A
Very Easy Wheel
Finished wheel:
Diameter 24 feet (6 inches)
Width 24 feet (6 inches)
Three bays each of eight feet
Twenty four feet wide


A method is described to build a suitable wheel for under $20 in less than four hours.

Obtain two plastic wire spools from the hardware store. I got mine from a friend who sugested I might try them. Good idea! The spools he brought over were ideal for my purposes.

They were labeled Carol Wire Company. They were manufactured by Carris Reel, they measure 6 inches in diameter and 3 inches wide between faces.

Use a compass or divider to make a mark two inches over on the hub of each wheel and cut them in two with a jeweler's saw. Sand them lightly on a flat surface to true them up and make a smooth surface for glueing. Stack them up to give three 2" bays, putting the two 1" sections into one bay, and using the other two full width.

Carefully center them and glue them with CA.

Make two discs from copper clad FRP by cutting them out on a jig saw, rounding them in a Dremel tool, and drilling them to accept the Wheel axle shaft.

CA glue each disc to the outside face of the assembled wheel making sure it is centered.

Solder a 5/32 brass rod axle to these discs with a propane torch heating only the axle and avoiding the wheel and using the flowing solder to form a nice smooth filet around the axle.

Paddle blades are from 1/8 aircraft plywood and are cut for each bay (54 in all), eighteen in each of three bays. Mine are cut to be 3/4 inch blade width. Measure the widest and narrowest distances in each bay, cut a few blades midpoint between these two distances, so all blades of each section are the same. Mark the first row of blades using the transom beam or an open drawer. Using a 6" Sparco Protractor drill the center for the axle and place it directly on the wheel and measure off your 20 degree marks, draw across with a white china marker using the transom beam as a guide.

Cut each blade individually to fit, sometimes if the fit is not perfect it can be used in another location, or it can be sanded a bit to make a nice fit.

Tack the blades into position with CA. If you dont like the position of a blade take it out and reposition it. When all the blades are where you wnat them secure them with a bead of Epoxy both front and back. I use my finger to spread a small bead of epoxy into the corner formed by the blade and the wheels. This makes a remarkably strong easily built paddle wheel.

Paint it however you want. A suggestion that I have used is to paint the entire structure flat black, mask off spokes and struts on the outside wheel faces and paint white, paint the blades either red or white, and trim with red bands around the wheels and gold pinstripes. You can represent spokes on the inner wheels also if desired. It may be that it is esier to paint this detail before the wheel is assembled, but I chose to wait until the glue holding the blades has been applied.

For the crank arms I used Dubro steering arms, these work well! They come with set screws, and a brass bearing surface, and fit directly to a 5/32 steel or brass rod. Prepare these by cutting off the extra holes and arm material a side cutter works quick and easy. Drill the remaining hole for a 4-40 screw. Use a flat head screw into the arm, secure with flat washer, lock washer, and nut. Tighten snugly with pliers. Do not crush with force, observe lock washer flattening and stop.

The connecting rods are carried by a brass tube slightly longer than the width of the rod tube, and secured with a flat washer, lock washer and nut. This tightens down hard onto brass bearing but not the rod bearing, which is slightly narrower. Grease or oil this when assembling. This makes a very slick journal if care is taken to remove any burrs and the ends sanded square.

This all sounds quite complicated but actually takes longer to tell about than do!

I think you could build a wheel this way in one or two evenings .... I did!