[TheForge] English wheel update

Tue Jun 25 19:39:00 2002

Jesse also used a power planisher to smooth and even out the edges. And 
even then he needed to use a little manual "fine tuning" to make it fit 
up well enough to weld. Then when all was said and done, one of his crew 
troweled on some light green bondo -like fiberglass, which was then 
sanded to create a "perfectly smooth" surface.

His workmanship is something to behold and at something like $125,000 a 
copy for his cycles, there is a narrow market.

Did anyone, other than me, enjoy his spiderweb railings on the mezzanine 
of the shop???

If anyone missed The Learning Channel Show, Motorcycle Mania, there is 
his new show on the Discovery channel:
MONSTER GARAGE:
Each episode Jeese James picks a new crew to transform some vehicle into 
something else.

For example, the three episodes I have watched:

    * A 1993 Eddie Bauer Explorer becomes a garbage truck with a garbage
      can gripping arm
    * A Lincoln limosene becomes a firetruck
    * An 80's Mustang became a high powered lawn mower.

Each show ends with a challenge between the Monster Garage creation and 
the real world vehicle. The crew, assuming they win, and they have each 
time, each receive a Snap-On tool chest full of $3400 worth of tools. 
I'd take it on!!!

I'm sure many of you metal manglers would love to as well!!!

Ray Miller
Cincinnati

Dave Bendall wrote:

>     A while back some one was asking about English wheels. The other
>night on Motorcycle Mania, on the History (or learning?) channel on TV
>they showed a custom motorcycle shop in California, run by Jesse James,
>his real name. He made a cool custom motorcycle gas tank using an
>English wheel like this- he cut a long triangle out of thick aluminum
>sheet, hammered it cold on a bar stool sized lead shot pad, using a big
>ball pein that might have been a bodywork hammer. Then he took the
>concave triangle with these big giant pein-dents all over it to the
>English wheel. Picture a power hammer frame, but instead of anvil &
>sliding hammer, two steel wheels that meet, one above the other. The top
>wheel has a flat face, the bottom has a round face. There is a screw
>adjustment for the height of the bottom wheel, with spokes sticking out
>at the bottom of the screw that he could raise and lower the bottom
>wheel with his feet with. He just shoved the aluminum triangle between
>the two wheels, and yanked it forwards and backwards, tightening up the
>tension and squeezing the wheels together as he went. The round wheel
>just smoothed out all the bumps so nice, the part looked like it was
>stamped in a multi-ton press. Smooth and even and a perfect curve all
>over. This one part made the top section of his custom gas tank. Very
>cool. 
>     Thus concludes my report on what the Heck an English wheel is and
>does. 
>     Dave Bendall in Phoenix   
>
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