Cheap DIY Wheel Lathe - Community Design Project

[roadrashed]

Just remember that urethane dust is carcinogenic, so you want to avoid creating dust as much as possible. My idea is basically, you mount the wheel on a drill press, which controls the up and down movement of the wheel.

Next you create an arm, which is mounted to the plate of the press so that it's locked into position and doesn't move at all, you use a screw system (think adjustable spanner) to move the arm in and out, a chisel or something really sharp is mounted to the arm.

The problem with my idea is that you have to make sure the screw moves the chisel so precisely, with no big movements, or you'll destroy your wheel....and your face...

[ckpcw]

I am pleased to say that I have just repaired a HEAVILY coned and flatspotted wheel without the use of power tools.

Allow me to introduce version 1 of the handheld wheel fixer, which turns your flatspots and coning into clouds of cancerous dust before your eyes!





It has two separate assemblies - one to hold the wheel and a movable wedge sanding block attached to a handle. The wheel is rolled on the ground while riding/luging down a mellow hill while the sanding block is wedged incrementally further under the wheel. The design still has a ton of issues and is kinda difficult to use, but it does work. Hell no am I going to repair all 4 wheels with this thing though - time for version 2.


Still looks kind of coned in this pic, but I assure you it's not.

[rodgon]

hahahaha nice

[speshlspeclsteak]

for the v2 make it so it can do more than one wheel at a time

[Longbord1]

Holy #### goodjob!!!

[luftywaffles]

so fuccking sick!

nice job

[hoch92000]

I really luv this. The splendors of ghetto work. So fitting for skating.

[Wolfin]

for the v2 make it so it can do more than one wheel at a time

If it did all 4 at a time they'd all be relatively equal!

[jaytoo]

I am pleased to say that I have just repaired a HEAVILY coned and flatspotted wheel without the use of power tools.

Allow me to introduce version 1 of the handheld wheel fixer, which turns your flatspots and coning into clouds of cancerous dust before your eyes!

If the corners of the blocks the wheel is mounted on were cut off, it'd be much easer to drag behind

here's an idea: attach a sandal-style shoe mount, and wear it when riding a bike downhill. one on each foot for added efficiency, two wheels per grinder for added ridiculousness.


How are the non-ghetto versions coming? =P

[SteveC]

something that could keep the coning would also be cool.
oh, and I recommend griptape, self adhesive and actually pretty good so long as you don't let it get hot.

[ckpcw]

here's an idea: attach a sandal-style shoe mount, and wear it when riding a bike downhill. one on each foot for added efficiency, two wheels per grinder for added ridiculousness.

Haha I like it.. would go great with this: (found in the kraffft work thread)



I'm thinking I'll probably ditch the manual design though - feast your eyes on THIS BABY!!
Hand drill attaches to the 'axle' bolt, left of 1st pic. Basically the same design as what I posted on page one, but simpler and cheaper.

something that could keep the coning would also be cool.

Ah yea check it out..




Haven't even tried it out yet, been in the garage for a few hours and I gotta relax/eat before I go snort lines of urethane dust.

Likey?

[Daniel M.]

lookin good! i like the idea of being able to keep the coning... might build myself one of these that can attach to my drill press or drill.

[kraffft]

Loving this thread so much.. Great work ckpcw.

I wonder how ghetto we can get?

Less than one dollar and 10 minutes later..:




The drill bit is a carriage bolt, two nuts, and a hard wheel with bearings and no spacer. Just tighten the nuts down very tight and the wheel becomes one with the bolt.

Then there's a block of wood with a greased socket for the head of the bolt, and a v-channel for the hanger to rest in.

Kneel on your board and use any chunk of wood that's a little bigger than the gap between the wheel and the floor as a sanding block, and you're ready to radius, de-flatspot, and de-cone your wheels.

Use coarse sandpaper (60 grit or lower), and shift the paper frequently.

Also note that if you're just removing a flatspot, and you want your wheel sizes to match, you only really need to do two wheels instead of all four.

[ckpcw]

Nice kraffft. Have you tried fixing a big flatspot though? On my manual design, I found that unless the sanding surface is solidly fixed, a lumpy wheel will bounce it around, effectively creating more flatspots and necessitating the removal of much more wheel mass.

Just removed a fatty flatspot with this design - everything is working great with one exception. The adjustment screws are excellent, and the sanding block is held very still. The thing is, the wheel and sandpaper get HOT - I had to replace the sandpaper about 4 times while doing the wheel.

Using the adjustment screws, I was able to keep the wheel's coned shape, removing just enough urethane to grind out the flatspot.

I'd love to hear your input on sanding surface options.. here are my thoughts
-Copper pipe instead of PVC, to act like a heatsink

-Use a segment of metal file on the adjustment screws instead of sandpaper on pipe

-Allow the sanding pipe to rotate when put in contact with the wheel, and use a friction resistance system to cause the wheel grinding (sanding pipe spins freely, then is slowed, sanding the wheel, then allowed to spin freely again). This duty cycle will prevent too much heat buildup, and it increases the sanding area - the whole circumference of the pipe is used rather than one fixed area of paper

-Cutting vs. Sanding: maybe an angled razorblade embedded into a PVC segment? Think of a potato peeler.. Hey - maybe a potato peeler would work!

