Making a wooden steering wheel rim, process

[gavinnz]

Hiya people,

I am making a wooden rim for my 1915 Fiat Tipo 2 and I have taken photos of the process so far and set up a flicker page with descriptions of the stages I have gone through to make the wheel.

It's not quite finished yet but it's getting their!

I thought people might get some ideas from it and it might help others have a go themselves.

If you are interested click on this link then click the set "making the steering wheel".

37ccmflyte's photosets on Flickr

Regards

Gavin

New Zealand

1915 Tipo 2 Skiff

1915 American LaFrance Speedster

[Guest Al Brass]

Hi Gavin,

You're lucky. Wheels I've had to deal with have finger-joints and are a whole lot harder to fit together. Good work!

Al

[gavinnz]

Thanks Al, Thanks.

I did think of other more complicated ways of making the wood joints or make it LOOK like I had made the joints! But in the end I decided to make it the easy way... the original wheel for the car was just basic black bakerlite (I think) so it was never going to be factory anyway.

I decided to go wood for a number of reasons, the main one was that a black wheel in a totally open car would get to hot to touch!

Regards

Gavin

[Guest BobD735]

Hi,

You're doing a good job on your steering wheel rim Gavin. My 1920 Chalmers walnut rim was in pieces, and missing one section. After fitting the pieces together in a fixture, I made the missing radiused piece, using one of the existing pieces as a pattern, and cut the finger joints by hand using a razor saw. When I was satisfied with the results, I glued it all back together.

[gavinnz]

I made the missing radiused piece, using one of the existing pieces as a pattern, and cut the finger joints by hand using a razor saw. When I was satisfied with the results, I glued it all back together.

Nice work on the Chalmers wheel. Fiddly work requiring skill and time. I have an older American wheel here with that joining method that I studied before figuring out it would be to hard to get all the joins perfect without the cutting tool they used back in the day. So I went for the easy option!

If you took that wheel to an expericance antique furniture restorer that could match the color on the new bit and it would all but disappear.

The next wheel I am going to make is the huge one for the LaFrance Speedster.... and I might try to work out a way of making the joins you did.

It will be without the maple down the middle which will eliminate a thrid of the end joins which would be easyer.

Regards

Gavin

[MikeC5]

Nice work! I think you can get a router bit for these type of finger joints.

[Guest BobD735]

Hi Gavin,

Thanks for your praise regarding my rim. I made a fixture which both supported the rim section, and provided me with a surface, which matched the finger joint angle. Then it was a simple matter of using that surface to guide the razor saw to replicate the required joints. I chose oak for the replacement section, so that it wouldn't "disappear".

Mike,

I figured there is a router bit available to produce the joints, but for the small amount of jointing that was required, I opted to go the "by hand" method.

Thanks guys,

Bob

[Guest Al Brass]

Hi Bob,

I've replaced a missing section by cutting the fingerjoints exactly as you've done. It came out really well and I was pleased with the end result. I've also cut a complete wheel rim with finger joints and used a "shaper" (kind of a big bench mounted upside-down router) to cut the the joints before fitting it all together in a manner similar to what Gavin shows above before doing the final cutting and finishing of the rim. Very time absorbing but it can be done !!

Al

[Guest BobD735]

Hi Al,

Your process for making a complete wheel rim, with finger joints sounds fascinating. The next time I'm down your way, I'll request a tour.

Regards,

Bob

[Guest Al Brass]

You'd be very welcome too Bob.

Al

[Ivan Saxton]

Many FIAT and other Italian cars of that era and into the 1920's had hollow pressed steel of half circle section, seamed together. Often the lower half had pressed finger grips. The coating over the entire wheel (after the rim was attached to the spokes) was a thin shiny black coating of hard plastic, probably a thermoplastic originally. In recent decades, people have generally used a good original Lancia Lambda steering wheel as pattern for cast aluminium replacements with similar black coating; and once it is on the car so noone can feel the mass, it is very hard to tell the difference.

Most of the replacements wooden steering wheel rims I have made for myself and friends have been style of the early 1920's, end-jointed with eight segments per circle. The joints of top and bottom circles are staggered midway.

If the original rim is of steam-bent semicircles, there are a few tricks in the process. The stock needs to be conveniently longer than the semi-circumference.

You need to constrain the ends with steel caps, joined to a strip of thin strap, such as 26 gauge galvanised sheet. Of course you will select straight grained timber, but the strip will stop tangential splitting, and the caps prevent differential splitting of the end-grain when you bent and secure the plasticised wood around the former. You make the bend a bit beyond the half-circle; and when cool enough to remove, you tack a tie piece of scrap across the ends to block its memory until it dries out completely. You will have to work out which of your local timbers are suitable for bending and character.

Of course in USA you have Amish people with generations of experience to do this for you.

[Fordy]

I am about to tackle a complete rim for a Hupmobile that has the finger type joints in some of the above posts - all I have is the spider. I would like some pointers on the type of wood to use and the name of that type of router bit that can cut the fingers needed. Bear in mind that my woodworking skill are on par with the ones I don't possess for advanced astrophysics - and yes, I am getting some assistance on the project from some competent woodworkers. Still this is the best place to ask for advice on the nuances.

