My take on an English wheel

[Fatbrosracing]

I was given a partially completed wheel frame by a good friend. I decided to reshape it a bit, and although I have no use for a wheel this large, I couldn't see the point in cutting the frame down.

[Fatbrosracing]

I decided that because the frame was this large, if I made the front face flat and parallel, and if I bolted the wheel components to the frame, then I could use the frame with interchangeable tooling. A louver tool and planishing hammer are two possibilities.

[Fatbrosracing]

I have incorporated some cast iron wheels from an old floor jack in the rear, so the frame is movable.

[Fatbrosracing]

With the frame complete I started on the wheel components. The lower housing is trailer hitch receiver tube. The height adjuster is from an old vise and I will replace the handle with a wheel at a later date.

[Fatbrosracing]

The lower wheel mount I fabricated with a quick release. The riser blocks are aluminum, I'll see how they go, I may have to make them from something else. The anvil wheels were purchased complete with bearings and shaft from "Metalman Tools" here in Australia.

[Fatbrosracing]

The upper wheel is a cast iron dumpster wheel that I refaced and polished. Test run on a piece of aluminum scrap and all seemed well, time for paint.

[Fatbrosracing]

Painted in hammer-finish grey and had all the parts and fasteners zinc plated. I still have to make a lower turn wheel and a rack for the anvils. Oh yeah and I'll need to learn to use it I guess, I know the basics, I just need to put the miles up on it.

[Beaumont67]

Great sturdy design and fabrication....size of unit, wall thickness of material ?
- thks.

[Fatbrosracing]

Main frame is made of 3 x 4 with 1/4 inch wall, everything else is what ever I had laying around, which is why the upper and lower braces are a different size. Glad you like it.

[charger891]

nice look and design!!

[NASTYZEN]

Looks Great. Not an item you use often but they are an excellent tool for those curvy body work jobs.
Watch out for your thumbs!!

[racingtadpole]

Nice, thanks for the supplier tip too.
Wondered if you were Aussie when I spotted the colouring on the Argoshield bottle.

[mike13u]

Excellent work! I'm sure it will serve you well for years to come

[geologist]

Nice work! I like the changes you made. Seems like it would make it a hell of a lot more useful.

[PCO6]

Originally Posted by Fatbrosracing

... Oh yeah and I'll need to learn to use it I guess, I know the basics, I just need to put the miles up on it.

Great job all round. I like the way you added the rear wheels and using a dumpster wheel is a nice touch - looks great.

As for learning how to use it, I have a mass production cheapo and am learning too. I can make all kinds of things with it. The hard part is making a second one to match!

[Krokodil]

Very nice!

[NASTYZEN]

Originally Posted by PCO6

I can make all kinds of things with it. The hard part is making a second one to match!

If you look closely at those old English cars you'll note that no two are quite the same.The same could be said when looking at the fenders from each side.

I once saw an old war documentary where you could see a bunch of people making V-2 rocket skins with English wheels. A little ironic.....
Wounder if they flew strait.

[joeswamp]

That's one great feature of automobiles -- hard to see both sides at once, so there's no need for perfect symmetry ;-)

[projectPONY]

Great job and great design. If you don't mind me asking, how much $$ in material do you think you have tied up in it? I know you said some of the material you had laying around but if you had to take a guess. I've been on the fence about purchasing one for quite some time but have often thought about just building one. I've got a friend that has one of the HF specials and he can't stop complaining about it, and I just can't justify spending the $$ for one of the real quality units.

[Fatbrosracing]

I'm from Australia, so the dollar value doesn't really equate, I only bought one piece new ( the front leg ) everything else I already had. A few mates give me their steel left overs, because they know I'll use it, I even search though the scrap pile at the steel shop. Once it's cleaned and painted it all looks the same. I make my own stuff for my enjoyment, more than saving money, and it's fun to make something useful from scraps.