[luftywaffles]

I like where this thread is going.

[elvk-]

Haha I like it.. would go great with this: (found in the kraffft work thread)



I'm thinking I'll probably ditch the manual design though - feast your eyes on THIS BABY!!
Hand drill attaches to the 'axle' bolt, left of 1st pic. Basically the same design as what I posted on page one, but simpler and cheaper.


Likey?

awesome. you just saved my drifters. i know what im going to do after class/before night class now.

[ckpcw]

awesome. you just saved my drifters. i know what im going to do after class/before night class now.

NICE! Post pics of what you build - lets come up with something simple, reliable, and easy to make!
edit: Hope you mean you're gonna build a flatspot fixer, not some skatewheel shreddin saudi sandals.. :P

Also, just realized that all references to 7/16" nuts/bolts on my pg.1 design should be 5/16". doh

[rodgon]

used your suggestion to use a file while riding the board to radius my big zigs. ^_^ soooo easy. not 100% even but damn close, and the slides are sooooo much better. ^_^

[kraffft]

Did this set of wheels that had gotten annoyingly slow and rumbly due to being fully sideset, slightly coned, and having multiple flatspots:


Mild flatspots can be somewhat hard to see, but they showed right up when the sanding started:


The finished set (didn't bother equalizing the wheel diameters):


They started off around 63mm, and ended up between 61 and 59mm (so the flatspots were between 1 and 2mm deep). Wheel duro estimated around 80a. This set was no problem (using a 50 grit sanding belt), and took less than an hour.

Then as an experiment I made a monster flatspot on this old wheel.. fairly hard duro, maybe 90a. 70mm dia. Flatspot depth of 7mm:



The hardest part was propelling the wheel with the drill. Pressing the small wheel into the flatspotted one fairly hard worked but vibrated like crazy (and there wasn't enough surface area on the side of the wheel to spin it that way).

Then the wide, hard, surface area wasn't sanding very quickly.. especially because you couldn't press down with the paper very hard without stopping the wheel. So I worked my way in from the edge.. at the same time creating a smooth area for the drill to grip. Still slow going, but got half the wheel done in about 15 minutes once I had the system down. Saving the other half to mess around with on my other lathe.




The trick with hand sanding out flatspots is to press the sanding block against the floor more than against the wheel, keeping the block stationary instead of pulsing with the out-of-round wheel. Having a sanding block that slid freely under the wheel, that could be pried up against it actually worked the best (similar to using a wedge). It's all about having that rock solid surface to brace the sanding block against, Trying to hand sand just holding a block freely against the wheel will bounce and pulse, and not work at all.

I kind of hate this method.. but it works. Takes longer than I'd like, and vibrates you too much. The dust isn't bad though.. too heavy to get airborne, but the burning grease from the carriage bolt head wasn't pleasant (contact point should be as small as possible ideally)..

I have one simple idea to try next on the wood lathe, and then I might try making a real cross-slide.

[Chainmaillekid]

OK!

I just drafted up the plans that I've been designing in my head, and it looks like it should work pretty well...

I've been trying to make it so its Very well designed, made from cheap standard parts.
An actual tool that does its job well and is worth making, but that is also small enough to probably take in your backpack if you REALLY wanted to.

FIRST, The Lathe!


Motor:
Motor would be coming from the Cheap $20 Harbor Freight drill.
The motor typically has a problem burning out...
But I think getting it out of the plastic drill and into the open air should help it last longer.
Plus I don't think we'll be dealing w/ the same torque loads here.

Motor is attached W/ metal strapping.

The wheel is attached with one bearing installed.
It is pressed onto the Seized bearing, which is attached to the shaft of the motor ( Im not sure how this will be done, as I have yet to get my hands on a motor to see what kind of shaft it has. )

Once the wheel is fixed to the shaft, You tighten down the carriage bolt so the head of the bolt is pressed aginst the inner races of the bearing, holding it in place.

Once that is done, you use an allan key to lock the carriage bolt in place.

Then you flip the switch, and turn er on!

TOOLING:


The tool mount is a modified vice. Holes are drilled and tapped into the movable jaw ( this step may not be nessisary, but untill I get a closer look at the vice... )

-You tighten the vice, and it move parallel with the wheel.

-Attached to the jaw of the vice is your tools.

I've only designed one tool right now, and it does not have a name :o
This tool is what you would use to flush all your wheels.

-It is constructed of 4 peices of wood, glued together.

-Its hollow, so as to allow the tool to be moved closer or farther to or from the wheel.

-The tool surface is angled, as to take off only a very limited ammount of material per pass.

-Sticky back sand paper would be used to to give the tool its edge.

Im working on more ideas for rain groves, and radiusing.

They will likely be much simpler.

I suspect nothing more is needed for radiusing other than a really gnarly file.

The cost for both the drill, and the Vice, New, is $35.