Thanks

Steve

[Fordy]

I am not sure if you guys outside of Australia have "Men's Shed" groups. They are community run and usually supported somehow via the local council for guys to just get together, tell outrageous stories and potter about with community focused projects and some personal ones. A lot of expertise in all sorts of things exist in these groups along with the required tools and machinery to do a wide range of work.

My personal one is the wood rim for my Hupp steering. I purchased a finger joint router bit and donated it to them, and the pictures show our "test piece" out of cheap pine scrap earlier today. Actual wheel will be made out of Jarrah (A West Australian Hardwood) - I think we have a process that will work.

Steve

[Bloo]

How was the rest of the shaping done?

 

[Fordy]

2 hours ago, Bloo said:

How was the rest of the shaping done?

 

We cut 6 planks with 30-degree angles on each end (after correcting for the scale being out of whack on the saw) and cut the fingers with a router bit that I bought specially for the job. There is one called a "miter lock bit" that would have also worked but I couldn't find one the correct size. I made a jig to clamp them all together as the glue dried and the major diameter was cut on a band saw and the inner one on a jig saw. That all got sanded on a bench mounted belt sander for the outside and a spindle sander for the inside. The rounding off was done with a curved router bit. My marking out the circles was a little out so I need to use more care with that.

I need to do 2 - a front and back and glue them together so the joins are central on the opposing piece.

What I did notice on the scraps of my original is that the rear section is thinner than the front section and these both have a slight airfoil profile to them which I will try and mimic - I am guessing this is a comfort in the hand thing?

Once I start on the real deal, I will take lots of snaps and post them.

Steve

[Fordy]

This is the latest on making the wood steering wheel rims. The main picture shows the pieces cut at 30 degrees with the finger joints cut. The remaining pics are out of order but show the glued up unit in the jig I knocked up. Followed by the outer rough cut and the inner cut sitting on top of the next section.

The rear portion is thicker by 3/16 inch than the front piece. The rear gets notched to accept the spoke ends and is screwed through the hole in the metal to the front part of the rim with the joins in the center of the opposing piece - and the 4 holes on the back get plugged.

Hopefully I can show a completed wheel next week. I am doing 4 in total now, 3 Hupp and a T Ford. The T mounts up differently but the wood is basically the same but different OD.

The lighter wood is "Blackbutt" A Eucalyptus species from Queensland and the darker lot is Jarrah from Western Australia (recycled from a house demolition)

Steve

Edited October 27, 2023 by Fordy (see edit history)

[Fordy]

First one is done except for the finishing coats of oil. 2 more to go.

[31 LaSalle]

13 hours ago, Fordy said:

First one is done except for the finishing coats of oil. 2 more to go.

HI Fordy

How does the spider connect to the wood rim

lovely workmanship

 

 

[Fordy]

The spider is fitted into notches in the thicker rear section and then the lot is glued together with a screw that goes thru a hole on the metal and just into the front wood. The head of the screw gets covered by a plug cut from the same timber and is barely noticeable once sanded back. The glue being used is one that is supposed to be fully waterproof not just the normal PVA wood glue. I will get the name of it and put it here with a pic of the 2 halves going together on the next one.

If you look carefully at the darker one in the background you can see the 4 holes in it where it is screwed together for shaping.

Steve

Edited November 4, 2023 by Fordy (see edit history)

[Bloo]

Wow! What nice work!

 

I gather this must be Hupp "R"? Is this for the same car the 3D printed levers were for? What is the rim diameter?

 

 

[Fordy]

Thats correct Bloo. R series Hupp and the same one for the levers - good catch. 18 inch OD and 1, 1/4 thickness on the grip.

This started as a play around for the wheel I needed for the A series Hupp Coupe and I also have another 2 to do for other people's Hupps and a T Ford one that the Men's Shed group I am part of will sell to raise funds. They agonized over what to charge for the 2 "commission" wheels for the other guys who asked and settled on a very fair $120 with them supplying materials and myself slaving for free (or you could also say I get my 2 free). There is no way I would have tackled this without access to the knowledge and equipment this group has, and I intend to keep going there at least once a week to just help out where needed as they are a great bunch of guys doing worthwhile community stuff.

Steve

Edited November 4, 2023 by Fordy (see edit history)

[Fordy]

Unfortunately the idiot that resides within me neglected to take pictures of the next wheel going together but I hope I explained it enough in an earlier post.

These pictures show the completed one for my series A Hypomobile before and after the application of the first coat of Tung oil. There in another underway for a T Ford in the same timber. (Jarrah)

Steve

[Bloo]

Did you have to straighten the center part on any of the Hupp wheels?

 

[Fordy]

No straightening required on what I had to work with. Although there was a slight twist at the end of each spoke that flattened itself out when the 2 halves were glued and screwed together. I thought it was "supposed" to be like it as all were the same.

Steve

[NewOldWood]

Looks good! A simple router circle jig would give you perfect inner and outer diameters, pretty easy to make. I make reproduction 2nd gen Corvette Teak steering wheels and that's how I do it.