12/29/2015 Topics: /
If you've decided to get serious about restoring a classic car yourself, you'll definitely need a garage or workshop space and equipment to carry out the process. In this series of reviews we will show you what equipment we have purchased for our workshop and how it is used in the restoration process.
Operating period: 2 months
Status: The equipment is working properly
Editor's rating: 8/10
Description:
The “English wheel” machine is used for straightening damaged parts of the body, creating required profiles and restoration of stiffeners, which leads to significant savings Supplies. Using the “English wheel” you can bend metal, give it shape, and also correct dents with a depth of 0.6 to 5 mm. This machine can also be used to create parts from tin sheets.
To work with the “English wheel” it is necessary to install special attachments on it - contact rollers that give the details the required form. The rollers are placed in the grooves of the machine's mounting panel, after which the master presses them to the part using an eccentric connected to the drive handle. In this case, the pressure on the metal must be sufficient both to roll the metal without excessive force, and in order to push it through as much as possible. work surface roller The rotation of a set screw located on the same axis with the eccentric allows you to achieve uniform pressure.
Nozzles are used to solve a variety of problems various shapes. Our “English wheel” (Matthys, E-56) has six rollers with radii of 50, 76, 101, 152, 203 and 305 mm.
homemade English wheel made by me from a beam from a truck.
English wheel from Ron Koval.
English wheel rollers.
In tuning any Vehicle, especially when improving the appearance, we very often come across work made of sheet metal and high-quality work with sheet parts is impossible without a machine called an English wheel. Be it body elements, arches, fenders, hood, air intakes, as well as all kinds of containers, gas tanks and many other parts - almost all of them are made from steel sheet. Very often in work on tuning body parts, I see these parts made of flat steel sheet. Well, for example, a common installation operation is the expansion of their arches. Usually they take a steel sheet, cut out the arch canopy, fold it into an arc and weld it to the body, and the part remains flat as it was.
I believe that there is no need to spoil the appearance of the car, just look at production cars, such as the Audi TT or the new Volkswagen Beetle. Are their wings flat, no, and this makes the design very attractive. I understand that these parts are made using a factory die and this technology is not applicable in your own garage.
But there is another ancient technology (over a hundred years old) that can work wonders on sheet metal in a regular garage. A machine with which a sheet part is given a three-dimensional (convex) appearance is called “ English wheel". I will tell you how to make it in this article. In general, to be precise, the volume of the part is given by hitting a special hammer (I made it from a truck ball joint and polished the spherical striker) on soft pillow or on a wooden stump with a recess.
And the machine itself allows you to roll this already convex part between two rollers and remove all the bumps and bumps from impacts. After rolling, the part becomes not only convex and smooth, but also polished! (see photo on the left) . The motto of these sheet metal jobs is “Not an ounce of putty!”
When rolling sheet metal between two rollers of an English wheel, on the surface of the steel sheet not only do the irregularities from the impacts of a spherical hammer disappear and the surface becomes smooth, but also a hardened layer is formed on the sheet metal, providing increased performance properties of the surface. In addition, rolling the surfaces of sheet parts with the rollers of this machine replaces the processing of parts with grinding and polishing. And the surface roughness of the part after rolling corresponds to grade 8 - 11!!!
The basis of this machine is a powerful bracket (see photo at the beginning of the text), which can be welded from pipes square profile, channels, I-beams. But I paid attention to foreign machines of previous years. The most expensive and high-quality ones were made by casting and were quite thick and massive, but as we know, what older than a year release of the instrument, the better quality it is. I think that, no matter how thick the pipe is, it still plays under load, but the monolith does not. And the more massive this monolith, the easier it is to roll the sheet.
Although modern machines are made precisely from square pipe and no one seemed to complain. In any case, the choice is yours. Personally, I made the English wheel bracket from a powerful, cast I-beam from the truck. The steel is of high quality, designed for loads of several tons and welds well. In addition, as can be seen in the photo above, at both ends of this beam there are powerful vertical holes that allow you to fasten and then rotate both rollers to almost any degree.
