Looking for ways to precisely cut apart 3 piece aluminum car wheels

[allhorizon]

Hello Hobby Machinists, My name is Jamel and I am a New Yorker that has been living in Osaka, Japan for over 5 years. I am an automotive enthusiast so I have used tools like drill presses, impact wrenches and angle grinders but for what I am trying to do, I hope to be a bit more precise.

I have a set of car wheels that are three piece welded construction.

The Inner Barrel is welded to the Outer Barrel all around the circumference and I am looking for a way to cut the weld to remove the outer barrel from the wheel assembly.

At the moment, I simply have the wheels and a spare wheel hub from a car that will allow me to rotate the wheel if attached to a spindle of some sort.

What I am looking for is ideas on how to precisely cut the wheel apart (Simple or complex)

I assume a lathe would be one way to do it but I don't know what size lathe I would need or if there is a more analog way I could do this within limited space constraints.

Any Ideas or input would be appreciated. If you suggest a lathe, what size would be able to cut apart a wheel that is 17-18" in diameter?

I'd be very grateful for any assistance and advice!

(Note: I tried to attach photos to help explain but it wouldn't let me create the thread with the photos...)

 

[FOMOGO]

A picture or two would be helpful. Are you attempting to widen the wheels? Are the wheels steel or aluminum? Quite a few ways to skin this cat from highly mechanized, to very backyard. You would need a pretty good sized lathe to approach it from that direction. Below are a few examples, Google is your friend here. Mike

 

[allhorizon]

As stated in the title, they are aluminum wheels and I want to widen the wheels but in a different way than shown in those videos (not welding in bands but replacing the entire outer barrel with a new one).

Because the wheels are aluminum, I am afraid of using an angle grinder because of heat and possibly warping the wheels.

 

[DHarris]

The most accurate way (and also most expensive too I fear) would be to take them to some company with a water jet cutter. NO heat and supremely accurate. But expensive for one-offs (or in this case 2 or 4 offs).

Good luck - let us know how it turns out.

 

[FOMOGO]

Don't see the word aluminum anywhere in your original post. Of course I'm old and my eyesight isn't all that great. Mike

As stated in the title, they are aluminum wheels and I want to widen the wheels but in a different way than shown in those videos (not welding in bands but replacing the entire outer barrel with a new one).

Because the wheels are aluminum, I am afraid of using an angle grinder because of heat and possibly warping the wheels.

 

[RandyM]

Don't see the word aluminum anywhere in your original post. Of course I'm old and my eyesight isn't all that great. Mike

Hey Mikey,

Yeah, he neglected to restate it in his post, but he did put it in the Title of the thread.

 

[FOMOGO]

Thanks. Like I said, old and blind, and suffering through the crud, which seems to be fogging the brain a bit more than usual. Cheers, Mike

 

[Nogoingback]

So, what you really want to do is remove the "rim" from the hub/spoke portion of the wheel and weld a new rim on, is that right? The method you use will have to be pretty precise because the
OD of the "center portion" has to match the ID of the new rim exactly, and it has to be concentric to the hub. You need someone with a big lathe. You could start by bandsawing
off the majority of the rim, and then turning the remainder down to the dimension you need.

The other question that comes to mind concerns welding the parts together. I certainly
don't know the answer, but you need to make sure that the welds are strong enough to
SAFELY handle the loads imposed. I don't know how wheels are welded, but there may
be heat treating involved after welding. You should find out. Rim failure at speed is not
a good outcome.

 

[Tozguy]

Just an impression but the wheel work you plan to do seems to be a big jump from what you are used to, to more complicated machining. The machining for wheels like that would have to be done on a lathe by someone with experience. Do you also have to turn another set of wheels to get the second half of the new wheel? Then there is the turning after welding get things aesthetic and concentric.
I do hope you don't try this with magnesium wheels.

If we are talking aluminum wheels for automobiles I would check to see how much it would cost to contract the work out versus the cost of buying new wheels ready to go.

 

[pineyfolks]

You could possibly make a pilot to fit the center of the wheel and an arm to mount a plasma cutter adjusted to the diameter you need.