Scratch Built English Wheel Anvils

[brianpgriset]

Just thought I'd share a little project I've had going on for about 4 weeks. I've wanted an wheeling machine for awhile, and planned on making the frame and adjuster and purchasing the anvils. Well, the ME department got a new building and along with it a student machine shop that we are allowed using for personal projects so long as we provide our own materials. I saw the oppurtunity to make the anvils myself for much cheaper! Plus I've now learned how to operate and perform many functions on a manual lathe. Anyways, here are some pics of the stuff I've made, I just finished up the first anvil today, with the largest flat/radius. Best of all, the eccentricity (or "runout" as its called), the key component of the anvils, is well below my target of 0.002", something more like 0.0005"! If your curious these are made of AISI 4140 steel, started life as a 3" diameter drop from a local steel place.

I'll try to post some more pics when I get the others done.

 

[wilbilt]

Very nice work. What do you do to get the smooth finish without affecting the dimensions?

 

[brianpgriset]

Well, nothing fancy. The flat of the anvil; the part that does all the work, was checked for concentricity before I began polishing. After that I machined the raduis into the peice. The machining left a pretty good finish from the get-go, so I was able to start with a high grit paper. But basically, I supported the blank on a mandrel I made (i think you saw it in the other post I made about this), and spun it all in a lathe, then simply sanded it with a "belt" of sandpaper wrapped around the outside, if you will. I checked runout before and after polishing with a dial indicator that has a resolution of 0.001", and both before and after, it was well less than a thousandth, infact about half that, which is where I get the 0.0005" number. So polishing it by hand took away an even amount of material from the outside (fortunatly ).

 

[alfadan]

very nice work. I wish I had a lathe and the know-how. I'm in the stages of making an english wheel. was thinking of having the local community college kids make my anvils for a project or something, but I ended up buying them from trick concepts on ebay. not bad, pretty good quality looks like and three anvils with pins and a top wheel for 160 bucks. Now to get some heavy box tubing and weld it up.

 

[brianpgriset]

very nice work. I wish I had a lathe and the know-how. I'm in the stages of making an english wheel. was thinking of having the local community college kids make my anvils for a project or something, but I ended up buying them from trick concepts on ebay. not bad, pretty good quality looks like and three anvils with pins and a top wheel for 160 bucks. Now to get some heavy box tubing and weld it up.

I saw those anvils recently too. Infact, sometimes I wish I'd just purchased them! Originally I was considering anvils from Hoosier Pattern. They make some VERY nice looking porducts, but the price was just too much. When I saw the price of Trick Concept's anvils I debated for awhile whether to make or buy them. After some time I thought this would be a great oppurtunity to learns some stuff about machining and how wheeling machines work.

I also will have a major cost savings when I get my upper wheel made. 3" x 8" 4140, and it will be hardend to around 50 RC, on Hoosier pattern that will set you back about $350, I'll make mine for $87 and probably about 10-12 hours lathe/furnace time .

 

[Outlaw]

Very cool project, care to share how you made the curve and radius on the sides the same? Also, are you going to harden it your self or send it out to be done?

 

[brianpgriset]

Very cool project, care to share how you made the curve and radius on the sides the same? Also, are you going to harden it your self or send it out to be done?

Here's an example of how I made up the radius's. First I drew up one side of the profile in Solid Edge (modeling software) with the flat and radius I wanted. Then, over the top of the radius line I drew straight lines at selected angles to act as steps for rough machining, so I could use the lathes compund feed. For example, for my 2" radius, 1/8" flat anvil, I drew up one side of the profile. Look in the pic below, and you can see the 0.0625" (1/16") flat (its one half of 1/8" because this is one of two sides of the profile) flat and the 2" radius line connected to it. Above those you can see two straight lines, one at 15 degrees and 30 degrees, and the just touch the profile at two spots. So I set the compound feed to those angles and cut the corresponing amount of metal thats shown on the pic. For example, the 15 degree angle has 0.263" + 0.263" which is 0.526", then set the compound to the next angle, so on so on... After I get all the angles cut to the right size, the I just spun the blank on the lathe and filed away what was left over until I got the smooth radius. Then just polished it up with 5 grits of paper, up to 600.

Best of all I did both sides without re-chucking since I basically had too. I had to make a mandrel to hold the blank though, but that wasnt too difficult, just some threads and a little turning. A 5/8" nut and washer holds the blank in place. There is a pick of it below as well.

As far as hardening, I had a proffesor for a class here that has access to an industrial furnace, so I'm going to do them myself, with his help.

Lastly, I got the others done today! I still need to make a flat one, but that should be pretty easy now that I hace the process down. Pics below.

Oh and one last thing, my peice of 8" diameter 4140 came in the mail today, so my next project is the upper wheel. Its going to be alot of fun, since Im planning on cutting some neat patterns in the web of the wheel, kinda like billet motorcycle wheels, all on the CNC mill at the student shop.

Should be fun!

 

[brianpgriset]

Pics below what I started with, and the mandrel and assembly in the lathe. The big end of the mandrel was chucked, and centered on the opposite end.

Plus a pic of the concept when I sketched it up in Solid Edge.

 

[brianpgriset]

The upper wheel came today in its unfinished form.

Have a design drawn up too but in not sure what our CNC mill is capable of, so it might change...

 

[hrm2k]

Love your work...the anvils look great.
A friend and I bought a unit from Eastwood a couple of years ago and it has proven to be a great investment...if I may add a word of advice....watch your finger tips...it is easy to get yourself caught while thinking how cool the finished piece will look...it is kind of like hitting your finger tip with a hammer but the hammer doesn't bounce off or pull away.....ask me....I did it first in our garage...did get a lot of distance from the blood spurt......lol.......good luck with your wheel...it looks great !

 

[Woogeroo]

Very nice.

You did those on a manual lathe?

Impressive.

-W

 

[brianpgriset]

Yep, on a manual lathe. It took about 40 hours time on the machine for all six, which is a little high, but like I mentioned, I had never run a lathe before this project, and all the anvils are holding very tight tolerances.

Some awesome news, the CNC work on the upper wheel starts TOMMOROW! I've been really busy with classes but I just finished up on Monday with exams. I've already written the FeatureCAM document for the machining. All I need to do is run the program.

I'm still a bit worried about distortion from heat treatment, but I might take final cuts on the bearing pockets and outside surface after being hardened with carbide inserts.

 

[RonRock]

Any update on the Wheel project?

 

[hotrod69]

The upper wheel came today in its unfinished form.

Have a design drawn up too but in not sure what our CNC mill is capable of, so it might change...

is the material 316 or304 stainless steel?