You can’t spell “idiot” with out “I"

[Runs With Scissors]

So I was taking my “new to me” rotary table down stairs to the shop, when the hub for the wheel on my Chi-Com HF hand truck cracked.

Luckily it did so before I hit the stairs, but now I gotta replace/fix it.

Now before we get started, I am FULLY AWARE that a replacement wheel is like 20 bucks and that there is a Horror Fright store less than 5 miles from me.

However, the store won’t open for 4 more hours…..so……I get it in my head that I should/need/want to fix this damn thing…….So off we go…...




(Having technical difficulties posting pics right now……………to be continued…..)

well……I found a “work around” for loading pics…..for now anywhooo, so…... “The Show must go on!"

Well here is the crack.

I tried to just snap it off, but I was just bending the hell out of the rim,

So grab the cut off wheel, ….but…..won’t reach…..damn it!!!!!

So what the hell kind of RWS post would this be without a picture of his lathe?

As you can plainly see, it's pretty "jacked up"

So I chuck the “rim” up and “Jerry rig” (or is it "Jury rig"????) a boring bar to cut it off.

a few seconds later it’s off.

I then took a few passes to “clean things up a bit"


Now I will just “re-weld” it and BAM….I be done!!!!

Well as soon as I got that torch even close to that "paper thin” part, it melted it so fast, I couldn’t believe it. I tried heating the axle before I “walked it in” , but no dice…..that thing was toast.

Maybe an actual welder could do this, but my “weekend warrior hack-ass” wasn’t gonna be able to pull this off……..

Time for plan B….

As I contemplate my next move, I look at the time, and now the store is only 2 hours from opening….Hmmmmm….better get my ass in gear…...


So as I am looking around for solutions, I see out of the "corner of my eye’ a 3/16’ish plate of scrape “mystery metal” that I was making .22lr targets out of, and it hits me……….

Why not cut a “circle” out and weld that to the hub and use the existing bolt pattern to simply bolt it all together……Kind of like a “sammich” …..

Brilliant!!!!!!…….But how should I proceed with making/copying/drilling the proper bolt pattern?


Hmmmmm……..Is this a good time to learn how to use one of my 2 rotary tables?????

Probably is…..but I’m just not “feeling it” right now, ….the "store opening” somehow becomes my “White Whale”….for some strange reason……I have nothing to prove, but I want this done before that damn store opens; Come “Hell or high water”…..


So I decide to cut it out using the CNC Plasma machine……


So I run up the stairs, open that computer, and in mere seconds I proudly have this…...
(as a side note; I’m not too "half ass'ed bad" with that Alibre program now…..I even upgraded to the Mac-Daddy "Expert” version recently)

PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!

I am going to make my “artificial/made up/no good reason deadline”, after all. !!!!!!

RIGHT!!!!!!

But that’s where this story takes a "sad turn"…………...

 

[Sidekick]

Let me guess . This cart now has 33 inch truck tires on it

 

[Lil Foot]

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Problem is…..I can’t figure out how to get the proper spacing for the bolt holes…..

Oh sure….. I can get 5 holes in a circle, but how the hell do I get the proper distance from the center of the axle hole?

Well, I go down stairs and decide that the distance between the holes is easily and accuratly measured, so that will probably be a good start, but since I cut out the hub, the actaul raduius is/was going to be challenging to accurately measure.


So I find some “pins” and take a few measuremnts

Then run back up stairs, and this is where my "Moby Dick” moment happens…..

I sat there for 3 F'ING hours trying to figure out how the hell to get "the computer" to use those measurements that I so carefully took, in order to properly space these holes…..

3 DAMN-F’ing hours of me beating my head against a wall, watching the clock speed by my “stupid/artifical/self imposed/ good for nothing” time goal…….of “opening time".

Well "3 hour story” short, I never could get the damn computer to figure it out. I had to get a paper and pencil, figure it out, and feed the proper diameter to the machine.


Well I fire up the Plasma machine and about 1 minute 38 seconds later…..

A nearly perfect plate, and all the holes easily/perfectly line up.

I decide this is a job perfect for the “rotary welding table”

So I load it up, align everything …….

…and commence to make some of the “worlds shittiest welds” ever…..

