building my wheels--Long

[john pike]

heres my wheels so far, for my 1/4 scale Howitzer.

1st pic shows my hubs,

 i glued the blocks up 2X3 inches,
drilled the axel holes, and then mounted them onto my lathe,
turned them to fit the steel rings  i had cut out earlyer. tapping each on.as i cut the seats for them,
then rotated the hub and worked the other side,
they will be removed and blackened, then epoxied back on.

then i mounted the hub to the rotary table angling the table, for
the angle of the spokes.(thats the piece of aluminum on the table wedged in under the front of the rotary ) drilled at 30 deg. all the way around,
3/8 drill bit.

wheels,
my son cut out all the block, 1 and 1/8 by 3 and 5/8 cut with a 22deg
angle,
i then glued the blocks togeather and also glued them to a piece of 10X10
1/8 plywood sheet.

then centered and mounted to my rotary table.
turned them on the mill, outside and inside.

then i had to completly turn my setup into a pretzil. as you can see in the pic, to get my drill bit. to drill on the same angle i had drilled into the hubs.

drilled the wheels at the same 30 deg.

last pic show a ROUGH, fit, the spokes all glued in, (i used 3/8 oak dowel)
the holes on the hubs are just under 3/8 and i turned the end of the spoke to fit leaving a "seat" for each spoke.
sanding will be next.

i am by far a wagon-maker-master, this WAS a big painintheas$
to scale they should be square spokes, i dont have the paitence for that.
and my next mistake i should have had more spokes, two for each
section of wheel, theres four that have only 1 spoke instead of two.

oh well its only 1/4 scale.
bigger would be easyer.
glad its not a minie scale.


i could use some help in figuring out how to make my steel rims for the wheels,


thanks
johnp

[Powder keg]

Nice work John! I noticed that you have the same mill as I do. Want a secrete to make it twice as usefull? Add a 6" spacer to the head. You will hace lots of room. Noone sells one but one can be made fairly easily. I can send you a picture if you want. Later,

[john pike]

Nice work John! I noticed that you have the same mill as I do. Want a secrete to make it twice as usefull? Add a 6" spacer to the head. You will hace lots of room. Noone sells one but one can be made fairly easily. I can send you a picture if you want. Later,

PLEASE do i thought of that but havnt done it,
its a nice mill,
heres a pic of  it temp set up, with a dowel for an axel,

[Cat Whisperer]

As the saying goes, "I love it when a plan comes togther!"

Continues to look good!

[freddo]

Looking good John.Have you considered sections of steel pipe for the tyres?

[Articifer Tom]

Two  big  AT-A- BOY'S  for you , as wheels are the hardest part..

[Powder keg]

Hi John, Have you came up with anything on your tyres yet? I can probably get some tubing the size you need and part them off for you if needed. The place I work probably has some scrap lying around the right size. I haven't forgot your mill spacer pictures, Just been busy. Later,

[pyro_tek]

You are my HERO!

I'm trying to get up the nerve to complete the wheels I've started. nothing like someone there showing you how it's done. Thanks for that and thanks for the motivation.

[john pike]

Hi John, Have you came up with anything on your tyres yet? I can probably get some tubing the size you need and part them off for you if needed. The place I work probably has some scrap lying around the right size. I haven't forgot your mill spacer pictures, Just been busy. Later,

No i havnt,
 my lathe gave up the ghost so im waiting till i get my new one,
itl take me a week to get it in and set up on a short stand.

i need 9-5/8 inside diam, i screwd de pooch somewhere,
i was supposed to have 9.25 diam, grrrr, but oh well,

im thinking of buying some 10 inchx3/4 pipe,
cutting it a tad small, re-welding it,
throwing it im my woodstove(now that were trying to stay warm)
letting them get cherry red and beating them onto the wooden wheels,
with a small hammer,
dunking them in the sink,

johnp
and no big hurry on the adaptor,

[john pike]

You are my HERO!

I'm trying to get up the nerve to complete the wheels I've started. nothing like someone there showing you how it's done. Thanks for that and thanks for the motivation.

thanks,
it took me awhile to get motavated, there a "itch" to make,
my next cannons gonnna have a ships carrage,
need to figure out what to build,
ill have a 12X36 next week, so i want BIG-bore, big BOOM.

good luck on yours, show some pics?

johnp

[freddo]

Be carefull with that cherry red John The tyres  are not too easy to get started on the wheel and that cherry red is going to be burning your wood pretty fierce.Cherry red is ok if you can do the job and get em into the water really fast.
I built 14'' diameter wheels and I found that a half hour in the oven at 500 degrees[just starting to go straw colour gave me about 1/16''  expansion .I had plenty of time to get them started on the wheel.the wood did'nt burn[my fingers did a fair bit] and when I dunked them and the metal shrank the wheels talked to me.The tyres are really tight no glue no filler and no pins.
Your dead right,Making the wheels is a pain in the arse [and fingers ]job.

[pyro_tek]

Spoked wheels look too cool. It's gotta be worth the "itch" on the "arse" to build. This piece is coming together beautifully. Are you planning to have it as a shooter or is it going to live somewhere safe and clean?
Any progress on the elevation screw?

[john pike]

Spoked wheels look too cool. It's gotta be worth the "itch" on the "arse" to build. This piece is coming together beautifully. Are you planning to have it as a shooter or is it going to live somewhere safe and clean?
Any progress on the elevation screw?

my son will be shooting it, on the 4th and newyrs, vets day, ect,
other than that, itl sit on my desk and protect my box of cheezits,
,
my machinerys, down for about two weeks,
were wrapping up the old lathe, to take back, and making room for the new one. 12X36
have to build a short, 18inch stand for it. at 1000.pds im thinking of pouring two 14inch X18 sauna tubes, for a stand.
then mounting the lathe-feet onto 4x4 to sit on the concrete for a vib-sound dampiner.

johnp

[Powder keg]

Hey John, Here is a picture of the spacer I made. I don't have any details. There was a pilot between the two halfs and I just made the corresponding pilots on the spacer.