Cheap DIY Wheel Lathe - Community Design Project

[ckpcw]

I LOVE coring wheels. But, once a set gets too lopsided or flatspotted, I tend to retire them because they're just no fun to ride. I see a lot of people mentioning lathing wheels around here, but how many people actually have access to a lathe? I don't.

So I've been thinking about how to create a cheap lathe designed for the purpose of modifying wheels. It could be significantly simpler than a wood/metalworking lathe, and will ideally be designed out of easily accessible and cheap materials.

I have design some ideas floating around, but I thought I'd post this to see if anybody is interested, and to get a collaboration going - I know there are a lot of other engineers and handy mofo's on this site.


The Goal: To create a design that is easy for others to build, allowing those without lathe access to radius lips, round out oval/flat wheels, and create rain grooves.

Basic Design Properties
1) Cheap. A total cost under $50 is the goal, not including the motor. This is total from-scratch cost, meaning $50 even if you have no scrap wood/PVC/junk in your garage.

2) Repeatable & Accessible. The design will not rely on "some junk I had laying around."

3) Flexible Drive System. The motor will be the biggest variable in a person's build. The lathe's pulley system should accommodate different drive options (e.g. small motors, drills, router, garbage disposal?, maybe even hand-crank)

4) Solid Tool Mount. The lathe may be ghetto, but the wheels should be clean. The design will allow for repeatable lip rounding and precise rain groove cutting on all four wheels. Flatspots and ovaling will be shaved by accurately leveled tools.


What are your thoughts? If there's no interest in this, I'll just throw together a garage-scrap ghetto-rig for myself and call it done.

[Daniel M.]

Not sure how many people would go through the trouble of making this but its a cool idea. I've done it myself just chucking it into my drill press but as you expect its not 100% accurate, and is pretty slow so i only use it to radius usually, not remove flatspots.

[Terrorsathan]

I would be very interested in this... BUT I do have a drill press that will work.

[roadrashed]

you could get like...a PVC pipe, get a flexible blade, attach the blade to the front of the pipe (so you basically have a perfect circle cutting device) then line the inside of the pipe with what ever grit you like, it'd only work for one size of wheel though...

so you have the wheel which is coned, you cut it to a perfect circle, then sandpaper it to make sure it's perfect.

you could also try like, a drill press, then mount a chisel on a swing arm (with fine adjustment) and use it like that?

[speshlspeclsteak]

i have one i made from an old motor whose original purpose i dont actually know. but its really only good for radiusing chunks out. when i have to fix wheels i head to one of my parents friends houses who own a laithe. and once i really get the hang of it id be happy to do it for people

on a more productive note. if we could figure out a way to mount wheels to a drill press in a very precise straight and repeatable way all wed have to do is figure out a way to fix a blade in place it would be perfect and probly pretty cheap

[kraffft]

Great idea.. definitely has potential to be useful for non-skaters too.

I'm liking the drill press approach... but there's a ton of approaches that wouldn't require one.. like holding a wheel still mounted on trucks against any moving surface to get it spinning.

Also I agree that repairing flatspots is going to be a challenge. You need a small cutter that is very solidly mounted that can be adjusted in and out and side to side..

I even have a wood lathe that I've been using to make wheels out of rod stock.. I have chucks on both ends like a metal lathe, but still only a tool rest for wood turning chisels. Without a cross slide I can't repair flatspots or cones with any precision.

So ideas along those lines would certainly be useful to me.. Though I wonder what the cheapest carriage/cross-slide assembly you can buy is..


This is way more than involved than you're thinking.. but I bet there's a ton of simple ideas that could be drawn from it:

Open Source Machine



It's a multimachine (drill press, lathe, milling machine and more) that can be built at almost no cost using salvaged vehicle parts.


and this:
Lathe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Cann0n]

You can make a lathe out of washing machine parts and some elbow grease... maybe a trip to home depot with 20 bucks.

[ckpcw]

You can make a lathe out of washing machine parts and some elbow grease... maybe a trip to home depot with 20 bucks.

Yeah, I've been looking this instructable - the guy makes a nice lathe using a washing machine motor with PWM speed control:
Make your own Lathe from other peoples rubbish

This is way more than involved than you're thinking.. but I bet there's a ton of simple ideas that could be drawn from it:
Open Source Machine

and this:
Lathe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Good links, I've read the wiki through a few times to learn about lathes

Here's a nice design that would be easy to add a carriage/cross slide assembly to due to the 3/8" gap in the bed - the sliding tailstock design is excellent.
100% Homemade Lathe
Although a dedicated wheel lathe wouldn't need a movable tailstock - the wheel could sit on a threaded rod that runs the entire length of the bed. The tailstock could be more of a rest for the rod, and the wheel could be mounted by conical bushings with a nut embedded.


