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Today was one of those two steps forwards one step backwards kinda days. I started off with a plan to pick up some more steel to get a start on the bodywork and make a steering wheel so that I could get the steering sorted out. My plan was to roll a hoop from 1" steel tube and use that to make the steering wheel. However, when trying to roll the hoop I found that the rolling machine made a right hash of it. The rollers are too far apart, so trying to roll smaller diameters is a bit of an issue
Defeated I decided that I would simply resort to buying a steering wheel. Surely has to be something i could pick up locally eh. Turns out that is a no. Next I decided that I would try and find something with a suitable metal rolled hoop that I could repurpose. Surely there's something in Bunnings that I could use? Unfortunately also a no.
Then I turned to one of my suppliers - a specialist tube benders. Surely they could roll me a simple hoop. Shit, I might even be able to call in a favour. As it happens they could not, but gave me the details of someone who can. I decided to park that as a last resort
So having wasted a few hours I finally decided to reduce the diameter of the tube from 1" to 3/4" and use the secondary rollers on the rolling machine. These are generally used for round bar but go up to 20mm. So I stole the tube I had set aside for the steering column and gave it a test. I managed to roll a reasonable looking hoop. Unfortunately I then needed to go get some more tube to roll another hoop and replace the steering column.
The steering wheel was made from the two hoops welded together. The machine cannot roll a perfect circle. it leaves flat bits on the ends, so to make a completely circular hoop you need to use two hoops and weld them together. Pretty straightforwards. Next I drafted up a basic cross shape for the wheel centre.There seems to be two main styles. One fabricated similar to this and one made from aluminium, so I tried to replicate the profile of the fabricated style of wheel. I also cut out some plates for the bottom of the steering column.
Unfortunately I did not get any further than this as I ended up having to deal with some other non CK stuff which frustratingly turned out to be a massive waste of time. Just the way it goes sometimes.
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