HF English Wheel

[goodfellow]

My wife gave me a "Tool IOU" for Christmas. I had no idea what it was for, but yesterday this box shows up on the porch.

It's the small HF English wheel. I was skeptical at first, but the anvils, overall frame and adjusting mechanism are pretty well made. If I stiffen up the "C" frame along with the backbone, this may well be a nice wheel. The anvil and upper wheel align straight and run true.

I saw the receipt, and she purchased the wheel for $149 in December. At that price I guess it was out of stock until now. I've never seen HF sell E-Wheels at that price.

It only took 1 1/2 hours to assemble and adjust.

Anyone else have one of these?

[ed_v]

I've been interested in this one as well. I'd like to hear some thoughts on it.

Ed

[nonhog]

Try Metalmeet.com lots of ideas and talk about those . Some good ideas how to upgrade them . etc. I wish I had one ! Good for you !

[autoace]

I dont do alot of sheet metal work, but when the occasion arises that tool would be great. I like the tricked out one on Stacey David's Gearz. Let us know how it works out.

[goodfellow]

Well, it does need some work. I doubt the "C" frame is very stiff. But, comparing this model to some of the smaller and more expensive Eastwood offerings, this one comes out ahead. A little welding, and a few pieces of square tubing should make this very useable.

[autoace]

I bet this one will go on sale in the future.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=65619

[goodfellow]

I bet this one will go on sale in the future.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=65619

It's nice!! I just don't have the room for something that big.

BTW -- The Metalmeet group really is "down" on the smaller yellow HF e-wheel. But like anything from HF, you need to make improvements in order to make it function properly.

Heck, for $149 you couldn't buy the steel for the frame and the anvils. I'm willing to put a few days work into making this thing function better.

[Bolster]

What's an English Wheel used for? (I'm ignorant!)

[brianpgriset]

It's nice!! I just don't have the room for something that big.

BTW -- The Metalmeet group really is "down" on the smaller yellow HF e-wheel. But like anything from HF, you need to make improvements in order to make it function properly.

Heck, for $149 you couldn't buy the steel for the frame and the anvils. I'm willing to put a few days work into making this thing function better.

The biggest shortcoming the metalmeet guys see is that the anvils are "true radius" anvils. This means there is no flats on the top of the anvil. Often times, with higher wheeling pressures, you'll be left with track marks on the steel your working. If you back of the pressure you can usually avoid the track marks. Also, true radius anvils are supposedly harder to predict how much stretch your actually getting while working metal because you have a point contact, again with high pressure.

You are right though, for 150 clams, to make your own you dont get very far. Infact I have a thread I started in the Fab section here where I made my own upper wheel and lower anvils. The 3" diam x 36" long drop of 4140 steel cost me $128:). The 8" diam x 3" wide 4140 drop cost me $70 for the upper wheel. Then I had to turn them into anvils/wheels.

Check out www.hoosierpattern.com for some pictures of anvils with flats if your curious. They are highly regarded by MM peeps.

OH, and here is a good thread about some improvments a guy did to his wheel, looks like he did a good job:

http://www.jamesriser.com/Machinery/EnglishWheel/Finally.html

[goodfellow]

Good stuff Brian -- thanks for the info. Looks like Mr. Riser has a handle on the problems