I just couldn’t get my “Welding Mojo” flowing,,,,,but I reason to myself that this is not exactly a “High speed, low drag” fine machine…it a damn hand-truck.

I then find some longer bolts, and

Throw the tire on, pump her up, and here she is………at high noon…..

I should have just waited the 4 hours, and spent the 20 bucks.

 

[Workerbee]

How much does your rotary table weigh anyhow?

 

[Dustball]

All that and you still have pneumatic tires. I swapped my tires out for airless ones and haven't looked back. Got tired of having to put air in the tires every time I wanted to use it.

 

[bbxlr8]

Interesting timing - have the same one and moved it around in the garage yesterday, thinking about welding it. Mine is fully broken free so can skip that step.

Kudos to you as you have quite the arsenal and accompanying drive to have a go at it. Thanks for posting but I was 50/50 before and much less optimistic now... Will still give it a go at welding, but realistically plan on buying a new one.

PS I have become that grumbling person who still expects things to work and last if you take care of them.

 

[JRHill]

All that and you still have pneumatic tires. I swapped my tires out for airless ones and haven't looked back. Got tired of having to put air in the tires every time I wanted to use it.

Whether either of the hand trucks, the 4 wheel cart, etc, there are NO decent tires or tubes that don't immediately fail - or fail shortly. All the replacements are the best China has to offer me. So they all get replaced for solid tires on wheels.

 

[Russell King]

@Runs With Scissors

for the hole spacing in your drawing system (that I have never used and know nothing about) here is how it can probably be done.

In general you draw the bolt circle (diameter the hole centers are set on) then draw one circle at the intersection of a radial line (from the center point of the part and vertical would work) and the bolt circle. Then you space the circles equally around the bolt circle. Since you need 5 holes the angle between the holes is 360/5 degrees (72 degrees between any two holes.

You can usually control the bolt circle with a diameter dimension (or radius if you prefer).

There may be something in the system that will equally space holes around the circle. It may be something called “full crown” or simply “equally spaced”.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

yeesh... bolt circle is easy.
old skool way...
put rim on paper and trace out the 5 bolt hols and the center( axle) hole, measure distance from center of the axle hole to the center of any of the 5 bolt holes. Can be done in far less time then 3 hours, no more than 3 minutes, could be done in 30 seconds or less

new skool way. take 2-3 pictures of the rim,upload into computer, enter in bolt circle hole size. computer will calculate bolt circle.

 

[Cape Cod]

My chinese barrel truck developed a large bubble on the tire. Replacement tire cost more than the 2 wheeler.

Glued up a pair of triple layer plywood wheels. Cost.... $0
Been going strong for ten years. I move 55 gallon barrels of scrap metal on a regular basis.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

Problem is…..I can’t figure out how to get the proper spacing for the bolt holes…..

Well "3 hour story” short, I never could get the damn computer to figure it out. I had to get a paper and pencil, figure it out, and feed the proper diameter to the machine.

You put the verniers over a bolt diameter and set them to 0. Then you put them across two neighbouring bolts and you get the bolt centre distance a.

n equals 5 in your case and with equation 4 you can get the hole circle radius R.

 

[NCL4701]

I’m not a machinist. I’ve built enough custom furniture to know sometimes you put a mortise and tenon where a couple pocket screws would work just as well because you see the mortiser looking neglected and just feel like it.

If that’s what you’re doing, swell. But, dude… really??

https://www.northerntool.com/products/ironton-flat-free-hand-truck-tire-kit-12-pc-set-300-lb-capacity-tire-size-10-x-3-2-model-xl10flat12kit-5569298

You also make bolts when you need a couple before your local hardware store opens? (JK of course.)

 

[D2Cat]

The position you had to be in to weld on that jug would be pretty tough. No place to help steady your arm.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

How much does your rotary table weigh anyhow?

Not sure.

Guessing its about 40’ish pounds.

All that and you still have pneumatic tires. I swapped my tires out for airless ones and haven't looked back. Got tired of having to put air in the tires every time I wanted to use it.

Sometimes it’s hard to "see the forest through the trees."

Will still give it a go at welding, but realistically plan on buying a new one.

You might have a better chance welding if you keep them together, but then you have to figure out a way to get the tire and tube back on.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

@Runs With Scissors

for the hole spacing in your drawing system (that I have never used and know nothing about) here is how it can probably be done.

