Copper Bike Fender

Step 3 The English Wheel

This is an English wheel A-Rod made from scratch. He found the bearings on the internets and then fabricated the frame (the blue "C" shape). What can I say? He's badass, that's what. Back in the olden-days, they used English wheels for making fenders for cars and other things you wanted con-cave/vex metal shapes for. It works by spreading the metal outward, and you change the bottom bearing depending on the shape/curve you're after. Mostly it's a lost art, but I think some custom automotive and motorcycle shops might still put English wheels to work.

Some of the photos aren't that great here, but I wanted to be able to show a couple styles of bearings and these were the only pics I had.

Basically, he's creating the curvature by rolling the copper plate back and forth between the bearings.