Wheelbuilding

[Guest]

Hi. Any experienced wheelbuilders out there?
I'm having trouble lacing up a small flange front hub, to a right-hand, 28 hole rim. Spokes are cross 3, straight pull. The lacing pattern I want is non-symmetrical, i.e., track style.
I must have a mental block - right hand rims give me big headaches. I have the first 7 inside spokes in place, but am not sure how to start the other side's 7 inside spokes. So I've laced in the 7 outside spokes, on the other side, hence now have 14 spokes in place, but probably it's gonna turn out wrong.
Perhaps the problem is that I'm trying European style method with an American style rim. Very frustrating. This wheel is very urgent too. So embarrassing, other wheels are no problem at all. This one I just can't grasp. I can get it laced, but the valve hole will be in the wrong place. Wish I had a sample wheel to copy from .

 

[Vo2]

Willie, all I can help you with is a bunch of links (if you have'nt tried it already).
Goto Google and type the following, including the quotation marks: "wheel building"
You'll find bunches of links, maybe there's something you can use from there.

 

[Guest]

Thankyou, Vo2.  I shall chase up those links over coming week, as time allows.  
Meanwhile - good news - I've completed the lacing late tonight, and got it right, much to my surprise!  All that remains now is the final truing. What a relief.  This has been a very difficult wheel.

And thanks for the image of the Raleigh booklet. Must be pre-war? The workers are wearing ties. What a stack of wheels! All on the floor, too, no overhead racks.
There's a Westwood rim on the bottom left, probably 26 X 1 3/8; and one in the truing stand also; the men are working on what appear to be 3 speed S.A. hubs; there's a dynohub just left of centre, and probably another, or a drum brake hub next to that. Most of the other rims are of the Endrick pattern, i.e. standard roadster & clubman bikes.  The benches are made of wood, and a tray of 3 spd. hubs on the left. Could be a 'Cyclo' wheelstand too. I heard they went bust about a year ago. Very interesting.
Cheers.

 

[Vo2]

Jeepers, Willie, you sure know your stuff, mate! Now I understand the meaning of 'a single picture can say a thousand words'. Interesting!

 

[Guest]

It does look like its pre-war  ;D When you consider willies wheels arnt even finished yet, it may be abit prehistoric for him.

The name for that book should be

Primal Wheel-Building Technique
'Fossilized Wheels Only'[/b][/size]

cheers!

 

[Vo2]

Talk about fossilized wheels!
Thank heavens this guy never took his design any further ;D

Anyway Willie, glad you came right.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, fellas.  Hey, that last image reminds me of a scene in one of those films ' In search of the Holy Grail', or another John Cleese film, wherein a privitive Briton, complete with loincloth or goatskin, is riding his bike (with square wheels) through the mud and thatch village. A fellow villager, saying 'That'll never work', takes one of his square wheels and shoves it into a convenient, square hole in the wall of his hut, saying something like ' Good on you, mate, you've just invented the window frame'. Ha ha ha...

Actually, I have a photo on a calendar, of a chap in the Bairnsdale district, standing on a contraption which consists of frame, pedals & cranks, and bird-like flappable wings. He appears to be pedalling the thing in hope of flight. No name or date, unfortunately.  Cranks is right, I guess.

A better photo, on another calendar in an engineering shop, shows a chap mounted astride a frame with engine and rollers,
say, much like the middle section of a motorcycle, but driving 200 m/m rollers underneath. This unit in mounted within a huge wheelrim, about 2 m. high, and the inner face of the rim is stepped, or channeled, so that the rim rotates, giving forward motion. I dunno about braking, but the builder is obviously having fun.

Bike Content: The wheel is finished; trued and centred, to my great relief.

Here's a list of some of the members of the 28 inch family of tyres, the last of which - like straight-pull spokes - was common over 100 years ago:

Size              Bead seat Dia.            Size

700               647     m/m             28 X 1  1/4   Very Rare
700A             642                        28 X 1  3/8   Standard
700B             635                        28 X 1  1/2   Post Office
700C             622                        28 X 1  3/4   Common

Yep. 700c is an antique size, and a 28 inch too.
Confused? Me too, but it's true.

Cheers.