Supplies

[Flywheel]

I'm interested in building a Universal 6 ft in diameter wheel. Does anyone know where I can buy big sheets of hard clear plastic? I'm hoping to have the rim be solid and the 2 faces of the cylinder be clear so that I could observe what's happening on the inside.

Also does anybody know where I can buy small dense weights? Perferable a type of store cause I don't want to pay like a million dollars worth of shipping.

[rlortie]

cannot help you on the plastic, as for weights I suggest the following.

I am sure that your home state has a number of metal recycle yards.

At least once a month I cruise through one of these local establishments.
Some of these also sell and fabricate new material. If I cannot find what I need in the junk pile, they let me pick up small pieces from their cutting stations.

Round, flat, bar rectangle, it is all available. When I built my flywheel it had a 2-3/4" axle bore. I picked up from their floor two pieces of 2-3/4" stock for $1.50, brought them home and center drill a !" hole in them for reducer bushings.

Another trip produced 20 8" four spoke aluminum hand wheels such as found on a table saw for raising and lowering the blade. For these I paid $1.00 Ea. Avoid copper, the scrap price is compatable with pre-1970 gold prices. Lot of copper wire theft in my area.

Ralph

[Fletcher]

Call an architect from the yellow pages & ask him where you can source sheets of acrylic. As for small dense weights. I have found a couple of industrial wheel & pulley suppliers. They specialize in supplying all sorts of wheels & pulleys for commercial applications. Hand operated fork hoists, trolleys, gurneys, car jacks, etc. They have shelves of metal wheels of all sizes & weights, some with bearing, some just pre-drilled depending on intended loading. One set of V pulleys I got form an industrial electric gate manufacturer.

Alternatively make your own from recycled lead melted with a butane burner & cast into a mold of some sort. I source my lead from dive & fishing shops.

[Flywheel]

Lucky for me next weekend is bulk waste day where people throw away huge stuff that normally the garbage men wouldn't take.

About the lead weights, isn't lead a little expensive, and isin't melting lead hazzardous to your health?

[jupter]

for dense weight try a tool shop they should have scrap pieces.
carbide is very dense and needs diamond wheels to cut it.
a shop that makes cutting tools would be the place.

[wheelmaster]

Let your fingers do the walkin. I looked up and called every machine shop in my area. A couple allowed me to go through there scrap pile and take whatever I wanted.

As for the plastic well that sounds expensive. Also metal weights scratching on the sides would make it look bad over time.

[Flywheel]

thanks for all the replies!

I had to scale down my wheel to about 2 and a half feet in diameter due to budget, good tools, and space.

1 whole side is plexiglass and I'm going to put some sarann wrap on the inside that I can replace once in a while, so the plastic shouldn't get scratched up that much.

so far I've made both faces of the cylinder, and I want this wheel to be 3 inches thich, does anyone have an Idea for how I can make the rim? I don't have a wood steamer and I want to be able to put notches into the rim. Thanks!