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Step 15Make the drum: cut PVC pipe
Summary: Cut PVC pipe to 1", to 2-1/2", and to wheel-spacing length, and install between wheels. The 2-1/2" cut is angled so that, when you reassemble the drum, it's easier to line up axle segments against the tension of the twine bracing.
Materials:
The cuts must be as straight and as square as possible. If you have a table saw or a chop saw, it's easy. I can't cut a pipe evenly with just a handsaw, so I do this: I start by wrapping blue tape evenly around the pipe, with the tape located on the measured side of the cut line (not on the scrap piece). Then, rather than sawing through, I saw just enough to start a groove alongside the tape edge. I rotate the pipe and saw a bit more, and continue around the pipe until it's done. Finally I take a rasp or coarse sandpaper to the new-cut ends, to remove any irregularities.
Cut off another pipe length 2-1/2" long, making a cut that's angled by 1/4", or about 9 degrees. (This angle is not so critical.) For a freehand angled cut, place one corner of a scrap of blue tape at 2-1/2", and halfway around place another at 2-3/4". Place a length of tape from one tape corner to the other. Clamp the pipe with the tape facing up and the max and min points horizontal, so your sawing starts at the midpoint. Saw without rotating the pipe, checking often that the saw's going where you want it.
Slip the square-cut end of the 2-1/2" pipe over one wheel's hub, and ditto with the long pipe over the other wheel's hub. Make sure both pipes are firmly seated -- on some rear wheels it may require some twisting or whacking. A front wheel that permits skating should have been given a cage in Step 3.
Rotate the pipes so the angled ends are aligned; measure the length of the overlap while exerting gentle outward pressure on the wheels. Cut that length from the long pipe's square-cut end. Drill a 1/8" hole through one side of the long pipe, 2 inches from its angled end. From the end, reach inside with a screwdriver and knock off any protruding burrs. Screw a 1" screw into the 1/8" hole.
Use a rasp or sandpaper to round down the inner edge of the 2-1/2" pipe's angled end. The 3" length of 1" pipe is called a "keeper." Round down the keeper's outer edges at both ends.
You now have parts for a drum axle that will be both stable for use and collapsible for storage. Loosen the nuts for the gusset-tray bolts on one side. Release that wheel's locking pliers, and remove the wheel from its angle bracket. Remount the square ends of the two pipes on their hubs, slip the keeper into both pipes, and remount the loose wheel on its angle bracket. Retighten the gusset-tray nuts.
Rotate the wheels to check clearance. If either is too close to scraping the floor, or if the wheels aren't vertical or the drum axle doesn't "bottom" on both hubs, reposition the screws so as to move angle brackets slightly upward, inward, or outward, on the masts.
Materials:
- 1-1/4" ID PVC pipe, 24" long.
- 1" ID PVC pipe, 3" long.
- blue tape.
- accurate saw: backsaw, table saw, or chop saw.
- 2 pair locking pliers (vise-grips).
- rasp or coarse sandpaper.
The cuts must be as straight and as square as possible. If you have a table saw or a chop saw, it's easy. I can't cut a pipe evenly with just a handsaw, so I do this: I start by wrapping blue tape evenly around the pipe, with the tape located on the measured side of the cut line (not on the scrap piece). Then, rather than sawing through, I saw just enough to start a groove alongside the tape edge. I rotate the pipe and saw a bit more, and continue around the pipe until it's done. Finally I take a rasp or coarse sandpaper to the new-cut ends, to remove any irregularities.
Cut off another pipe length 2-1/2" long, making a cut that's angled by 1/4", or about 9 degrees. (This angle is not so critical.) For a freehand angled cut, place one corner of a scrap of blue tape at 2-1/2", and halfway around place another at 2-3/4". Place a length of tape from one tape corner to the other. Clamp the pipe with the tape facing up and the max and min points horizontal, so your sawing starts at the midpoint. Saw without rotating the pipe, checking often that the saw's going where you want it.
Slip the square-cut end of the 2-1/2" pipe over one wheel's hub, and ditto with the long pipe over the other wheel's hub. Make sure both pipes are firmly seated -- on some rear wheels it may require some twisting or whacking. A front wheel that permits skating should have been given a cage in Step 3.
Rotate the pipes so the angled ends are aligned; measure the length of the overlap while exerting gentle outward pressure on the wheels. Cut that length from the long pipe's square-cut end. Drill a 1/8" hole through one side of the long pipe, 2 inches from its angled end. From the end, reach inside with a screwdriver and knock off any protruding burrs. Screw a 1" screw into the 1/8" hole.
Use a rasp or sandpaper to round down the inner edge of the 2-1/2" pipe's angled end. The 3" length of 1" pipe is called a "keeper." Round down the keeper's outer edges at both ends.
You now have parts for a drum axle that will be both stable for use and collapsible for storage. Loosen the nuts for the gusset-tray bolts on one side. Release that wheel's locking pliers, and remove the wheel from its angle bracket. Remount the square ends of the two pipes on their hubs, slip the keeper into both pipes, and remount the loose wheel on its angle bracket. Retighten the gusset-tray nuts.
Rotate the wheels to check clearance. If either is too close to scraping the floor, or if the wheels aren't vertical or the drum axle doesn't "bottom" on both hubs, reposition the screws so as to move angle brackets slightly upward, inward, or outward, on the masts.
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