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English Wheels

Jewelry Discussion
#1

While surfing the internet for metal forming and tools to
bend things. (It is really difficult to hold things steady while you
are hammering on them or trying to bend them. I know that this is not
just a female issue as I was always the weight on the end of the
board when my Dad was sawing or hammering something.) So while
surfing I saw this thing called an English Wheel.

See:
http://www.artmetal.com/village/chat/main/transcrp/981001MN.htm

My question is are there any small sized English Wheels available
that could be used for forming rings & bracelets?

#2 
    My question is are there any small sized English Wheels
available that could be used for forming rings & bracelets?

No really small ones that I know of but I have small one as a
project to complete on my bench- It has been there about a year
almost done. Just a play toy probably --but??

jesse

#3

Hi there,

I looked into building one of these last year as pre fabricated ones
are pricey, I am cheap and the process looks fairly straight forward
if you have an angle grinder, some patience and can find a ready
source of bearings to use as the wheels. This link gives good
instructions on how to make one using a normal bearing for the flat
wheel and a self aligning bearing for the curved wheel:

http://www.roddingroundtable.com/tech/articles/12ewheel.html.

I never managed to get around to it because I could not find a good
(or indeed any) source of bearings, doubtless due to a lack of
application on my part. Let me know how it goes, or if anybody else
has a good bearing supplier please let me know off line as that would
be handy too. I imagine that you could make some really beautiful
asymmetric trays and bowls with this bit of kit, as well as bracelets
and other fantastic curved forms. Also, as bearings can come quite
small, very intricate work should be possible.

Good luck,
Chris Penner
Chris.at.collarsandcuffs.co.uk

#4

A.L.

I am building a full size English wheel for my metal shop, have the
wheels, but looking for the channel metal to build the frame. You can
make motorcycle fuel tanks with one or the fender for an early MG
car. Making a smaller one would be great, I think bracelets would be
o.k. to make in a the right curves. Ring maybe too small for this
process. I have found making bracelets using the horn of an anvil
with a roller wheel and I can get the curving that I need.

Hope this helps.
Jerry

#5

Thank you for the link to the Rodding Roundtable. They have good
pictures. I have also sent away for the “mini english wheel” plans
from the Poor Man’s Publications.

http://metalwebnews.com/poorman/poorman-metal.html

It little picture there shows a crank at the back of the upper arm
which I suppose might be used to move the metal through the wheel.
There is no indication of the size of the machine you would get
using those plans but perhaps you can make any size that you want.