing exactly 30''. It fit so well that it had a slight drag all the way from the main upright to the ends. So after all the welding was complete and it had cooled a couple of days.... I measured the spacing on the end. With it still welded in place it measured 30 1/16'' When I cut it out it did relax a little and then measured 30 3/16''. I can live with that. The jack screw has about 16 inches travel in it.... And you only need about .060 to .090 movement as an end result.

[SAT]

Nice work. Only 0.125” of flex after cooling is tremendous.

[FOMOGO]

I recently picked up this English wheel. They were actually a fender iron...... They are from the 40's and came in a set of 3. This one is the smallest.

And yes it is as small as it looks...



This one is on Ebay at the moment. It has been dolled up as they came exactly like the one that I have not painted and chrome plated...



His second one.



I paid $145 for mine and that is the average price for one. These 2 are $360 opening bid this time around. His first listing was $400 opening bid on both of them and $700 Buy It Now for one.... $750 Buy It now for the second one.... Can we say fishing???? Deep sea fishing....

Doug