What kind of tooling is needed to radius a flywheel?

[RJSakowski]

Why not just make the ring slightly larger? Alternatively, cut shallow slots in the i.d. of the ring for clearance.

 

[WobblyHand]

Why not just make the ring slightly larger? Alternatively, cut shallow slots in the i.d. of the ring for clearance.

Both are good ideas. Didn't think of either of them. Sometimes staring at something too long prevents you from seeing things.

I like the idea of radiusing the wheel better, from an aesthetic point of view, but your ideas are very practical. Will probably end up doing something like what you suggest. The notch turns out to be 0.041".

 

[WobblyHand]

For a one off, how about just approximating the corners with the compound on the lathe, and then smoothing it with a file/sandpaper? Alternately, grind a form tool out of HSS.

After rejecting this initially, I just looked at this again. The angle I calculate to be about 7.9 degrees. That's not difficult. I only need to take off 1mm radius at the corners.

 

[WobblyHand]

When I made one, I made the axle/spindle first, and super glued it to the flywheel as a mandrel. Clickspring on youtube has a video on making a gyroscope that might give you a few ideas.

Watched Clickspring's video. Inspirational. It's why I am trying to make a gyro.

I'm starting from a cast flywheel and have been trying to find some surface flattish enough to indicate to center it. Then I will face it, drill it and ream. The casting is, well, like most castings, the right basic shape, but enough lumps and bumps to make it interesting. Once there's a "centered" hole, then I can make the axle and use it as the mandrel. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

When I made one, I made the axle/spindle first, and super glued it to the flywheel as a mandrel. Clickspring on youtube has a video on making a gyroscope that might give you a few ideas.

Yep, I'd just loctite the ring to a mandrel with a disc, heat to release. I'd also just chamfer both edges and file to round the part.

Or use my boring head ball turner if I wanted precision. So many ways to do the same thing. radius cutter with the ring mounted on rotary table on the mill... 3 or 4 styles of ball turner.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

You'd have a much nicer time making that arc with a Holdridge type radius cutter. For reasons that will become obvious once you try, the type of cutter above has some serious limitations (the word is "one trick pony").

I didn't have a video handy of that style mounted in a tool holder. They're also harder to make than a boring head type ball turner.

Those who dont have a ball turner clearly dont have plans to make a quorn cutter grinder

 

[WobblyHand]

Those who dont have a ball turner clearly dont have plans to make a quorn cutter grinder

Be careful of rushing to judgement. Although just starting out, it takes a while to build up sufficient infrastructure to make things. There's an order of operations, which is tough initial learn. I have been thinking about making a Quorn. However, it takes a certain amount of experience to get there. When I am ready for it, I will make one. Building up the skill sets. I ask a lot of questions up front, because that's my learning style.

I may have come late to the game on machining, (2-1/2 years) but I have an engineering and programming background, built my own ELS from scratch, have done auto work for ages, installed a turbo system and EMS in my vehicle, nearly tripling the stock HP, and weld in 4 processes. Can't say I'm all that talented, as compared to many on HM, but I get by.

Just because I don't have a ball turner, (and a few thousand other things,) doesn't prevent me from having plans to building more complicated things. We all have to start somewhere. Peace.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

Be careful of rushing to judgement. Although just starting out, it takes a while to build up sufficient infrastructure to make things. There's an order of operations, which is tough initial learn. I have been thinking about making a Quorn. However, it takes a certain amount of experience to get there. When I am ready for it, I will make one. Building up the skill sets. I ask a lot of questions up front, because that's my learning style.

I may have come late to the game on machining, (2-1/2 years) but I have an engineering and programming background, built my own ELS from scratch, have done auto work for ages, installed a turbo system and EMS in my vehicle, nearly tripling the stock HP, and weld in 4 processes. Can't say I'm all that talented, as compared to many on HM, but I get by.

Just because I don't have a ball turner, (and a few thousand other things,) doesn't prevent me from having plans to building more complicated things. We all have to start somewhere. Peace.

My comment was intended to be tongue in cheek humour... because the quorn has so many levers with balls and the desire to build a quorn is usually the only reason many people obtain a ball turner.

The reason I chose to use boring tool type ball turner is because it uses mostly existing tools and requires little investment aside from time

 

[WobblyHand]

My comment was intended to be tongue in cheek humour... because the quorn has so many levers with balls and the desire to build a quorn is usually the only reason many people obtain a ball turner.

The reason I chose to use boring tool type ball turner is because it uses mostly existing tools and requires little investment aside from time

Ok. Cool. Come from different backgrounds and experiences, so sometimes this communication and humor stuff doesn't get across (to me). Carry on.

Yes, that type ball turner is quite common, especially if you have a lot of existing tooling. Starting out, there's not much stuff for me to repurpose. So I have to decide if I can get by without it. Most of the time this is true. (Like stuff for a ball turner.) This is the infrastructure stuff I was referring to. Once one has collected/acquired stuff, it is a bit easier. I often find I'm missing just the thing that would make the operation go easier and have to fallback and punt. Kind of slows down progress, but teaches me there are many different ways to get the job done. Part of the learning process.

 

[jwmelvin]

You'd have a much nicer time making that arc with a Holdridge type radius cutter. For reasons that will become obvious once you try, the type of cutter above has some serious limitations (the word is "one trick pony").

Could you explain this a little more? The cutter motion seems the same between the two styles.