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kick wheel drive wheel

updated fri 19 oct 07

 

WJ Seidl on mon 15 oct 07


Sometime this year, someone wrote in about looking for a replacement
drive wheel
or drive bushing for their kickwheel. (The archives are down, so I
can't find the post.)
The drive wheel or bushing mounts on the motor shaft and spins against
the concrete flywheel.

I'm in the process of replacing the drive wheel and motor on my
Lockerbie (finally) and have come up with what I consider
a workable solution, since the original wheels are no longer available
(to my knowledge) and the motor replacements are
insanely expensive.

If you care to make yourself known, you can email me off list.
Best,
Wayne Seidl
wjsvt@sover.net

Patrick Cross on mon 15 oct 07


I'm not the person who was asking about this originally, but I do recall the
thread. I was thinking a skate board wheel...or an inline skate wheel...or
one off one of those Razor scooter things might be just the ticket. Any of
those might be too hard...(not "sticky" enough), but maybe stretching a
section of bicycle inner tube over it would solve that? Plus doing that
would protect the drive wheel from abrading and be easily replaced when the
inner tube wore out...

What did you come up with?

Patrick Cross
Cone10Soda

On 10/15/07, WJ Seidl wrote:
>
> Sometime this year, someone wrote in about looking for a replacement
> drive wheel
> or drive bushing for their kickwheel. (The archives are down, so I
> can't find the post.)
> The drive wheel or bushing mounts on the motor shaft and spins against
> the concrete flywheel.
>
> I'm in the process of replacing the drive wheel and motor on my
> Lockerbie (finally) and have come up with what I consider
> a workable solution, since the original wheels are no longer available
> (to my knowledge) and the motor replacements are
> insanely expensive.
>
> If you care to make yourself known, you can email me off list.
> Best,
> Wayne Seidl
> wjsvt@sover.net
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Clayart members may send postings to: clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list, post messages, or change your
> subscription settings here: http://www.acers.org/cic/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots2@visi.com
>

Taylor Hendrix on mon 15 oct 07


I've heard (or read) hockey puck, but I bet someone makes a rubber
bushing that would work just find. Auto parts store scrounging should
turn something up--engine mounts maybe.

I'm not sure why nobody caries replacements though, Wayne.

--
Taylor, in Rockport TX
http://wirerabbit.blogspot.com
http://wirerabbitpots.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wirerabbit/

WJ Seidl on mon 15 oct 07


Patrick:
I had to replace the motor on my Lockerbie. The kickwheel was under 4
feet of seawater/sewage from the last hurricane in '05, so it went
without saying that the motor was fried. Frozen solid, crystalline crud
in every opening. Gone. Alas poor Yorick..., etc. Of course, sitting
for two years (there were other priorities to be taken care of first)
meant I wasn't going to be able to remove the drive wheel from the motor
shaft either (and that turned out to be true, it had disintegrated as well.)

A Google search of "rubber bushings" and "solid rubber bushings" and
"rubber wheels" turned out to be fruitless. If I wanted to wait and
have one custom made, I'm sure any number of places could have
accommodated me, but you can't buy one "off the shelf". I even looked
at leaf spring mounting
bushings, control arm bushings, whatever I could think of...no luck.
Nothing solid hard rubber 2 inches in diameter with a 1/2 inch hole in
the center,
so it was time to get creative. (Yeah, I can see you smiling David
Hendley)

So, off to EBay I went, and bought a "new" motor. 115V, reversible, 1/2
inch shaft. $20 with $18 shipping...$38 delivered. (Note: New at
Grainger: $238 plus shipping...ouch!) Once I got the motor I went to the
local Ace Hardware and made two purchases. I bought a 2 inch "test plug" for
plumbing, and an outside arbor adapter. (Total: $9.58 with tax for
both.) The arbor adapter comes in two sizes, 1/2 inch and 5/8. Make
sure you get the one for your motor shaft size, or it's going to
wobble. The adapter slips over the end of the motor shaft and tightens
on with a set screw. There is a shoulder in the middle of it, and on
the other end of the adapter is a thread, in my case, 1/2 inch. (They
come in both LH and RH threads, so you can buy whichever works for you.
I bought the RH since I didn't care ) It also comes with a large flat
washer and the nut for the threaded end. I installed the adapter onto
the motor shaft and removed the nut and large flat washer (fender
washer). (You see them used all the time for making your own buffing
wheel. The adapter is what the buffing wheel mounts on. They're selling
on the net right now for $12, but I wanted to find one locally.)

Then I disassembled the test plug. I chose 2 inch O.D. (outside
diameter) since that was the size of the old drive bushing, but they
come from 1 inch up to four inches, for plumbing pipes. I figured that
since the motor speed was the same as the old one, having the same
diameter drive bushing wouldn't mean I was whipping the kick wheel head
too fast. The test plug is designed to compress along the axis, and it
forces its way out along the circumference as it's squashed, sealing
whatever pipe you put it into. Ask at a plumbing supply, they'll show
you. Home Despot sells them too.

I assembled the rubber (only) part of the test plug onto the arbor
adapter threaded end, added a large washer and the nut, tightened the
nut down with a little Loctite 242 Threadlocker so there was a moderate
amount of pressure on it (holding it from spinning free), and installed
it on the Lockerbie. (When you remount the motor, making sure that the
rubber of the new "drive bushing" hits in the center (well, near) of the
concrete side wall of the flywheel)
I plugged it in, and I'm back in business. (I mounted a reversing switch
on the motor, since I'm a leftie, and most people aren't. Just in case
I have company that wants to whip up a set of dishes or something .)

