(1:13)Fundamentally, the wheel is a bicycle wheel. A five-cross sixty-spoke nine-foot diameter bicycle wheel wheel. The rims are aluminum tubing, bent (it takes about 1 1/2 pieces of 20' tubing for each wheel). The spokes are spoke wire, with a peened head and the other ended threaded to 56 tpi. Threading them was perhaps the riskiest part of the project, with the final solution coming into place pretty late: find a local bike shop with a Phil Wood spoke machine, having them form 1cm of thread, then using a Hozan thread chaser to form another few centimeters of threads--the small tool could not reliably start threading. Then it was a matter of building it with the previous hubs.
Frame building was more straightforward, done with a judicious combination of careful pre-planning and improvisation.
5 comments:
I liked so much it fell space autonomie. From Belgium
That is SO cool! I have a suggestion for your next project: A giant single wheel where two riders sit _inside_ the spokes! :)
Joi--I think a monowheel would be fun to build. Though perhaps quite difficult to ride.
See The strange story of vehicles with insufficient wheels. (And be sure to see all 5 pages from the clumsy index.)
hi, I am planning a school fair in late September in Santa Cruz. Do you ever bring unwheeldy to events for people to take rides on it? Let me know.
Brion
sprinsock@gmail.com
Wow, I've seen a few photos of this before over the years but never knew the name - this blog is great! I want to make one too! I've been experimenting with wooden wheels glued together under some tension. Far too heavy really - but requires only easier to get wood tools.
I would love to know how you made the hubs! And how did you ever calculate the correct spoke lengths? I know there are easy tools for doing that with standard size parts but this is anything but standard.
You've made a really inspiring thing here - great work! Great imagination! Bring it up to Canada sometime?
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