In general you draw the bolt circle (diameter the hole centers are set on) then draw one circle at the intersection of a radial line (from the center point of the part and vertical would work) and the bolt circle. Then you space the circles equally around the bolt circle. Since you need 5 holes the angle between the holes is 360/5 degrees (72 degrees between any two holes.

You can usually control the bolt circle with a diameter dimension (or radius if you prefer).

There may be something in the system that will equally space holes around the circle. It may be something called “full crown” or simply “equally spaced”.

yeesh... bolt circle is easy.
old skool way...
put rim on paper and trace out the 5 bolt hols and the center( axle) hole, measure distance from center of the axle hole to the center of any of the 5 bolt holes. Can be done in far less time then 3 hours, no more than 3 minutes, could be done in 30 seconds or less

new skool way. take 2-3 pictures of the rim,upload into computer, enter in bolt circle hole size. computer will calculate bolt circle.

You put the verniers over a bolt diameter and set them to 0. Then you put them across two neighbouring bolts and you get the bolt centre distance a.

n equals 5 in your case and with equation 4 you can get the hole circle radius R.

View attachment 167914

Yes, yes gentlemen……all good advice, and much appreciated.

One of my character flaws, is that I get stubborn when things don’t work like I think they should, and then I get pissed off, then I keep trying to make it work………Just because I think it should…..

Lets see if I can explain the “problem” better.

The “problem" was not a matter of being able to make a 5 lug bolt pattern.

I had a 5 bolt pattern in a few seconds.

The “problem” I have/had is that I wanted the “Alibre" program to “automagically" find the proper radius of the bolt pattern, given the measurements between 2 bolt holes. (because thats all I could accurately measure since the hub was removed already)

You can see that when I click on “circular pattern” I have to put in 3 parameters.

1. which entity I want to make a pattern of. (in this case a “circle 1")
2. number of “circles” I want in the pattern (in this case 5)


3. the radius of the bolt pattern…. (where it says “center”)

Now #3 is where I was/am having the problem. I do not have that radius……Actually, I need that radius because I have already cut out the hub and can’t accurately measure it.

I wanted to find someway to use the “distance between 2 of the .355 holes” and have Alibre give me the radius.


I completely agree that the radius of the bolt pattern is easily figured out with paper and pencil………….But thats NOT WHY I paid 2 grand for the program……In fact having to figure things out “old school” is the anthesis of the why I got the program.

Hence, me sitting there and beating my head against the proverbial “wall” for 3 hours…...

Even though the “job” is done, I am not through figuring this out…..There has to be a way to do it, and come “hell or high water” I’m gonna find out how to do it “my way"

THAR SHE BLOWS!!!!!!!!!!! said Captain Ahab…..

 

[GeoHorn]

When are you gonna finish-out that wall surrounding the breaker-box…?



(I Love how you develop your project-stories. Nice wordmanship!)

 

[Sidekick]

I would have made 2 angled construction lines. 72 degrees apart off the center of the part. One at 36 and one -36. Drawn circles with the center constrained to the angle line and constrained to be inline horizontally. Then add a dimension between the centers. Then just copied one 3 more 72 degree spaces using the intersection of the angled construction lines as the center point and also the part center. You could also draw the circles first constrained and then add the angled construction lines to find the center.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

I would have made 2 angled construction lines. 72 degrees apart off the center of the part. One at 36 and one -36. Drawn circles with the center constrained to the angle line and constrained to be inline horizontally. Then add a dimension between the centers.

Pure genius sir!!!!!!!

That is EXACTLY what I was missing.......The horizontal constraint.

Every time I "dimensioned" the distance between centers, it would "shoot" one circle off into space, making them "uneven".

By constraining them to be horizontal, they would "shoot off" evenly, revealing the proper radius, the rest was simple.

Many thanks sir!

I really have to learn how to use "constraints" better.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

When are you gonna finish-out that wall surrounding the breaker-box…?



(I Love how you develop your project-stories. Nice wordmanship!)

When are you gonna finish-out that wall surrounding the breaker-box…?

Next week?????? I just have to find some wider molding........

(I Love how you develop your project-stories. Nice wordmanship!)

Thank you for the kind words sir!