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Step 3About bike wheels
Rims measuring 22-1/2" across are for 24" wheels; rims 25-1/2" across are for 26" and 27" wheels. You can use a mix of wheel sizes, but the two wheels that form the drum should have the same diameter. (Stand them on a flat surface, and see if the axles line up.) The propeller wheel must be a rear wheel (Step 4), but rear wheels are easier to use for the drum, too. Aluminum alloy rims are preferred; avoid steel rims (heavier; surface chrome-shiny, with rust spots) if you can.
Even some potato-chip wheels can be used as is, as long as they don't scrape. Or, you can try to detension, unbend, and retension them. Wheels can have some wobble (up to about two inches), rims can be cracked, and a spoke or two can be bent or missing; but the bearings must be usable. Bearings that are stiff, gravelly, or rattling may be fine once they've been greased and adjusted. Allow more bearing play than you'd tolerate in a wheel on a bike, 1/2 to1 full turn. All this requires a cone wrench and some bike mechanic skills.
Gear clusters must be removed. Mechanics can do this easily; with the right tool, so can you.
Rear wheels may be used as propellers or as drum ends. Used as a drum end, a freehub or threaded hub is always on the inner side of the wheel, where in Step 15 it slips into the PVC drum axle and keeps the axle centered.
Front wheels are used only as drum ends. On some front wheels, the drum axle will skate around on the spokes and won't stay centered. On such wheels, weave about 10 inches of soft iron wire or 14- or 16-ga copper wire in and out of the spokes near the hub on the inner side, making a roughly triangular cage to keep the drum axle centered.
On the outer side of a drum end (front and rear wheels both), the wheel axle must extend at least 1/2 inch. You will probably need to remove washers or spacers, or to "shift" the axle by screwing one bearing cone outward and the other one inward.
Even some potato-chip wheels can be used as is, as long as they don't scrape. Or, you can try to detension, unbend, and retension them. Wheels can have some wobble (up to about two inches), rims can be cracked, and a spoke or two can be bent or missing; but the bearings must be usable. Bearings that are stiff, gravelly, or rattling may be fine once they've been greased and adjusted. Allow more bearing play than you'd tolerate in a wheel on a bike, 1/2 to1 full turn. All this requires a cone wrench and some bike mechanic skills.
Gear clusters must be removed. Mechanics can do this easily; with the right tool, so can you.
Rear wheels may be used as propellers or as drum ends. Used as a drum end, a freehub or threaded hub is always on the inner side of the wheel, where in Step 15 it slips into the PVC drum axle and keeps the axle centered.
Front wheels are used only as drum ends. On some front wheels, the drum axle will skate around on the spokes and won't stay centered. On such wheels, weave about 10 inches of soft iron wire or 14- or 16-ga copper wire in and out of the spokes near the hub on the inner side, making a roughly triangular cage to keep the drum axle centered.
On the outer side of a drum end (front and rear wheels both), the wheel axle must extend at least 1/2 inch. You will probably need to remove washers or spacers, or to "shift" the axle by screwing one bearing cone outward and the other one inward.
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Jun 7, 2010. 9:07 AMJayMarlette
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Thank you for displaying your evapotron at the Noobie Picnic. I am very excited about building this. jay jay@houseman.org www.houseman.org
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