Hollow upper wheel

[norson]

I was at the Santa Cruz meet a number of years ago and John Forbes, the host, had a fabricated upper wheel made from an automotive hub and spindle and a tube outer. see pictures.
In my scrap yard surfing I found some seamless tube that is 1/2 inch wall in 8 and 9 inch diameter. A Harbor Freight wheel fit very snugly inside inside the nine inch tube. Personally I would buy one from Hooser. Comes nuts on true and heat treated. No muss, no fuss.

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[bobadame]

I made there a few years ago to fit a Tommasinni wheel. The rim is a heavy wall tube that I found on eBay. It's 8" diameter 4140HT. One is all steel pressed together with the hub welded with silicon bronze rod. The other is pressed and bolted together aluminum.They both run less than .001 TIR 20200506_134950.jpg

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[crystallographic]

Been using "English" and "Irish" and "Merican" wheels for a pretty long time. Old-school uppers are "profiled" with a wide rim and a web center section with a hub for the axle, cast, machined and sometimes hardened. Newer ones include solid billet designs that resemble grinding stone wheels, rimless, hubless.
When I made my first wheeling machine, I wanted a 12in dia. upper, with rim, web and hubs. 3.5in. wide. Went to big fab shop, found "drill stem" - thick hard strong tough tubing, 12in dia X 3/8in wall. Chonked off a 4in length, cut out a web circle 1/2in thick steel and welded that O.C. inside. Cut some shorty 2in round steel bar stock, welded those to the web sides, O.C. and machinist then cut all surfaces to look as one single unit piece and bored center for 1in axle. Hardened the thing. Then trued up on axle in grinder, +-.001-(1987)
Nice appearance. true. hard. Not heavy, not hard to grab rim to spin it to get up on sheet - frame Stiff . Looks cast, but smooth all over.
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(9inchX 2.5 upper - fabricated of steel drill stem, web, and hubs, machined, hardened, precision-ground on axle)


Now with CNC lathes having live tooling, one billet is cut nice, with fancy artwork openings in the web. Can even spell your name in the open work in the web.
Ironical very kool tech applied to antiquated hand-operated metal-squisher.