[TheForge] Drilling holes in rods

[magichammer]

Don, I have made a few wheels for my "fish-on-wheels"

http://davemudge.freeservers.com/fish-on-wheels.htm
The back wheels are about 6" but using 3/8 for the center is asking for 
difficulty.
I made my hubs from 3/4" pipe, swedged down just like you would do to 
make a 'cattail'
except this cattail is only about 1" long. The piece is much easier to 
handle.
Actually, I made a series of these on a piece of pipe and then drilled 
the holes before I cut
the individual hubs from the pipe. One big piece is much easier to work 
with than a bunch of small ones.
I have put 6 spokes and 8 spokes and even 12 spokes. Of course the 12 
spokes looked the best but was
ridiculously hard and time consuming to do. I settled for 6 spokes most 
of the time.

I would suggest getting a "cross-slide -vise" for your drill press. To 
me, the hard part was getting the center of
the hub directly under the drill bit. Then of course, you drill all the 
way through, giving you two holes at one time.
Don't worry yourself to death with 100% accuracy, you can adjust the spokes.

For the rim part, I shaped and welded and ground smooth before I drilled 
the holes. I drilled them from the
outside, came back with a little counter-sink, inserted the spokes, 
welded, ground down. The little counter-sink
provided adequate surface area for a good weld, and doing it from the 
outside, made the clean-up easy.

hope this helps
dave m

PlumDon at aol.com wrote:

>Looking for a technique or jig design to drill  multiple 1/8" holes  
>accurately  
>through the center of 3/8" round. This is for 1/8" spokes  for a 6" wheel. I  
>could 
>drill before shaping into a wheel or after  bending to a circle. ( I  
>recognize 
>I would have to re-drill after  bending). I only have drill press  and hand 
>drills available to do the  job. Any suggestions much appreciated. 
>
>Regards
>
>Don   Plummer
>Plummer Design Works
>392 Hallman Mill Road
>Phoenixville,  PA  19460
>610-495-5058
>
>
>  
>


-- 
Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.8.3 - Release Date: 3/25/2005