Shopsmith Forums

I have a project I'm working on and was planning on sharing some of it with you over the next while. I don't want to waste my time or yours if people are not interested... on the other hand if some of these basic steps are of interest to a few of you I will take the time to do the posting.

The finished project will remain a mystery for now.

Part One, the wheels.
One of the first things was picking out material to work with. In this case I'm going with baltic birch plywood. You might want to reference this post for more details on the plywood I'm using:
http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showthread.htm?t=5141

This exercise is I think within the reach of almost anyone here with at least some experence. I'm going to use tools I have but I will not try to get to fancy. Step one is to take some of the plywood and make it into parts that resemble a wheel. This wheel will need a precise hole to fit a shaft, be as round as it can be made and have a tight fit in a PVC pipe.

Step one was cutting some blocks of the plywood, you will need three but if you want to practice on a couple feel free to cut some extras. The blocks need to be large enough to cut out a circle of say 3-1/2". (The finished size will be just over 3" so if you want make the wheels a bit closer to that size and you have the experience to feel confident doing so fine). Next you need to locate the place that will be the center of the circle and mark it. Using what ever tools you have at hand draw the circle of 3-1/2" (or less but larger then 3-1/8").

Next you need to drill a 5/8" hole at the center. This hole needs to be really close to 5/8" so make sure the drill you are using produced a 5/8" hole. A Fostner bit is what I used, a brad point bit would work well too... not so sure how a twist drill will do with out doing some extra effort to limit tear out.

Next if you have a band saw or jig saw or some such tool you will need to make the wheels round. I would suggest getting it as round as you can before we go on to the next process. Yes even a hand held jigsaw or coping saw will do. You should end up with something like this:
[ATTACH]8044[/ATTACH]

Close up of one of them (this one is already gone through all the processes):
[ATTACH]8045[/ATTACH]

Next we are going to turn them using the lathe. I used a 5/8" universal arbor to mount the wheel. You need to keep your cutting so that it is a cylinder and not a tapered plug. You will also want to take your time as you get close to the final size, in fact using a sanding disk for the last bit of fine adjustment works quite well.
[ATTACH]8046[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]8047[/ATTACH]

Please keep in mind these are posed shots, and you may see some things that are not in keeping with safety issues, make sure when you are doing these operations you are doing them in a safe manner.

In the last picture what I did in reality was to move the arm out of the way and use the sanding disk below the wheel. You want the arm out of the way because you are at the finial sizing steps. As mention this wheel needs to fit inside a section of PVC pipe and you want it a nice tight fit. I got it close then sanded and tested and sanded until I got the fit I was looking for. I labeled the PVC ends as A and B and the center as C. As I fit the wheels I labeled them to match the PVC markings so A fit A and B fit B. For C since it was going to fit inside the PVC I got it to just fit then took off just a tiny bit more so it would just smoothly slide in... just a little looser then A and B fits.
[ATTACH]8048[/ATTACH]

It takes a bit of effort to get the fit right just remember to nudge your way up to it.

The next post will finish up the wheel and go on to cutting the PVC.

Ed

Once you have the wheels turned you need to do one more thing and that is mark the center of the wheel thickness wise. The plywood is 13 layers so by a simple count you can find the center ply. With a pencil at that location turn on the lathe and touch the pencil to the edge.... You will see where this comes in handy later on.

Now on to the PVC cutting.

The PVC is 3" SCH40 material. I was able to get a 5 foot piece at the Menards hardware which was better then having to buy a 10 foot piece which is the normal length. When I looked at the end it was clear that it was not a square cut on either end. That clued me into having to cut both ends to get the part I wanted out of it.

I have cut PVC before and it always seemed easier to use a miter saw then other ways. The biggest pain is the chips that go everywhere and the chips that stick to anything including the work piece.

This is how I cut mine:
[ATTACH]8049[/ATTACH]

After which I vacuumed up what I could off the piece and ran the hose though the center of the tube (actually a good fit for the hose I have and it really cleaned it out well), then did the outside and then the tools and then the floor....

You will notice the blue tape, to me it seems to give a better cut with the tape in place, not sure why??? You will also notice the clamp (not really adjusted as well as it could be) to hold it in place and to make sure it is flat to the table. I needed about 18-3/16", or at least that is what I think I need.

You may find a small burr on the inside or even out side the locations of the cuts, some ruff sandpaper makes short work of that.

If you want to use your table saw I think it might be best to make a special fence to cradle the PVC and give yourself a good place to clamp to. Since the 3" PVC has an out side dimension of 3-1/2" you will need to make at least two cuts to cut though, perhaps more if the special fence uses up to much height. You really want to make sure the PVC can not spin... that would not be a good thing. (If you need a sketch of what this special fence might need to look like let me know).

Now depending on shop time (read that warm shop time) this might continue soon or it may get stalled again.

Ed

Pipe bomb. You've joined the other side?:eek:

A surface sander appears to be in someone's future. Soon.

Do I detect a power pro here?? I see you tried to blot out the speed control but I also see a blue color there insead of red???? Hmmmm I like this continue please.

Please continue. I am most interested in how you will fine adjust the finished top or will it be somewhat fixed with only a limited amount of movement. Thanks for the instructions and pictures.

kd6vpe wrote:Do I detect a power pro here?? I see you tried to blot out the speed control but I also see a blue color there insead of red???? Hmmmm I like this continue please.

It sure don't look like mine. Check out the pictures in this POST. Wonder what is under that paper towel, and what that black thing is on the head stock in the first picture?

Are you making a drum sander? This is a photo of one I saw on another site and saved as an idea for a future project. If that is what you're making I'll like yours better... better diameter.

[ATTACH]8058[/ATTACH]

Paul M

kd6vpe wrote:Do I detect a power pro here?? I see you tried to blot out the speed control but I also see a blue color there insead of red???? Hmmmm I like this continue please.

I suppose it would have to be field tested.
BPR

kd6vpe wrote:Do I detect a power pro here?? I see you tried to blot out the speed control but I also see a blue color there insead of red???? Hmmmm I like this continue please.

Check out the picture in the second post. That sure looks like the power pro decal that has been previously released by several sources!

Ed must be a beta tester!