ACTUALLY DID WORK ON THE BIKE TODAY!
Not as much as I wanted, but it is still progress and now the build is back on track!
My plan for fixing the wheel dimple and spoke hole issue was to cover them completely using a bike rim, so starting with the front 12" rim and a 16" bike rim I made some relief cuts and started fitting it up:
Some working with the clamps, cutting the rim to length and a little welding and I had this:
A bit more welding which took quite a while because of how thin the steel is on the bike rim, followed by some grinding and clean up with a flap disk:
Then on to the rear rim, which was much easier as I had a spare 22" bike rim which was very close in diameter to what I needed, I cut out about 2" from it and worked it by hand until it fitted inside the rim nicely, clamped it in a few spots and tacked it in place, welded up the old spoke holes, a quick clean up and we have this:
So this is where the build stands today: two rims ready for spoking!
I also wanted to get the jig finished today, but that proved too much, so that is the first job for next time, but at least now there are no steps backwards, it is all real progress from this point...
Luke.