Rusty Bowtie
General Category => General Discussion - Intros => Topic started by: 39delux on September 22, 2017, 03:41:50 PM
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I would like to add an original (looking) steering wheel to my '39. I have power steering on the '39 so a 17" big honker wheel would not work right. I am thinking about casting my own 15" wheel to look somewhat like the original. Think that I can come close with the Rosewood Tan color in the resin and already ordered 3/8" round stainless for the spokes. Also have a center spline that fits a GM column but I'm hunk up on the horn and hub. Simple way to do it would be to make the hub to fit a Le Carra horn button which is round. There are videos on line about casting a wheel and companies that sell the necessary supplies but I would really like to hear from someone who has actually done one. What do you think about a round hub? Inputs?
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Interesting, i'd like to see one built from scratch. I've cut down several using the original wheel and getting a 15" donor wheel rim. The horn ring was real close to the rim on my '57 Belair but it turned out handy, I could just stretch out my thumb to opperate ;D
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Making the jig to weld the spokes to the core ring and hub. Spokes will be stainless (304) the outter ring is 3/8" cold roll and the hub will be 1/8" steel. First mistake I made was cutting a 15" ring groove in the MDF then discovering my La Carra wheel is actually 14". The GM power steering pump puts out about 1200 lbs and the Ford rack normally runs on 1000 psi or so there is no need for a huge knuckle banging wheel. Once the spokes and hub are welded I'll open the outer groove to 1 inch wide and 1/2" deep and make another just like it for the other half of the mold. I'll have to clear coat or paint a thin coat of resin on the MDF to seal it otherwise I'll end up with a square MDF wheel with an unseen resin core.
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Little update. Trying to find welding talent to TIG the stainless spokes to the mild steel ring. Meanwhile I have to make a vacuum chamber to degas the resin. Found a pressure/vacuum canister with no lid. Found a piece of 1/2" pexiglas for a lid so that I could see the degassing. Getting the protective paper off OLD pexiglas took two days. Hope it will stand up to the vacuum. I'll be using my A/C vacuum pump to draw the vacuum. Had to make a gasket to seal the lid. Found a very secret process of making a silicone gasket called PROTO PUTTY. Very easy to do, lots of videos on line showing the process.
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Nice work! Anxious to see how it turns out.
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You guys sure have some talent here.....
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I'd like to make one of those Mad Max steering wheels with skulls, bullets, rivets, etc. But that's down the road and another vehicle.
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Looks like you are figuring it out, great idea!
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Progress is painfully slow. Got the skeleton welded. The two exposed spokes are polished stainless, the rest is mild steel. Had it TIG welded by an expert. Working on the mold a bit then decided to get a larger router bit. Also having problems with the finger lumps on the back of the wheel. Can't figure an easy way to do them except with a Dremel tool. Ideas welcome. Starting to be a bit concerned about voids when I do the actual pour. I'll only get one shot at that.
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My thoughts: Once you have the wheel cast and semi polished make a metal jig (half pipe) with a few finger grooves that can be clamped on the perimeter ring. Then from the back use a soft wire brush on a table grinder to remove material between the metal jig grooves. Once you have the rough grooves cut you could wet polish them to match the rest of the wheel?
Figure a metal jig wouldn't lose it's shape with a soft metal wire wheel removing the plastic and maintain uniformity? I have a couple extra soft metal wires wheels if you need one...they were given to me.
If this doesn't make sense I can try to make a drawing.
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What I think you are saying is to cast the wheel a little larger then necessary then cut (wire wheel) the bumps in after, is that correct? Never thought of that but sure is an option. Good news is that if the bumps (can't think of another term) are not uniform nobody will know unless they get in one hell of a yoga position. What you doin down there? My La Carra wheel doesn't have any bumps but is a good deal fatter then an original early wheel.
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Jerry I believe they are called grips. Wheel is looking good. Ron
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Attached my draft....weld two pieces of pipe together....then drill a series of indexed holes between them. That way you get a half notch in each. Then split one in half and use heat to shape it to the radius of the wheel, and clamp it to the wheel...then fire up the bench-top grinder with soft wire wheel and remove the plastic. The jig will prevent you from going too deep and will make uniform notches.
The picture attached only has (2) grooves ( you can make more) and is taped to a rubber hose to (use clamps) hope this helps?
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The only other thing I thought of (other than what Ed suggested), would be to pre cast the grips in the mold. Cut the lower mdf mold an 1/8" deeper. Then get a donor ring the size you want (14-15") place 1/8" setting blocks in the bottom (3 or 4). Spray Pam cooking spray (or a release agent) on the wheel ring, mix some fiberglass resin up to poor in lower mold and set ring in grip side down. Pull ring out when set and cast as you were going to.
Voids, i'm not familiar with the cast materials you are useing but could you make a vibrator plate to set under your mold while pouring? Kinda like vibrating concrete.
Just thinking outloud, my brain doesn't work the way it use too ;)
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Thanks for the suggestions. I'd like to cherry pick the ides set forth. First, I like the idea of cutting the finger grips after casting the wheel. Thanks Ed. I also like the idea of vibrating the mold after the resin has been poured. ChevRon lives close to me and called this morning with yet another idea. He suggested mounting the completed wheel on a flat surface so that the wheel will spin. Mount a router, mark where the notches need to be and just run the router across, spin the wheel, run the router again. From what I understand the resin is easy to sand and polish so I'll definitely cut the notches after casting. Stay tuned for Karma to strike.
