Technical question for veneer/woodworkers

[kilo]

Ok... looking at the following wheel inspired me to also make my own. Anybody have experience in this area? Would this be made with veneer or solid wood?
http://batchlabs.com/temp/wheel.jpg

[Leon m]

Kilo
Solid,steam bent,thats my guess and I,m sticking to it!
Leon

[kilo]

well I certainly have no resources for steam bending. :(

[imported_Conrad]

Hi- we've restored similar wheels as part of our auto business- all the ones I've seen have been glued up out of solid wood, then cut to shape. It should be pretty easy to make one if you've got a router and can make a guide to swing it in a circle to cut the inner and outer radius, then sand. The centers/spokes are generally rivited to the rim, but that might not be neccessary for a boat. You could also glue one up from 15-20 thin slices of wood around a circular mold, then route and sand. Good luck!

[ 10-25-2002, 02:36 AM: Message edited by: Conrad S. ]

[kilo]

where would I go to find the center rim?

[imported_Conrad]

How about looking at some old water valves- the big industrial kind, from a salvage yard or recyler (just use the center section). Some old auto wheels also have steel centers. You could buy a cheap after market steering wheel, (rubber or plastic), with a polished aluminum center- start looking around, you'll start to see them everywhere!

[jason stumpf]

i'm going with solid wood, joined with some kind of lap joint, or maybe a bridle joint (i.e. mortise + tenon with open ends). i'd say minimum of 3 pieces, maybe 4. if you're very careful with your layout, you can do the joinery and shape the curves on each section. then glue up and smooth the circle and shape the round cross-section. think of it like building a round window-sash or door, not as sculpture. definitely do-able...jason

[mhoffman]

Kilo-
I have made three of them out of various different woods and tried different methods each time. The best one so far, from my perspective, due to the cost and sizes of the woods I'm using, is described below. The neat thing about this is there are so many diffent wood species available (look on ebay under "exotic wood" if you can't find anything locally) that you can end up with a reaaly neat looking wheel.
Find or make a pattern about 3/4'' larger in the final diameter of what you want the wheel to end up. The last one I did was about 18 inches in diameter to the outside of the circle. Using 2'' thick stock, mark out from your pattern and cut out a 2'' wide, 110 degree arc. Keep in mind the strength of the wood with respect to grain direction- lots a variability- so orient grain pattern accordingly. The 2'' wide part is to allow for loss when you are rounding out the wheel and shaping the grip. (I used four pieces to make the wheel- less waste and easier to get the grain pattern a bit more balanced visually) The 110 degrees is to allow overlay at each joint plus a little for waste to get the joint to a tight fit. To cut the arcs you can use a scroll, saber, band, or if your motivated, a hand coping saw. Play with each piece after this initial cut to see the best layout for grain orientation- and remember that one side will be seen, and the other only partially.
On the back of one end of each of the four pieces, and on the top of the opposite end cut through half of the thickness of your stock a radial line 15 degrees back from the end. Then cut a horizontal along the centerline of the stock from the end back to this cut. Make sense so far? These are your overlaying joints. You want to cut a little shy and then trim back to ensure you end up with a round wheel and symetery in your joints- compare it to your template periodically to make sure. Lay it up and look at it before you glue it. If you have made good joints, you can still move pieces around for best appearance.
Use some thickened epoxy or waterproof wood glue to glue them up. Remember there are differnt techniques using different glues- use the one appropriate for your purpose.
Then shape your wheel for grips, roundness, etc. You can use a sander, wood rasp, hand plane, whatever. Once you are satisfied with shape and feel, drill a couple of verticle holes through the joint overlays (say, 3/16 or so) and drive some round brass rod into the hole. (You could also use a different colored wood dowel rod, just remember end grain will look funny.)
For the center and cross member, or spokes, I cut out a single piece from a 4'' thick block of wood. To join it to the wheel after shaping, I used the same type of overlap joint with through pins. I used the thicker piece of wood to accomodate the offset from the plane of the wheel to the plane of the center piece. I suppose it would be a relatively easy thing to use metal for the spokes, but I was trying to keep everything wood.
Sand and finish. My neighbor just paid $300 for a mahogany wheel for his boat, and it really looks plastic. I probably spent ten hours between other projects and ended up with a one of a kind wheel.
Hope that helps. Sorry for being long-winded, but somebody on the forum was complaining a while back about understanding written procedures, and I'm not a writer...
Matt

[kilo]

Yes I follow - that seems simple enough - do you have any pictures of your wheels?

[Victorious]

you could laminate it...
http://www.victorious.co.uk/wheel/wheel-qtr.jpg
http://www.victorious.co.uk/wheel/index.html
:D http://www.victorious.co.uk/wheel/wheel-full.jpg :D

[gert]

think of building a water well out of bricks only the edges that butt togeather are cut at an angle that points to the center of the circle; three bricks "high" minimum, five would be better.

[On Vacation]

The one you posted was done with an Edson steering wheel inside. You can look it up on the internet. They are casted but it appears the outside was laminated out of solid hardwood as the closeup shows here was done out of plywood. this guy just added the spline inside to adapt to the helm.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid36/pb4d65381e8cdc0462326fa96341a5441/fd23a8d3.jpg

[Billy Bones]

Originally posted by Russell Ferriday:
you could laminate it...
:D Nice.

[Billy Bones]

Here's what I'd do.

Decide on a diameter and thickness. Plane and sand your stock to perfectly flat and pretty. Lay out a hexagon of stock made of individual segments a bit more than half the thickness of your wheel, such that your wheel can be easily gotten out of the hexagon. By eye your pictured wheel might take a hexagon made of 3/4" x 4" segments. Once you are happy with the fit, make another identical hexagon. Glue the two together stacked and tightly butted such that each but lands in the middle of the segment below or above it.

There are two main benefits to doing it this way:

1 you minimize endgrain stress

2 most importantly you can nail or screw the joints and segments together in areas of waste, thus eliminating need for complex clamping fixtures.

Cut out, rout, sand, sand some more, finish, enjoy.

[Leon m]

Kilo
Let me dispel the MYTH of steam bending.Its not
hard to do or learn ,and it's not expensive to
set up, everything you need you can get at your local hardware.If you want to build a wheel that
looks like the one in your picture you should
give steam bending a second look.New Jersey
Maritime Research has a great site on steam
bending check it out
http://www.megspace.com/lifestyles/Steam.html
Good Luck!
Leon

[Leon m]

Kilo
Just do a word search on New Jersey Maritme research when you get to thier home page
click on steam bending.
Leon