Projects Giant speedster project

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Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the car, just everytime I see it this damned song gets stuck in my head!

 

And now you can own it!!

Jerry

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0455879688&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT

 

Wheel covers

I was going to work on the fenders but when I got to my shop a little voice commanded me to work on the wheel covers. This operation will be complicated. I'll have to do some metal spinning and that requires a pattern or form. Since I've never done any metal spinning I'll have to make everything up. I did watch a bunch of movies on youtube, though. Also I'm only trying to make a large shallow cone about 2 or 3 inches in height and 24 inches in diameter. How hard can it be? I started today by cutting 2 plywood discs as a base for my cone like form. Then I began building a turntable for the drill press. My lathe only has about a 9 inch swing and I need 12. I tried to take a few picture but my camera crapped out. I hope it's just the batteries.

Jerry

 

Wheelcovers

I started by taking an old front wheel drive hub--from what car I don't know--and mounting it on a 2 x 6 piece of steel. The discs I cut out the other day using a router I mounted on the hub. Then I cut up some 2 x 4s and set them on the disc. Tomorrow, I'll smear glue all over the the 2 x 4s and put them in the press. When dry they'll be mounted on the disc. The theory is that I'll make up a guide and use the router to cut the 2 x 4s into a shallow cone as a form for the aluminum discs. I'm making this up as I go so the whole thing might be an epic failure.

Jerry
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Wheel covers

These pictures will give you an idea of what I'm shooting for.

Jerry
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This is going to be fun to watch.

 

What happened to the garbage can wheel covers ?

I WATCHED THEM MAKING ALUMINUM PAN LIDS AND COOKING POTS ON THE 'HOW ITS MADE ' PROGRAM .. THEY JUST CHUCK ONE UP AND PUSH AGAINST IT WITH A STAINLESS "SPOON OR PADDLE " AGAINST THE BUCK ITS DANGEROUS IF YOU WERE TO GET TOO CLOSE TO THE SPIINNING EDGE .. BUT THEY CRANK THESE OUT PRETTY FAST THE GUYS SHOWN HAD ALL THERE DIDGETS ????

 

No sweat, we won't tell anyone.

 

This is gonna be entertaining!

I watch with keen interest with bowl of;

 

Wheel covers

I didn't have much time to work on the Seagrave today but I did get to the hardware store and buy some Titebond wood glue. After smearing glue everywhere I stacked up the wood, draped it in plastic and sandwiched it between my two wooden discs. The hydraulic press seemed like a good way to compress the blocks. Tomorrow it should be dry. Then the shaping can begin!

Jerry
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Wait a minute! Now it looks like you're making patio furniture!?!?? Where am I? Did I click on the wrong bookmark???

 

when your done making disc you can make a cool table out of the pattern

 

Woodshop 101
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I like those fenders. Suggest that the leading edge of the rear fenders be more vertical. Will give the car more 'swoop'.

Also you can double clutch on the upshift. The trick is that you don't rev the motor as you would when double-clutching on the downshift. Let it idle but raise the clutch while passing through neutral.

I used to drive Army 10 ton wreckers and this was the only way you could catch a higher gear.

 

Jerry,

Is your clutch brake set up properly? It will make shifting much easier if it is.

Jack

 

I believe the clutch is fine. With Seagrave's interlock setup you have to hold the clutch pedal all the way down or you can't shift. Also because of the interlock you've got to pull the shifter all the way in gear or you can't release the clutch. I've only shifted the car from first to second twice so it'll take some getting used to. Actually, I thought it shifted pretty good. My '14 Buick was hard to shift. Tomorrow I'm taking my wheelcover form over to Don Simpkins of Morgan fame to see if we can put some shape on it with his pattern makers mill.

Jerry

Jerry

 

Take plenty of pics please! A pattern makers mill sounds cool.

 

Jerry... A friend has a few Seagrave Firetrucks, and I've driven a couple. The only way I could shift them with the interlock was to do what I call a "hesitation" as it comes out of one gear and before it moves into the next. I "hesitated" for about a two count before it would go without sounding like I was trying to destroy it. I'm told that the amount of "hesitation" time varies from gearbox to gearbox, but the technique is pretty common. Apparently the "hesitation" allows the shaft to match speed. Not sure I explained this clearly, but I hope you get the idea.