I had to cut the beam (into three parts) at angles of 45 degrees, make chamfers and weld all the parts in several passes, naturally, reinforcing the corners with powerful gussets made of 12 mm thick steel. So, we made the most important thing - the bracket. The next step is to make the mount for the English wheel bracket to the stand.
I made the stand from ordinary round pipes with a diameter of 80 mm, and the base is a square, made of steel sheet 10 mm thick. From below, this square was scalded in a “circle” with strips of the same ten (10 mm), just in case. Well, then, I placed a cube welded from two channels (250 mm) onto this square.
On top of this cube I welded two powerful plates with 18mm studs at an angle, and secured the bracket to these studs with nuts (there are factory holes on the beam). When transporting the entire English wheel, if necessary, you can remove the bracket. Naturally, wherever necessary, everything was reinforced with gussets, 8 mm thick.
The most interesting and responsible thing remains - making the rollers of the English wheel... I started with a large roller and I was lucky, since in the diesel locomotive depot I managed to find the outer race from the roller bearing of the locomotive wheel. I had to prepare a drawing and only carve inner part this roller under 2 powerful bearings and then hot-press this inner part into the cage.
As a result, I received a large roller with an outer surface made of very hard and high-quality bearing steel. All I have to do is polish it. I don’t give the dimensions of the roller, since you will have to make it from whatever bearing you find. The fork on which the large roller is mounted was made from a steel sheet 12 mm thick. The shaft of this roller has a diameter of 32 mm.
The lower small rollers were turned and polished from the steel that files are made from, and it is also hard and of good quality (I got it by accident). But you can use any of the following steels:
U10A, U11A, U12A, HVG, 5HNM, EH12 hardened to a hardness of HRC 58 - 65.
Each roller has its own roller (with spacer sleeve), which sits on two closed type(I have two three hundred second (302) closed type ones. And at each end of the roller there are grooves so that the roller with the roller can be quickly inserted into the ears on which the roller is attached. Also, these grooves do not allow the roller to rotate in the ears.
Small rollers, it is advisable to make several, with different “barrel” profiles; usually 6-7″ is enough for all occasions.” But at first, two will be enough. I publish a drawing of one of the rollers in the figure on the right, but of course all the dimensions are purely conditional and depend on your tasks, more precisely on what size parts you are going to roll, as well as on the parts that will be pressed into the roller. 
Well, the radius of curvature of the “barrel” of the rollers (the one indicated in the drawing under the number 120) can be different and, of course, depends on the profile (depth of the convexity) of the part that you will be rolling. 
The lugs themselves are attached by electric welding (like a bicycle fork) to a splined shaft (you can also use a square), and this shaft moves freely in the splined hole and is supported from below by a ball and a screw with a persistent thread and a steering wheel at the very bottom.
The device for pressing the lower roller to the upper one is shown in detail in the video below the article. One of the options is shown there.
Under the fork holding the small roller, you can see the splined part, which is connected to the steering wheel below.
There are options with a steering wheel under your foot, but in general, there are a lot of ways to press the rollers on an English wheel, including kinematic ones complex circuits through various drives and blocks that allow you to press the rollers by pressing the pedal. You can also press the rollers using a hydraulic multi-ton jack, and an example of this idea can be seen in the very first photo (green English wheel, top left).
The English wheel is a machine for processing metal sheets up to 2mm thick. Mainly used in the field of restoration of bodies of old (retro) cars and for creating original parts for custom motorcycles. This device has been around for hundreds of years; it was widely used in Europe in the 20th century, but it gained the greatest popularity in England, where its name came from.
The design of the English wheel is quite simple - it consists of two metal rollers connected by a rigid frame, between which a sheet of metal is rolled. All machines have approx. same size and are divided into table-top and floor-mounted, while they have a rigid fixation to the surface on which they stand, since strong vibration loads occur when working on them.
The machine frame must have very good rigidity to prevent it from bending when metal passes between the rollers.
Materials and tools needed to create the machine:
- Standard tools such as grinder, drill, pliers, ruler, etc.
