I just got a flyer from Harbor Freight
advertizing an English
     wheel for
         $200. This ad came out in the Phoenix area
but may be available
         elsewhere or on line.

         Joel

         Yes, I got the same flyer up here in
Redmond, Washington. The
     frame is
         $199, the Big wheel is $29 and the anvils
are $84.


         I'm making pretty good progress on the
cowl, but it is exercising my
         patience.

         Brian Trubee


         Do you have to normalize the aluminum after
it works hardens?

         Paul Lamar

     Yes and no. I tried heating it up with a
propane torch, but I don't
     think it really helped, for  a few reasons- I
have no way of knowing or
     controlling how much heat I use. usually you
can blacken the panel with
     an acetylene torch burning really rich, and
then heating up the panel
     with a torch until the carbon is burned off- at
least that's how I've
     seen it demonstrated on a video. I'm working
with .050 6061 T6 aluminum-
     it's already starting off really hard, but I've
been able to get it to
     move the way I want- usually. Lots of trial and
error. So far, I've
     gotten two of the four panels required for the
cowl pretty close to
     being done. I've also made a couple of  pieces
of scrap. The learning
     curve is still fairly steep at this point.

     Brian Trubee

Maybe something like this would be helpful:

http://www.toolrage.com/prodView.asp?idproduct=3698


Regards,

Matt-

I did a few more hours of rolling on the one panel
that has the most curve on it, and got it where I want
it to be- just takes a lot of patience. I don't think
that I need to normalize the panels. I think that what
you need to learn how to wheel is sheer persistence.

Brian Trubee

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