 

Got it perfectly, Dusty. Every vehicle is a little different. I can't wait to get the speedster out on the road. Maybe one Sunday morning I can scoot down the highway and get er up to speed. That would be awesome! I'll need to refine a few more features first. But we're close, very close! Today--pattern mill and wheelcover forms.

Jerry
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You need to hesistate when shifting straight-cut gears... I learned the hard way with Dad's Packard...

 

WOW!! neat project

 

Wheelcovers

I made it over to Don's. The first problem was how to mount the big hunk of wood on the mill. We solved that by bolting one of my plywood discs to the turn table then screwing the big disc to the plywood. I was hoping we could turn the cutter head at an angle and just skim the wood creating a perfect cone. Unfortunately, the machine wasn't capable of doing that. We ended up making multiple cuts. It's a very slow process. That's probably why these machines aren't so popular any more, given way to cnc three axis routers. Well, you use what you got. Tomorrow, we'll cut some more.

Jerry
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if you find a lathe large enough to spin it, wait you can build a wood lathe i bet..

 

If you mounted the wood block to the head of the mill you would have a upside down vertical wood lathe. My back already hurts thinking of bending over trying to see what you are turning.

 

Spinning is one of those things that looks easy, takes ten minutes to learn, but ten years to get right. It is largely done by "feel", however these should be fairly straightforward. Hate to tell you this now, but it would be better to make the form out of discs of plywood that are screwed and glued together rather than two by fours. There are several reasons for this:

1. If that is ordinary pine it is rather soft and will collapse slightly when pressure to form the wheel cover is applied. This is a problem because the wood will collapse more when you press on the sides of the pieces than when you are pressing on the end as the form rotates, hard to explain clearly but if you imagine the form spinning then there will be with each rotation: end grain-side grain-end grain-side grain, or hard-soft-hard-soft etc, so your end result is a form that is not even. Also each spinning you do will collapse it more so the shape of your first piece will be different to the last.

2. The Glue will leave hard spots between the pieces which don't collapse at the same rate when either spinning or shaping/sanding the form, which can leave visible stripes in the finished pieces. Its easier to combat this problem if the harder glue goes around the form, and it's lots less prevalent if you use plywood.

3. If you store the form for any time and go to use it again you will find it is oval shaped, due to expansion and contraction of the wood.

4. THERE IS A CHANCE THAT SOMETHING MIGHT GET CAUGHT ON ONE OF THE JOINTS WHEN ITS SPINNING AND CAUSE IT TO COME APART. Yes it's a small chance but I've seen it happen and it's not pretty. Most likely to happen when shaping the form.

For something that size I would recommend to spin down gradually. Do the outside couple if inches first (all the covers), then cut the form down some more and do the next couple of inches etc. If you put a large disc like that on and start from the centre it will tend to "waffle" at the edge. Use as large a backcentre as you can at each stage, and most important, make sure the metal is spun tight to the chuck where you start.

If you need any other help then either put it up here or pm, and I'll get back to you.

 

Can't you use the pattern as a hammer form?


and the mill, I think, is a better choice than a lathe. Turning pine is very problematic as to tearout. The mill is acting as a router and the revolving cutter is less likely to split out chunks.

You gonna make inside wheel covers, too?

 

Giant ripple disc's ...cool

maybe a mirrored shaped block to "press "out a DISC form ... Good luck

SAVE THE sawdust AS IT is a gear box quieting substance ????

 

You could always use an orbital sander with a coarse grit while the pattern is turning to get the basic shape down?

 

Not sure how I managed to miss this one all this time but it's the coolest thing ever.

To spin the disks, couldn't you just attach a pulley on a shaft to the back of the wood and use an electric motor with a belt to turn the disk?

PS: I'd really like to see a photo of the Segrave next to the Metro

 

Wheelcovers

Back at MorganFab. After we roughed out the shape, Don came up with an angled cutter bit. This did a real nice job smoothing out the form. When it was done I sanded the wood a bit. Actually, the thing came out better than Don and I expected. Now the fun starts--mount the form on my drill press, bolt down some aluminum, rig up a wheel on a stick and see if I can shape a spinning disc into a wheelcover.

Jerry
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