Another option is to make a drill-press "attachment" that allows for flatspot repair. Seems like a lot of people have drill presses, and the community might benefit more from a very simple flatspot repair assembly. I'm sketching out some ideas now, I'll post some up when I'm satisfied

EDIT:
What are people using to radius wheel lips on a drill press? File? Sanding block? Razor blade held between your teeth?

[luftywaffles]

Yeah, I've been looking this instructable - the guy makes a nice lathe using a washing machine motor with PWM speed control:
Make your own Lathe from other peoples rubbish


Good links, I've read the wiki through a few times to learn about lathes

Here's a nice design that would be easy to add a carriage/cross slide assembly to due to the 3/8" gap in the bed - the sliding tailstock design is excellent.
100% Homemade Lathe
Although a dedicated wheel lathe wouldn't need a movable tailstock - the wheel could sit on a threaded rod that runs the entire length of the bed. The tailstock could be more of a rest for the rod, and the wheel could be mounted by conical bushings with a nut embedded.


Another option is to make a drill-press "attachment" that allows for flatspot repair. Seems like a lot of people have drill presses, and the community might benefit more from a very simple flatspot repair assembly. I'm sketching out some ideas now, I'll post some up when I'm satisfied

EDIT:
What are people using to radius wheel lips on a drill press? File? Sanding block? Razor blade held between your teeth?

Razor blade works great for me.

not in between my teeth though

[Cann0n]

Yeah, I've been looking this instructable - the guy makes a nice lathe using a washing machine motor with PWM speed control:
Make your own Lathe from other peoples rubbish


Good links, I've read the wiki through a few times to learn about lathes

Here's a nice design that would be easy to add a carriage/cross slide assembly to due to the 3/8" gap in the bed - the sliding tailstock design is excellent.
100% Homemade Lathe
Although a dedicated wheel lathe wouldn't need a movable tailstock - the wheel could sit on a threaded rod that runs the entire length of the bed. The tailstock could be more of a rest for the rod, and the wheel could be mounted by conical bushings with a nut embedded.


Another option is to make a drill-press "attachment" that allows for flatspot repair. Seems like a lot of people have drill presses, and the community might benefit more from a very simple flatspot repair assembly. I'm sketching out some ideas now, I'll post some up when I'm satisfied

EDIT:
What are people using to radius wheel lips on a drill press? File? Sanding block? Razor blade held between your teeth?

I need to spread more rep...

instructables is the ####. If I took pictures of everything i have ever done, i'd have hundreds posted on that site.

[Chainmaillekid]

This should be my next project

Tool Mount:
- Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

Moves evenly and consistently side to side.
Will need some Modding to attack tools to it.

Motor:
- Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

I don't see any reason why the wheel can't just be fixed directly to the motor, If its designed ONLY to do wheels...
Well, I don't think that should be too hard to rig up.

These drills have a... longevity issue. But I think taking it out of the plastic housing its in might help.


I'll see if I can pick one up this week and take it apart.

[atomicturtle462]

My thoughts.

Fill two old bearings with glue. Stick a bolt through and then put a nut on the other side and crank it down. Then put the other side of the bolt in the drill press. I think that would work well. I have not tried it yet. I have to fix my drill press with my dad. Diagram:
-Goes in drill press
-----------|
-----------v
----------|--|<-B
----------|--|<-O
----------|--|<-L
----------|--|<-T
_____| | | |_____ <-Nut
|----------------------|
|----------------------| <-wheel
|_____________|
--------| | | | <-end of bolt

After a lot of editing my diagram makes some sense.

[Cann0n]

Get a wooden dowel, poke a hole in the center, run an old broken drill bit in the hole (i save mine just in case i need them for stuff like this) and epoxy it together. wrap the dowel evenly with duct tape. Install on a drill press.

[ckpcw]

Here's my first sketchup of a drill press flatspot-fixer attachment:



The wheel is held on a bolt, aligned by regularly seated bearings, and forced to spin by conical bushings tightened down with a nut.

Two additional bearings above and below the wheel allow L-bracket assemblies to stay stationary while the bolt rotates (the brackets have 5/8"ish holes so that they only touch the bearings' outer races). The brackets are attached to a wood block and an extendable sandpaper-covered PVC segment what will grind down the wheel. The ends of the PVC have half of the pipe removed for the screws to be placed.

