12 Making a Wheel Spokes ‘Spokes are required to withstand compression \d bending stresses. In former times th material for them was cleft from straight _grained oak. The wedge shaped cross-section Which this produced influenced the shape which spokes were made. The eventual standard pattern of English spoke is what concerns us here and is shown in Fig E leatan aad ana Engi nae pater poe, face opernst More recent work used and continues to use ‘machine made spokes, most usually made by copying lathes, although the use of a spindle oiler to make spokes will be deseribed here. fn machine made spokes the use of cleft timber is not practical, a sawn plank wil be used and the spokes wil be sawn from th “The taper in the length of the spoke seen in the side elevation is generally omitted from machine made spokes and the sides of the tenon shoulders, seen in section A, are usually eft parallel ear Machine made Engi cea pair spokePreparing the unshaped spoke “blanks” cleft sp workman will need to start with green timber, «Blanks are to be used, the as even oak which spits well wil split (or cleave") most easly when its fresh sawn, xt, a drying process will be needed. The ft oak spoke blanks since more quickly than a wide through and siderable organisation and time even if « kiln is t0 be used. The advantages in strength ‘which cleft oak has over sawn oak have beet requenty discussed in books, However, it ean x control, availability of dry timber fom be appreciated that, for reasons of merchants and for the ease ane even safety of ‘machining to size, sawn plank i a great deal re practical in use. Whether the shaping of okes will be carvied out with machinery hy han are being produced, The sizes co which the spokes must be finished will have (blanks ardatwn and plane M [b) The bandsaw can help to front and back of the spoke should be planed. use the saw with great aeuracy. The tenon TThe tenons are eut next, ad a number of shoulders are best marked individually and machine methods are possible, some are cut by hand fa) Dado cutters used with & eros saw 6) With a tenoner itis possible to cut spoke machine to give ana angle and it is difficult to set up a cross-cut xtra work will ned be but not aw todo this, some The tenons ned tMaking a Wheel Making spokes by hand methods the spoke blank while working on it. A spoke fide may be use, this wil be clamped in a vice or horse. A second possible method is t ke in a large sash cramp. The back grip the for har of the cramp will ned to be secured ed on. Perhaps the simplest way isto grip the spoke in a post jee, Some support may be needed for the end n but with practie the workman should find that he can spare a hand for this or prop it up with his chest Machine made spokes (spindles) ‘When the spokes have Ben brought o their final ahape they wl ned fishing, WY there are bastard fle can be used to prepare the spokes for santing, Once sanded de pokes can Deedrven into the stock Driving the spokes The stock has heen carefully prepared forthe spokes with mortises of a size calculated to give the right tightness (te pages 9 and 16) and cut at the precise angle to let the spokes lie in line to sive the right amount of dish, Its frequently possible to save time by cutting the hole for the th through the stock bere the spokes are diven. The stock hoops may be fitted before the spokes are driven, Fora small wheel - with a stock less than, say 6 the spokes ver so tightly th the hoops are “The spoke fd. The pokes seared teen he ols. Te gee smarke out wih cent ne down he face sie ant ns on he os oft a nocessiry to discourage the stock from splitting Small stocks can be gripped in an ordinary joiners vice where the spokes ae driven andi the hoops are not ited this s easier todo, Another advantage in keeping the hoops off this stage is thatthe whalebone gauge can be amore easily attached directly to the turned f ofthe stock to ensure that the spokes le true There is alo some possibility tht if the whalebone guuge is run across the fces ofthe front stock hoop the g ge may not stand perfectly true. For stocks bigger than this the spokes will need tobe tighter in prop the dimensions ofthe tenons ‘The shocks given to the stock in driving larger spokes as well as the tightness oftheir fit make ie advisable to fit A droite in ase. Te fst ra shape sok mst ‘ax cet a drake, Wit race ara te ant plane canbe a orl th ging wrk on eer wt astra rin. Cutoat eval fis hr ste the ark oe sok. the stock hoops before the spokes, a these shocks increase the spiting effect ofthe tgie tenons. ‘The whalebone gauge must next ie fitted to the face of the stock, Its a already mentioned, best Fined onto the turned face dine: If this ix impossible paling spacers can be sed, made of dises of planed timber or plywood bored fo screw or bolt which secures the Alternatives, the bar of the gaug scrons the front stock hoop, having taken care to fensure that the bar stands a right angles tothe axis ofthe stock. In this cane this is usualy ensured by the sock hoop being set accurately dlown tothe front bead ofthe stock, The spring Fixed at the point where the spoke‘spokane ies atl in hap sles han ts mame fen woking in th ai of th sok, the front breast mark tothe bar ofthe gauge the amount of dish is then subtracted from it. The resulting measurement gives the length of spring pointer which is adjusted to protrude 1e spokes are driven so that their faces run inline withthe angle at which the front ofthe Uhisis checked with the whalebone gau Inonder to achieve this, the back of the spoke fT so thatthe spoke fits tightly into the already tapered mortise Amor ‘heck tha gauge ora small bevel may be used to gle is correct. The bevel or the would also have been used in A plane is sed rere which maybe fy the16 Making a Wheel is being rectly: When trimming the first the material is removed a ‘one or two spo ‘mallet oF the poll of an axe) of aw proportioned to its thickness, An approximate rule of thumb gives 1" spoke a 11h hammer Ib hammer, applied with a not fecle force. The correct hiewed when the spoke is felt to begin to tighten into its mortise with about sof the length of the tenon still to rive in The whalebone gauge i cach blow is driving the spoke at the correct od to check that angle I the spoke proves to be setting in at the le, it may be moved a ttle with the adjacent spokes to be driven or nearly tobe driven home and from these it can get enough leverage to push the spoke being driven The whalebone gauge nv, re aah wes i 3 TThe spoke angle can only be corrected a itis being driven, once housed in its mortise it cannot be altered.