starting again on my penny farthing build

[thom]

I am trying again to get started for real building a penny farthing. I believe that the front wheel will be the most challenging part, so I will try to build it first. I've read about a couple of builds where two 26" bicycle rims were split and spread to reform a bigger wheel. I tried that with one pair of rims and ruined the first rim. I have another pair of rims and will try again to spread them. Anybody tried it with success and have any tips? thanks.

 

[horsefarmer]

Maybe an old farm equipment or buggy wheel would work?

 

[SSG]

What if you cut a piece of round tubing in half, and then rolled it around a plywood form?

 

[xHOBOPHOBIAx]

For the rim I have seen people roll a tube in a circle then cut it in half. They used O-ring stock for the tire.

 

[thom]

Success at last ! I tried again by putting a fresh rim in a vice and squeezing it and moving it a couple of inches at a time. After three passes thru the vice I have one rim spread into a more-or-less perfect half circle. Now I need a round object 48" in diameter to form the wheel around, after I get the other half made. One article I saw showed a round table-top that worked well. Now I feel like I'm making progress.

 

[deven_science]

I definitely want to follow this. You should move it to the builds section!

 

[thom]

If I can make the other half of my rim, like the first , the hub should not be a big problem. Then I will have to figure out the spoke length. I have looked at the spoke calculator websites. We'll see how that goes.

 

[thom]

I now have the other half of my wheel formed. I realized that I have used 27" rims instead of 26's. I guess that means my wheel will be a little bigger than 48". No problem. After looking at a couple of the spoke calculator sites I am wondering if two spokes are going to be long enough to make one for my wheel. It appears that they will be less than an inch too short.I know that a bigger diameter hub will mean a shorter spoke but a too-big hub will look terrible. I guess I'll have to draw out a life size diagram and make the hub as big as I can. I will post some pics soon.

 

[thom]

the second half of my rim in the vise. I found that three passes thru the vise, moving a couple of inches after each "squeeze" did the trick. Now to weld the two halves together and make it round.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Very cool, following along...
The length of the spokes required was always the bit that stopped me from trying this...

Luke.

 

[Chad T]

This sounds cool...definitely want to check this out.

 

[thom]

One build that I have looked at quite a bit , on the Wheelmen site, shows two spokes being welded together to make one long spoke. I believe I will try that.

 

[thom]

Problem... I can find local sources for DOM tubing but nobody can bend it. Several can bend larger tubing than what I would be using, but they all tell me that the exact size dies must be used and no-one has the right size.

 

[SwissGuy]

This guy made his own spokes:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Antique-Bicycle