The operator holds the wood block to support the weight (preventing torque on the drill press) and to prevent rotation of the grinding assembly. The PVC segment is forced into contact with the wheel by the long machine screws with wingnuts (see design problems, below).


This will allow for the wheel to be re-rounded WITHOUT necessarily removing the coning - coning is OK, helicopter hovercraft flatspots are not. Coning can be removed by eyeballing a level wheel surface.

Design Problems
1) The screws that extend the PVC are awkward - the inner wingnuts need to be adjusted to force PVC into contact. I messed up while drawing this. The screws should be reversed, a nut placed in between the touching L-brackets, and nylon locknuts used on either side of the PVC to affix the screw. Then a screwdriver is used on the screw head outside the wood block to extend the PVC cutting surface.

2) L-brackets and wood block are not sufficiently supported. I just didn't draw enough screws. Give me a break, it's a 2-D diagram. Many more support screws will be used. Also, it looks like the mounting screws will interfere w/wingnuts, etc. 2-D baby.

3) The real problem: L-brackets need to be secured to the bearings' outer races. Currently, there will be play in the system. Gotta think about this one.


Any thoughts? Sorry if this post is incoherent haha

[kraffft]

Here's my first sketchup of a drill press flatspot-fixer attachment

This looks pretty good..

The design would actually be well suited for a hand held drill attachment.. or any other motor.

For a drill press design I'd be more inclined to mount something cross-slidey to the press table, since it's already rigidly fixed in relation to the spinning chuck.

But going with what you have.. my one suggestion would be to have the sanding block be long, flat, and slightly wedge shaped. Then have the adjustment screw(s) move it perpendicular to the line of contact:



Make sense?

The longer the sanding block, and the shallower the angle, the less problems you'll have with overheating and dust clogging the paper.

[rodgon]

if anyone succesfully makes one ( and it seems like you guys are on your way there) ill be more than happy to buy one from you guys. and i think alot of people here would too. ^_^

[ckpcw]

my one suggestion would be to have the sanding block be long, flat, and slightly wedge shaped. Then have the adjustment screw(s) move it perpendicular to the line of contact:

The longer the sanding block, and the shallower the angle, the less problems you'll have with overheating and dust clogging the paper.

Make sense?

I got ya.. thats a good idea - I was wondering about the sandpaper clogging issue, and possibly using a stronger block, aka metal file.

I think I'll try to throw one of these together tomorrow or this week.. my feet are tired of riding a vibrating massage chair down hills

EDIT: Also, with this design, different cutting attachments could be used, like a piece of PVC with 2-3 sharpened screws to cut uniform rain grooves, though different wheels may need different rain groove attachments.

[jaytoo]

This looks pretty good..

The design would actually be well suited for a hand held drill attachment.. or any other motor.

For a drill press design I'd be more inclined to mount something cross-slidey to the press table, since it's already rigidly fixed in relation to the spinning chuck.

But going with what you have.. my one suggestion would be to have the sanding block be long, flat, and slightly wedge shaped. Then have the adjustment screw(s) move it perpendicular to the line of contact:



Make sense?

The longer the sanding block, and the shallower the angle, the less problems you'll have with overheating and dust clogging the paper.

In the spirit of gheto DIY, couldn't you attach this setup, say, to the bottom of a skate deck (or any board that doesn't turn). Let the wheel touch to the ground so it rolls when the board rolls (but not bear weight), and as it spins, it'll make contact with the wedged sanding block. Adjust the block to bring it closer after one run down the hill, repeat as needed?

Time consuming, and tiring, sure, but ghetto and easy to put together. kraffft needs the training for the 3 min skate mile, anyways =P.

[Wolfin]

In the spirit of gheto DIY, couldn't you attach this setup, say, to the bottom of a skate deck (or any board that doesn't turn).

Even skate decks turn, bro!

But yeah people radius wheels by buttboarding down a hill and using a file. Personally I use a dremel with a rubber attachment to simulate the moving road.

[ckpcw]

In the spirit of gheto DIY, couldn't you attach this setup, say, to the bottom of a skate deck (or any board that doesn't turn). Let the wheel touch to the ground so it rolls when the board rolls (but not bear weight), and as it spins, it'll make contact with the wedged sanding block. Adjust the block to bring it closer after one run down the hill, repeat as needed?

Time consuming, and tiring, sure, but ghetto and easy to put together. kraffft needs the training for the 3 min skate mile, anyways =P.

WOW! You've completely misinterpreted krafft's diagram and come up with a great idea! With a slight modification to what you just said, we could make a sub-$5 handheld manual wheel grinder. Too late to post more details, but I'll build one tomorrow.

awesome man