The CNC Wheelwright

[phil_o]

Fantastic - thanks for posting. Great pictures too.

Phil

[Burkhardt]

......Did you make for 24X2.125" tires with no flat inserts, or solid tires? Maybe buy tires and check fit? (although you've probably already done that).....

No I have not done that yet and I did not even know such no-flat inserts exist. I had originally planned to do a solid wood rim only and staple a thick rubber strip to the outside. But looking for a suitable strip it occurred to me that I could try a real tire with tube as well.

The closest fit for the otherwise completed design was a (somewhat exotic) Schwinn 26"x1.75" with 597mm bead seat diameter (only little smaller than the 24"/609mm OD of the wheel. I have some tires coming in and hope to get them to fit. If not, well then I have to come up with another idea...

[scottp55]

I only mention no-flats because my new wheelchair has them, and I have a garden cart with 2 flat tires
When I had bicycle shop, always had problems seating Schwinn tires...enough so I bought the Park tool which you can probably make yourself;
https://www.amazon.com/Park-Tool-Tir.../dp/B00781X57O

I'd definitely buy the Park tire irons in plastic,as I'm still using mine for the wheelchair from my 1985 bike shop
Less likely to mar your nice work;
https://www.amazon.com/Park-Tool-TL-.../dp/B001B6NFH2

Dish soap(or your car wax?) on the rim edge will help the possible struggle...baby powder inside the tire before seating and spread by rotating tire and spreading with thumb, will prevent binding between tire and tube from the rubber to rubber static friction.
You'll come up with something
scott
OH, thorn proof tubes should be readily available out your way, and work well as they are 2X+ wall thickness, and less likely to get pinched with tire irons.

[chiloquinruss]

A few years ago my wife and I took a cross country trip and one of the highlights was a chance visit to Hansen Wagon. We planned to stick our heads in and see what was what, well we spent 4 hours there. Everything was being built just like the original. What a place.

http://www.hansenwheel.com/

I watched their wheelwrights for some period of time but I never saw them make anything as cool as what you engineered, offset spokes are you kidding me! Unbelievable! Well done. What a terrific job of tool-pathing, just amazing. What software did you do the layout in. Russ



One of 13 barns full of historical wagons - his library for building replicas!

[Burkhardt]

A few years ago my wife and I took a cross country trip and one of the highlights was a chance visit to Hansen Wagon.

That looks like an interesting place indeed. Given the price they charge for a wheel, my project may even be cost-effective

As for the design tool, I use IronCad for such stuff. It is similar to Solidworks and unfortunately similarly expensive. The outlines were exported as Autocad dwg files and loaded into VcarvePro to make the tool paths.
Below is the CAD image. The only change was that I did not let the dowels go through but let them end in blind holes from the inside. But the dowels are anyway redundant, the wheel would fit together and hold up without just as well.
ScreenHunter_01 Jan. 25 17.19.jpg

[chiloquinruss]

I sent pix of your project to Rick at Hansen Wagon and he was duly impressed. I am still blown away at the offset spokes, I bow to the master! Russ

[myxpykalix]

Seems to me you found a way to "Re-invent the wheel". Actually very cool project.

[Burkhardt]

Dish soap(or your car wax?) on the rim edge will help the possible struggle...

Thanks for the tips. I got the tires on and it was kind of a moderate struggle. Valve stems have extenders. But I learned that even plastic tire "irons" are a bit hard for a pine rim. And I learned that 40 psi is a little too much and will require some wood glue...

Anyway, I have it pumped to 20 psi now and the rim holds up. But it is a bit soft and I will probably replace it with solid rubber tires.



I worked on the design of the cart itself. I should go together without screws or glue and boards just lock with 4 dowel rods. It will probably look something like this:

ScreenHunter_02 Jan. 27 19.41.jpg

[Burkhardt]

I sent pix of your project to Rick at Hansen Wagon and he was duly impressed. I am still blown away at the offset spokes, I bow to the master! Russ

Thanks, I am just an engineer who knows how to use CAD and a CNC machine. But I am making progress on the craft side. After 40+ years of woodworking with crappy tools I finally bought some decent hand planes. What a difference! Next will be a set of good chisels.

[scottp55]

Yep, was wondering about Shrader extensions, and sidewall pressure. If they weren't Schwinn tires, you probably could have just used your palms and thumbs to work it on.
Cart looks really nice, but handle looks to short? Knee bumper/shin kicker walking forwards, and Achilles destroyer with cart behind you?
Love the no screw approach, really makes you think
You should try Lie Nielson planes....no backing off of anything, and ready to skin a fish straight from the factory He's a nice guy also.
Quality tools with a razor edge are a joy to work with!
Really neat project Gert!
scott