- Profile pipe (size and length depends on your project)
- Welding machine(semi-automatic)
- Welding table or similar device
- The project also includes a lot of turning work
The machine usually has a whole set of different rollers for work, which you can make yourself, or you can order ready-made ones abroad. The upper roller is large, cylindrical, and has a flat contact surface. The lower rollers have different radii of curvature of the surface, from almost round to flat. The bending of the workpiece profile depends on the selection of the roller.
There are also bending rollers for bending stiffening ribs on metal; they also come in various shapes.
The rollers of the machine must be subjected to heat treatment, since they must be harder than the metal of the workpiece.
Bearings are installed inside the rollers to increase service life.
The pressure force of the rollers is regulated by a special screw, which is driven by the steering wheel at the bottom of the machine.
This project features a built-in leather pillow with sand inside. It is called a “craftformer”, and is needed for the initial rough fitting of parts, such as the bends of a motorcycle fender or parts of a gas tank.
On the opposite side of the “wheel” you can install a stand for various anvils; they will be needed for working with the edges of workpieces.
For assembling the machine, a welding table is ideally suitable, but since not everyone has one, any maximally flat and hard surface (can be welded from corners or a profile) to which parts of the “wheel” are attached with clamps will do. When aligning the parts to be welded, it is important to note the zero coordinate; this can be any piece of angle from which all angles of inclination of the profile will be measured.
Here's what we ended up with:
The page is under construction.
The English wheel is a very interesting device. It can be used to iron various panels (finishing). With the help of this device, many exclusive motorcycles and cars have been created.
STORY
Once, several hundred years ago, a jeweler from Central Europe came up with the idea of building a simple device - a frame with two rollers, between which it is convenient to flatten wire. After some time, this device was used by many, but it became most widespread in England, where it was called the “Wheel” or “English Wheel”. The English wheel was used in Germany, Italy, America and other countries for the production of aircraft and car panels in the 20th century. However, the most widespread this device received in England. For example, during the Second World War, at the Rolls Royce plant such devices were used to produce aircraft.
DESIGN
All English wheels produced tend to have approximately the same dimensions. There are two designs: table wheel and floor wheel. The design of the device is worked out so clearly that you don’t have to worry about choosing the geometric dimensions of the rollers and frame and just blatantly rip off the structure. I had to surf the Internet for about 6 months to find a tool suitable for customizing and molding parts, as well as the material (steel grade) and metal hardness (through these parameters I had to select analogues from our steels and, with the help of toolmakers, find out the heat treatment modes - I , as a designer, had to figure out the technology in order to speak the same language with turners and millers). Rollers should always be harder than the metal sheets being formed.
The design of the English wheel is as follows:
the frame must provide sufficient rigidity so that there is no elastic bending of the frame when adjusting the force between the rollers;
the lower rollers have different radii of surface curvature. The set of rollers for my English Wheel consists of 7 rollers. home distinctive feature rollers - the presence of a cylindrical belt in the center, on which the profile of the part depends. The seventh roller is made with a completely cylindrical surface. The upper wheel is always made with a cylindrical surface. All rollers must be heat treated. All rollers and the top wheel are supported by roller bearings to reduce the effort when forming the part. These bearings also increase the service life of the device. I took the bearings for the barrel-shaped rollers from the VAZ-2101 generator. They are closed and lubricant is included during manufacture. Bearings from the crankshaft of the VAZ-2101 engine are pressed into the upper roller;
For ease of movement on the garage floor, there are two wheels. To prevent the frame from rolling arbitrarily, there are no rollers in front - stops are installed;
On the side there is a leather cushion filled with sand. It is used for initial molding of parts. Many who saw it in the drawing tried to understand what the chair was there for. This is actually called a "Kraftformer" and is used to initially form parts such as tank halves;
on the opposite side, it makes sense to make a rack for attaching anvils of various shapes for the manufacture of tanks, wings, etc.;
to regulate the force that the customizer needs to apply to mold the part, a force adjustment is provided between the rollers (there is a steering wheel at the bottom of the rack);
First, I drew the entire device in AutoCAD on a 1:1 scale. The frame seemed to me the most beautiful of everything I saw on the Internet. I wanted to see how it would look in volume, after which I had to draw a three-dimensional model of the entire device. Here's what it looks like as a model and as a product:
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When you hear the phrase old-school style tuning, which translates as old school, you should understand that this is not only the final appearance in the style of the old school, namely the tuning technology itself. In tuning of past years, carbon, fiberglass and other modern materials were not common and everything had to be made of metal. The parts turned out to be heavy, reliable, and beautiful, especially if everything was done wisely and with soul.