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Got my 1 inch router bit yesterday. Looked around Ebay and found a half round 1" bit for $8.50 and free shipping. Didn't notice at the time it was coming from China but ordered it on the 3rd of this month. It came yesterday in one of those international e-pack envelopes. Why is it the USPS has a hard time getting a small pack from NY to NM in 6 days but somehow a pack from China gets here fast? Not the first time either. Onward to make the mold, varnish/clearcoat and polish.
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Got my 1 inch router bit yesterday. Looked around Ebay and found a half round 1" bit for $8.50 and free shipping. Didn't notice at the time it was coming from China but ordered it on the 3rd of this month. It came yesterday in one of those international e-pack envelopes. Why is it the USPS has a hard time getting a small pack from NY to NM in 6 days but somehow a pack from China gets here fast? Not the first time either. Onward to make the mold, varnish/clearcoat and polish.
That's because President Trump just had a talk with those Chinese folks and they don't want to lose your business ;)
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Shipment from Illinois to Arkansas 8 days...unreal...but didn't want to pay the higher cost for 2-3 day shipping...
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Well Karma struck. Sciatic nerve problem got so bad I had to bite the bullet and have it corrected thru surgery. Right now it takes me 10 minutes just to get in bed. Had no idea the pain level would be this high. Anything they could make into a liquid they dad and fed it to me thru a tube in my arm. Now I take pain pills every 4 hours and worry about opioid addiction. Could take one pill, throw it in a swimming pool and poof...pool is empty. Started to cut the mold halfs before surgery but ran into a problem with the welding jig and mold being off just a bit and can't figure out why.
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Man I hate to here that. A friend of mine went through that surgurey, he told me he just thought it hurt before. He was down for 6weeks after. Hopefully yours won't take that long to recover. Those pain meds effect everyone different, they had my buddy on Percocept 10/325mg up to 9 times a day :o he came off them ok. I was on 5/325mg 4 times a day for 6.5yrs. They stopped working on me so I just quit taking them. I've known some who took 2.5's for 2 weeks over dental work and got addicted. They sure help when they work, just follow up regularly with doc, and tapper off as per their instructions. Good luck and I hope you get back on that wheel soon!
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Ta Da....I'm back! Back operation seems to have gone right, no more pain. Going to a follow up in El Paso Wed. when I hope he will release me back to the golf course. Got an X-Ray Friday, first time I saw what he did. Four screws, two strongbacks (hehe) and some quickcrete to lock things in place. Here are the raw molds, top and bottom. Next is to cut the molds down to size, add a funnel system to pour the resin in. I'll need to carve out some areas where the spokes meet the outside wheel then put several coats of varnish on to seal the MDF. Not sure if the resin will attack the varnish and maybe need to clear coat the entire mold.
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Glad your doing well and the mold looks like a good plan..I just spent the last 11 days figting the damn flu that I GOT THE SHOT FOR.
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39delux glad you're doing better. Keep us up to date on that wheel. Can't wait to see how it turns out.
Tom
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Glad your doing well and the mold looks like a good plan..I just spent the last 11 days figting the damn flu that I GOT THE SHOT FOR.
There were 2 flu types this year, one was Australian. I got the shot too, but the other flu got me 2 times in 30 days, whole off January seemed like.
fun...................mike
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Yeah, the flu. My wife got the shot and was sick for a month. I was only sick for a week or so. 39, glad you are pain free! The mold looks good. Looking forward to see how it works.
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Mold finished and decided to build a half pipe (!) second one for testing. On the test unit I welded nubs to the core on half of it to see if the resin would be more stable on that side. For the real unit I have a problem/question. Intended pour is in the vertical position. Don't know weather to make the trough in the middle of the wheel where the spokes are furthest apart or where the spokes are closer. Both seem to present a small air pocket but furthest pour position has less possible air pocket. Inputs? Resin work time is advertised as 15 minutes but that includes mixing and pouring. I need about 35 oz of resin so there will be heat build up which will cut the working time.
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Did a test pour today on the half wheel. Learned some things like spray release on the whole mold not just where the resin SHOULD go. Need more clamping force on the two halves of the mold, lots more. De molded it after 4 hours and it was still soft. Thought it should have set up quicker than that. Temp 75 and humidity 17%. Doesn't look like there are any bubbles but I'll wait until it hardens more before cleaning it up. I think that was a success and just need to refine my procedure.
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That looks really good...Cant wait to see the finished product!
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Looks nice and the finish looks really smooth
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Sure have a lot of good material to work with...look great.
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Think I found the problem. When I mixed the A and B resins I did it by weight. Should have been done by volume. That's why the color is off and still mushy on the ends. Not all parts of A could find a B partner. I'll hunt around the shop for something to make a mold with proto-putty then cast with correct proportions.
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Wheel has been cast. Happy with the results but it needs smoothing and a bit of polish. Over mixed the resin, had several pounds left over! Now it's on to the hub which will be square.
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Cool. 8)
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Good work, you won't see another one unless you make it. ;D
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That's pretty darn cool!
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Very nice!
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Looks great
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I like it!!
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Talent and patience, it looks great!
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Damn nice job! I enjoyed watching this one. You made it look a lot easier than it is. Very nice work!