The catalogs I've checked want between $200-300 for a replacement motor
and drive bushing. I did it for less than $50. Had I been able to
scrounge a used electric motor from a washing machine or dryer, it would
have been less than $10, but they, like everything else around here,
went swimming with the fishes in the hurricane, and everyone has new
ones now. It will be a couple years before the scrounging gets good
around here again .

Best,
Wayne Seidl

Patrick Cross wrote:
> I'm not the person who was asking about this originally, but I do recall the
> thread. I was thinking a skate board wheel...or an inline skate wheel...or
> one off one of those Razor scooter things might be just the ticket. Any of
> those might be too hard...(not "sticky" enough), but maybe stretching a
> section of bicycle inner tube over it would solve that? Plus doing that
> would protect the drive wheel from abrading and be easily replaced when the
> inner tube wore out...
>
> What did you come up with?
>
> Patrick Cross
> Cone10Soda
>
> On 10/15/07, WJ Seidl wrote:
>
>> Sometime this year, someone wrote in about looking for a replacement
>> drive wheel
>> or drive bushing for their kickwheel. (The archives are down, so I
>> can't find the post.)
>> The drive wheel or bushing mounts on the motor shaft and spins against
>> the concrete flywheel.
>>
>> I'm in the process of replacing the drive wheel and motor on my
>> Lockerbie (finally) and have come up with what I consider
>> a workable solution, since the original wheels are no longer available
>> (to my knowledge) and the motor replacements are
>> insanely expensive.
>>
>> If you care to make yourself known, you can email me off list.
>> Best,
>> Wayne Seidl
>> wjsvt@sover.net
>>
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________________________
>> Clayart members may send postings to: clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>>
>> You may look at the archives for the list, post messages, or change your
>> subscription settings here: http://www.acers.org/cic/clayart/
>>
>> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
>> melpots2@visi.com
>>
>>
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Clayart members may send postings to: clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list, post messages, or change your
> subscription settings here: http://www.acers.org/cic/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots2@visi.com
>
>

David Hendley on mon 15 oct 07


I have never done this, but my buddies, back in the old
millennium, used to buy a drive wheel for a clothes dryer
when they needed a new electric motor kick wheel drive.
It was an absolutely perfect fit, no modifications needed.
Maybe what the wheel manufacturers used in the first place?
I agree that it is funny that someone doesn't offer these
things, easily accessible, to potters.

David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
david(at)farmpots(dot)com
http://www.farmpots.com



----- Original Message -----

> I'm not the person who was asking about this originally, but I do recall
> the
> thread. I was thinking a skate board wheel...or an inline skate
> wheel...or
> one off one of those Razor scooter things might be just the ticket. Any
> of
> those might be too hard...(not "sticky" enough), but maybe stretching a
> section of bicycle inner tube over it would solve that? Plus doing that
> would protect the drive wheel from abrading and be easily replaced when
> the
> inner tube wore out...

Eleanora Eden on mon 15 oct 07


My homemade kickwheel is electrified using an old motor and
a mandrel with a solid rubber tire like for a kid's wagon that
is available at the hardware store. Its about 6" diameter.

Eleanora



>I have never done this, but my buddies, back in the old
>millennium, used to buy a drive wheel for a clothes dryer
>when they needed a new electric motor kick wheel drive.
>It was an absolutely perfect fit, no modifications needed.
>Maybe what the wheel manufacturers used in the first place?
>I agree that it is funny that someone doesn't offer these
>things, easily accessible, to potters.
>
>David Hendley
>Maydelle, Texas
>david(at)farmpots(dot)com
>http://www.farmpots.com
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>
>>I'm not the person who was asking about this originally, but I do recall
>>the
>>thread. I was thinking a skate board wheel...or an inline skate
>>wheel...or
>>one off one of those Razor scooter things might be just the ticket. Any
>>of
>>those might be too hard...(not "sticky" enough), but maybe stretching a
>>section of bicycle inner tube over it would solve that? Plus doing that
>>would protect the drive wheel from abrading and be easily replaced when
>>the
>>inner tube wore out...
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>Clayart members may send postings to: clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list, post messages, or change your
>subscription settings here: http://www.acers.org/cic/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots2@visi.com


--
Bellows Falls Vermont
www.eleanoraeden.com

Rogier Donker on tue 16 oct 07


Yo! Wayne!
Last I chcked Amaco ( 1 800 925 5195) still had a box
full of the drive pucks for the old 3C kick wheel with motor
attachment. They are hard rubber with a metal hub and 1/2" bore,
will fit any 1/2 motor shaft... including the Lockerbie motor... Hard
to wear those pucks out... mine's been in place for 42 years and I
have yet to replace it.... (Yes! I DO use the wheel! ;-)
Rogier
See us on the web at http://www.donkerstudio.org

John Rodgers on thu 18 oct 07


Wayne,

This company specializes in drive wheels. They may have something you
can use.

http://www.servicecaster.com/index.shtml

Regards,

John Rodgers
Chelsea, AL

WJ Seidl wrote:
> Sometime this year, someone wrote in about looking for a replacement
> drive wheel
> or drive bushing for their kickwheel. (The archives are down, so I
> can't find the post.)
> The drive wheel or bushing mounts on the motor shaft and spins against
> the concrete flywheel.
>
> I'm in the process of replacing the drive wheel and motor on my
> Lockerbie (finally) and have come up with what I consider
> a workable solution, since the original wheels are no longer available
> (to my knowledge) and the motor replacements are
> insanely expensive.
>
> If you care to make yourself known, you can email me off list.
> Best,
> Wayne Seidl
> wjsvt@sover.net
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
>
> Clayart members may send postings to: clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list, post messages, or change your
> subscription settings here: http://www.acers.org/cic/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots2@visi.com
>
>