22-04-2011, 04:17 PM
Hi,
I managed to break a petrol lawnmower wheel on Wednesday; squirrels have been digging all over our back garden and the wheel must have broken down one of the holes.
It’s very handy having both a metal turning and wood turning lathe. With the mower on the bench in the garage it was a simple enough job to remove the two rear wheels and inspect them. The wheels were plastic mouldings and built down to standard as most things are these days; I decided to remove the inner sections leaving just two plastic tyres and did this using the engineering lathe; with the centres removed it was an easy job to mount a boring bar in the compound slide and true the inner surface of each wheel; the plastic was a joy to machine and I only removed just enough to clean the surfaces up leaving me with two tyres.
[attachment=907] [attachment=908]
Removing wheel centre. Wheel centre removed.
Meranti hardwood blanks were then turned on the wood turning lathe to give a tight friction fit into the tyres and in turn each tyre was pressed home and the wheel faced whilst adding a recess around the spindle.
Each wheel was then drilled on centre to accept a 19.1mm Whale Tufnol plug. The plugs being also turned a friction fit and pressed home using the engineering vice; whilst the plugs were in the lathe they were centred. The plugs were then drilled axially at 14mm using the large drill press turning them into plain bearings and new mild steel spindles turned to suit; the spindles were turned from ¾” dia BMS leaving a shoulder at one end and the other end was tapped at 10mm to accept a set screw. Assembly was straight forward lubricating the bearings with oil before sliding the spindles home and the wooden inners were also given a generous coat of oil for weather protection.
Whilst the mower was on the bench I serviced it and then to ensure the plastic tyres remained in position I added two brass countersunk wood screws to each. Then I completed cutting the grass.
[attachment=909] [attachment=910]
Fitted and ready for facing. New wheel fitted to mower.
We like all the wild life which visits and the squirrels are safe in our back garden we also now have a large badger visiting at night.
The wheels are not turned to David’s (Yorkie) excellence but are functional and cost nothing as I used what I had to hand. I would never be without lathes as they are so useful. The mower is only 24 years old and should last many more years.
Kind regards, Col.
I managed to break a petrol lawnmower wheel on Wednesday; squirrels have been digging all over our back garden and the wheel must have broken down one of the holes.
It’s very handy having both a metal turning and wood turning lathe. With the mower on the bench in the garage it was a simple enough job to remove the two rear wheels and inspect them. The wheels were plastic mouldings and built down to standard as most things are these days; I decided to remove the inner sections leaving just two plastic tyres and did this using the engineering lathe; with the centres removed it was an easy job to mount a boring bar in the compound slide and true the inner surface of each wheel; the plastic was a joy to machine and I only removed just enough to clean the surfaces up leaving me with two tyres.
[attachment=907] [attachment=908]
Removing wheel centre. Wheel centre removed.
Meranti hardwood blanks were then turned on the wood turning lathe to give a tight friction fit into the tyres and in turn each tyre was pressed home and the wheel faced whilst adding a recess around the spindle.
Each wheel was then drilled on centre to accept a 19.1mm Whale Tufnol plug. The plugs being also turned a friction fit and pressed home using the engineering vice; whilst the plugs were in the lathe they were centred. The plugs were then drilled axially at 14mm using the large drill press turning them into plain bearings and new mild steel spindles turned to suit; the spindles were turned from ¾” dia BMS leaving a shoulder at one end and the other end was tapped at 10mm to accept a set screw. Assembly was straight forward lubricating the bearings with oil before sliding the spindles home and the wooden inners were also given a generous coat of oil for weather protection.
Whilst the mower was on the bench I serviced it and then to ensure the plastic tyres remained in position I added two brass countersunk wood screws to each. Then I completed cutting the grass.
[attachment=909] [attachment=910]
Fitted and ready for facing. New wheel fitted to mower.
We like all the wild life which visits and the squirrels are safe in our back garden we also now have a large badger visiting at night.
The wheels are not turned to David’s (Yorkie) excellence but are functional and cost nothing as I used what I had to hand. I would never be without lathes as they are so useful. The mower is only 24 years old and should last many more years.
Kind regards, Col.
