Harbor Freight English Wheel.. can it be fixed?

That may help, cool if you can scan it, and let me know what issue it was,

Today we'll be taking the paint off of the top half of the frame to see what we are dealing with...

 

The only thing I take away from this is that the Chinese do imitations of equipment with no real concept of the work thats supposed to be done with it. They are in the same position the Japanese were in post world war II. It will be decades before they produce a quality product.

I spoke with a career machinist recently and it seems you can buy older US made machine tools here cheaply now because almost all machine tooling is now done overseas. We have become whores for the cheap stuff. Buy in haste, repent in leisure.

When I look for a tool now my first choice is in used US made items and I research spare parts availability before I buy.

 

Absolutely true. Trouble is, by the time the bean counters realise that you get what you pay for it'll be too late.

 

That series in Home Shop Machinist was VERY well written,
and the design was absolutely horrible.

 

As long as the Bean Counters get paid,
they don't give a Shit,and don't mind sacrificing
someone else's job to "save" a few bucks.

 

Really? I didn't read it very close, what did you not like about it? Got any pointers?

 

I must be missing something here..... why would an English Wheel have power feed? I wouldn't want it even it was offered free. You need to have complete control over speed, tracking and tension. You only learn this by feel and practice. As far as the machine being used as a bead roller, I'm not a big fan of wasting an hour to remove components and aligning new components, only to do it all again. Separate operations require separate machines. I was thinking of building a double ended power hammer with a louver press on one side. Then thought, what if the power hammer throws the louver dies out of alignment?

 

The power feed was for the bead roller, and you did swap the wheel and anvils to use it. I doubt it would take an hour to do, but I see your point. It wasn't my design, I just thought I'd throw it out there.

 

More importantly, 'bout whats it cost for one them

 

this should be a great infomative thread. When I got mine, it looked like they hooked it to a team of donkeys and drug it to my house.

After putting it together I started to roll some panels. Mine must be an exception or a "Wednesday" made piece. It tracks down the middle. But, I will have to check the side to side alignment to see if it's center.

I have been rolling panels with it already. Im still happy and learning too.

 

We're running pretty well on a tangent to the subject, but I'll throw in one more added contraversial detail. It's very possible that the Harbor Freight e-wheel was the product of american business men just tapping into an exploding market and having them mass produced on contract overseas. It happens all the time. It's not always the "other country" with the idea. It often comes from right here in the US of A. Just a detail to think about... the best thing to do with a product like this is to do EXACTLY what Zman is doing... see what it takes to make it a worth while tool. It's obvious that it's not great for anything much better than industrial gage tin foil in it's current state. The end result of Zman's study will benefit quite a bit to a lot of us.

 

So the paint is stripped off of the top portion...

I have jumped up and down on it in an effort to get it lined up more accurately. It's better but not perfect. You can tell by my super accurate plumb bob.

Maybe this week I'll get a chance to finish and reinforce it as it's a little flimsy in my opinion.

 

I really would like to see ow good you can make this turd. I was thinking about buying one. or building one. BUt if the dies for this one seem to be decent it may be worth the time to fix it. I have much more time then i have money.

 

http://www.homemetalshopclub.org/new...letter0703.pdf

 

if i may Zman...a little suggestion. i'd cut off the upper yoke, and the lower adjuster tube from the frame, weld them to some plates, and weld matching plates to the frame, the upper being oriented horizontally, the lower being vertical. this way you can bolt the yokes on, and shim them if necessary to get wheel alignment right instead of trying to bend the frame back into shape. with the plates located this way, one vert and one horiz, you should be able to adjust out any misalignment you encounter.

 

man...i remember that roadster body from a couple years ago...looks the same,any plans?

 

trying to finish the chassis, I had it all mocked up, and now I'm in the midst of the chassis build, got pushed to the side for a bit... but it'll be done and painted soon (I hope)

 

What did it cost though?

 

close to $300 so far out of pocket, but it's got about 20 hours into it, between stripping and the start of the alignment. And I still think it may need to be cut to finish the alignment. And time is money...

 

$250.00 so says the post in the links on the the first page

 

dude! post some pic's of your wheel it sounds like it's the shit to me. we want to check it out.

 

HF sells the upper and lower dies separately. I am thinking about buying them and building my own frame. That way I know the frame will be built straight and fit my need.

I saw one wheel frame that the was packed with sand when it was built. Anyone have an idea why the builder did that?

 

Maybe for extra weight to keep it from sliding around while wheeling?

 

ok so you can fix them frame, but considering the quality of the simple frame may be the top wheel and bottom wheel not machined round or have a true tracking crown, please advise as to your measurements of roundness and your regringing proceedure, ( are the wheels also the correct hardness)

 

According to my friend in the link below, they are.
http://www.homemetalshopclub.org/new...letter0703.pdf

 

zman, did you do any wheeling with the unit before the modifications? I'm just curious if you'd be able to compare some before and after results and give us some feedback on that.

 

Zman, what are you figuring for your shop rate? I guess you'll let the cat out of the bag in a few days. I'll guess somewhere around $65 an hour. With 20 hours that's $1300 in labor so far and counting, heh?

 

Seems like a "good deal".

 

i am definitly watching to see what you come up with i was also thinking of buying it.and doing the same thing.the press i bought from there is totally out of whack im just gonna build the one i want and call it good.

 

super old .. did it get fixed??