“Thesooe rane! ne The spoke trammel (or “length gauge) marks the extreme lenge arranged to fll diameter of the whee! “in the wood’, ie the diameter before the tyre is put on, This clearance will allow the tyre to press the fello to the nock of the spoke without ofthe spoke. This point is hort ofthe outside fouling the end of the tongue Te mocks being marked Then the inside diameter ofthe fell mark is used to limit the length ks of the spokes are marked. This is esand this ‘The spoke trimmer is used to prepare the end of the spoke forthe hollow auger I the hollow auger is rotating fast it may be possible start the cleanly without teimming the end ofthe spoke, but this ‘immer eases the work. A draw-knife may be used for this job, Note that the tongue is ‘of the to auger euttin positioned mote to the face than the middle of the spoke20 Making a Wheel Felloes is used net, ine on the felloe when itis held t the bly ofthe The whee is nd felloe is : hat felloe is place {lean the loc bella.oe The las ello is lad exactly on top of the adjacent felloes and a line is struck with a square as shown in Fig. atthe point where adjacent felloes end, The bevel is us before to mark point at which the flloe is oe trimmed. At this point the amount of gap save one operation later Fello joint” When a wheel is ng built Fel are arranged with small gaps between them. This is known as “joint”. Without {his provision the tyre, when it its, would draw all the flloes ouscatently them in the stock and maintaining a I the wheel has this eondition whereby the flloes are tight - without tightening felloe bound the flloes are fitted and wedged to the spoke tongues the amount of gap may be judged by driving a wedge i the joint between two flloes, this w ht hammer b ‘wheels this gap will vary between roportional tothe size ofthe Too big a gap will enable the tyre to ighten to’a point where it may bend th kes unduly. When re-tyring an old tel he joint gap wil sully betes | because the gap between felloe and spok and between spoke and stock have been tightened once (or more) by the tyreMarking the felloes for the borer firs two numbers are re The flloes are arrange! around the whee okes resting on the back of the spoke tongues A line is drawn as shown (Fig.54) above each returned to the eheel after boring, can be spoke centre to serve as the centre ine of the fitted in the pos Each flloe is numbered and atleast the fixed This ensures thatthe felloes, when ons which they had while being marked, Next a line is struc nt between each pair of adjacent fellos, this will give the position and angle ofthe dowel The inside (the belly) of the felloe is numbered and the postions of the holes ace the face of the spoke about the fce of the flloe. In setting the height ofthe borer, between i” and 1 of felloe is therefore allowed to p rue i front ofthe face ofthe spoke and a smal allowance tion to that to permit some cleaning up ‘of the face surface with a plane, This has heen marked out on the right in the form of a section through the tongue and through the spoke end (Fig.57),in reines rang ts the sake ec fer els isa mark made by inverting the Once they are cut to ft around the wheel Wo lf th ton the front side ofthe spoke marked for ther holes and numbered diameter ofthe tongues ofthe wheel. Steel tongue and drawing around the front of the felloes are realy to be bored with Holes for Alowels are frequently used and have the spoke. Doing this gives a quick indication of spoke tongues and dowels. The borer used advantage that they are not eut through by a how far back on the flloe the front edge of _ earlier for cutting the spoke tongues (page 18) saw if tis used to cut the joints betwe the hole for the spoke tongue must be, the 6" is the best machine for this job. It produces a fells to fit them together perfectly. In alight must be added othe mark and the hole centre quick, aceus course, behalf the diameter of the hole marking out than has already been desc ack than this mark The bi The reason for this has been treated in the surface ofthe work piece on such a machi ones are usually long sectional fg on page 19, the forward position and the height is set at the stare and reaains ofthe spoke tongue will enable the felloes of the same for the wheel to be b made, The tongues led from the back to and the dowels are most conveniently reduce their width atthe hole, without cutting arranged at the same hole centre height and 0 the machine needs no re-setting, The dowels may be wooden, in which case they arc made of oak by the use of a dowel plate24 Making Whe the spoke dog i to pall sir of spokes so that the ends the spake tongues may enter the holes fro the inside of the felloe ‘Te wheat seach loro he pk The wheelwright fits each flloe to the okes, in the sequence of their numbering, and enters the dowels into their pre-bored oles as he does so, He walks around the wheel, driving the felloes home onto the knocks ofthe spokes. ‘Then the wedges are fitted, He continues to eirele the whee, giving. alight tap to drive the wedge in, and a sharper one to drive the felloe on once the wedge is gripping, until all the felloes are ly Fite