Guess Who Actually Did Some Woodworking...

Dave Richards

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SE Minnesota
...and has pictures to show for it.

Actually I do manage to make small pieces out of large ones more often than it would seem. This time I have some proof.

Last weekend I started on a new steering wheel for my sailboat. (Funny, that boat was "finished" four years ago but I'm still making stuff for it. :huh:) I made the spoke blanks which I sent off to Ken Fitzgerald who kind ly volunteered to turn them for me. They are laminated up from cherry and hard maple.

This weekend I made a trammel for my P-C trim router, milled the stock for the felloes, (the parts that form the rim of the wheel. They are called felloes on a wagon wheel, too.) and got the inner felloes cut to shape.

I had enough stock cut to the size of the spoke blanks to stand in for the ones Ken will be making so I could at least get this far.

The trammel was a bit of a challenge to work out. There aren't any extra screw holes on the bottom of the stock router base and there's not really that much vertical travel so the base couldn't be too thick. Since I have plenty of scraps I worked out what you can see in the pictures. I started by replacing the plastic base with one made from a scrap of 3/8" lauan ply I had left over from the boat. I used a piece of 12mm baltic birch ply for the trammel itself. I cut a channel in it for the new router base so it is a snug, slip fit. You can see some bits of pine on top that form the rails to hold the router down. Locking the router in place is a simple matter of drilling a hole and driving a screw through the rail, the base plate and the trammel. Not sophisticated but it works.

The next step is to make the two outer felloes rings and then I need to get the real spokes in place so they can be milled to receive those out felloes.

Thanks for looking.

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Dave, that's a nice setup you put together! What wood are you using? That's not poplar you're using for the spokes, is it?

Never mind...I didn't read "I made the spoke blanks which I sent off to Ken Fitzgerald who kind ly volunteered to turn them for me. They are laminated up from cherry and hard maple."
 
Thanks Steve and Ed.

The yellow poplar pieces in the picture were from some scrap that was close to the right size so I milled them to size when I was working on the spokes. The other three in the photo are scraps from the stuff I sent to Ken.

Actually, much of my boat is yellow poplar including the keel and it has been just fine for a trailer sailor. The scrap I used to make the fake spokes was left over from the bow sprit.

FWIW, here are a few shots of the boat from last summer
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The last one shows the yellow poplar bowsprit.
 
Looks like a fun little boat! What's with the iron jib hanging off the stern? Here's mine.
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I'm actually trying to sell it since I don't have the time to use it as much as I used to.
 
Charlie, I suppose you are right.

The boat. Not a completed SU model but it is drawn from the plans.


The steering setup I designed. The wheel was pulled out of the air when I was drawing the setup. I should fix it.


I do have a SketchUp model of the wheel I'm working on but it is at work. ;)

Ed, yours looks nice. Looks like it is a bit more go-fast than mine. The iron genny wasn't there for the first two years but most of the places I sail I need something because sailing into the dock is not a good choice. Too much chance of damaging sails, boat or people. On Lake Pepin the landing I use most is also used by fishing boats. You know, they back the boat in at highway speed, rooster tails as they leave the dock, rooster tails as they return. Drive the boat on the trailer at full throttle. I don't know why they even bother to back the trailer into the water. With all that power they ought to be able to drive the boat to the trailer no matter where it is parked. :rolleyes: :D
 
Latest Update on the Wheel

Finally, I have some new pictures and a progress report on the steering wheel.

First, a little boo boo. I neglected to consider the part of the outer felloes that would be cut away before I drilled the screw holes in the center of the blanks. Fortunately I had enough stock planed to thickness so I could make another six and also fortunately I didn't drill all twelve of the first batch.

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The pieces were glued together with super glue. the first piece was screwed down against a registration block which was removed before routing. Then each subsequent piece was glued and screwed down. To prevent gluing the pieces to the jig, I rubbed the surface with a bar of paraffin.

Then I ran the router round the outside.

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After making the rings round inside and out, all the felloes pieces were rounded over on the router table. Then I shimmed up the stand in spokes to the height of the face of the hub. The inner felloes were then shimmed to put them midway up the spokes.

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And here is one of the rings laying in place on the spokes. I need to run the router round the spokes to create a recess for the outer felloes. Then it'll be time to sand all the parts and start gluing things together. Well, of course I'll need those spokes Ken turned for me.

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Looking good, Dave. The latest pics helped to clarify how the circle cutting jig works. I like the way the jig adjusts.
 
Thanks Vaughn. That little wedge of plywood in the picture showing the trammel in position was screwed in as a stop before I moved the router to cut the inner edge. That made it easy to reset the trammel when it came time to do the second ring. I made another little spacer that slips in between that stop and the base of the router to locate the inner position.

When I get ready to cut the spokes, I'll have to move the router 1/4" away from the stops since the "keeper stock" will be on the opposite side of the bit so to speak.
 
Hey Dave,

I turned the first one tonight. I think we may pull this thing off! To turn these, first you have to cut the pummels. Then rough turn the rest to a cylinder and details from there. While rough turning the cylinders, I had to learn the lesson of rotating my roughing gouge to keep from catching flying corners. Most of it turned out to be skew work which I really enjoy. And then I had to learn the flying corners lesson with the skew too! This first one won't be a keeper but I don't think we'll have a problem doing this! It was a kick!

Ken
 
I came in from the shop last night at 1100. I turned 2 more I think you'll find useable. Those things are a kick in the pants to turn!
 
It is when you were sweating turning out a useable job.....


Okay......what do you think?


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The one sitting at an angle is where I had to learn the lessons of the flying corners.

The other two I think are useable.

These were really fun to turn.
 
Dave....I'm going to be busy until the weekend. Takes about an hour to turn each one. I hope to get them finished this weekend and get them into the mail to you.

Ken
 
Ken, that sounds fine. I have 32 anesthesia machines to PM before the end of the month. Most of them run all day during the week so I expect I'll be putting in some time on the weekend. Besides, we're supposed to have 8-10 inches of snow before tomorrow morning arrives. No sailing anytime soon for me.
 
I can understand that.....I've got 5 FMIs on CTs and MRs..and a bunch of PMs....all due before months end.........Besides....you boat isn't an icebreaker is it?
 
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