The auto giants produced all the parts by stamping from sheet metal, but such equipment was not available to garage “customizers” and tuning studios. But fortunately, a machine for rolling sheet metal, invented since the time of King Pea, came to the rescue - the English wheel. Thanks to it, it is possible to produce body parts for cars and motorcycles. It is necessary to make swollen wheel arches - please, a sports hood with nostrils - no problem, a teardrop gas tank for a chopper or fenders - just go. With such a machine, the fantasy of turning an ordinary flat metal sheet into the necessary geometric shapes, is not limited by anything.
Of course, many parts can be made from plastic and other modern materials, but this will no longer be the style of the old school, and besides, plastic elements may not suit the specifics of your car or motorcycle. For example, you are making a retro rod - plastic has no place here, or you are restoring a car from the 30s-40s of the last century, there should only be metal. And since you can’t find original spare parts during the day, you’ll have to make them by hand. This is where the English wheel comes in handy.
What is an English wheel?
This is a specialized device for rolling sheet metal, giving it curved shapes and leveling the surface. The peculiarity is that when you need to make a part of convex, hemispherical, round and other shapes, then before painting the resulting part, leveling with putty is not required. An English wheel will save you from this and also make the part more durable. However, getting a rounded shape using only one wheel is not easy and will take quite a bit of time. Therefore, first a sheet of metal is beaten with a spherical hammer on a special pad or wooden base with a recess in the shape of a hemisphere. Using this tool, we obtain the required bend of the part, and the English wheel corrects unevenness, removes bumps from the hammer, grinds and polishes the surface.As a result, we already have a part that does not require additional processing or straightening. This is very convenient, considering that we can carry out all manipulations in a regular garage, without industrial equipment. Many craftsmen cut out wheel arches to widen (inflate) sheet metal and bending it into an arc, it is bluntly welded to the supporting body. The view is, frankly speaking, not so hot. In an attempt to correct the situation, they apply tons of polymer putty, trying to smooth out the sharp corners. Some people even do pretty well. In addition, the rollers of the English wheel, of various shapes, allow us to make convexities, stiffeners and chamfer our parts.
What is the English wheel? This machine has the shape of a round or rectangular metal bracket with thick walls, mounted on a powerful platform that does not allow the device to tip over. There are metal rollers on the ends of the bracket. The upper roller is fixed on a fixed axis, the lower one is equipped with a hydraulic or mechanical pressing mechanism, depending on the machine model. The upper roller (main) is vertically stationary and rotates only around its axis, the lower pressure roller is removable. The lower rollers can be changed depending on how much area needs to be rolled or what kind of bend to make.
DIY English wheel
Naturally, the cost of such a tool is not small, however, it is not as exorbitant as the cost of any professional equipment for a car service. The price for domestic models starts from 50 thousand rubles and the kit includes several different rollers. By the way, it’s very difficult to find videos separately. For those who do not want to engage in customization professionally, there is no need to make such expenses, but just to try, you can make the machine yourself. For this you will need profile pipe, channel or thick beam. It is necessary to weld a bracket that will not “play” under load. Next, we install the resulting bracket on a platform that will prevent it from tipping over. The platform can be made from round pipes and a base made of thick metal sheet.The frame is ready, you need to take care of the main elements rolling machine- roller skating. Any large bearing from agricultural machinery or a locomotive can be used as the upper roller. Everything is simple here. We weld the bearing mount and install it on the end end of our machine. Bottom rollers. It's more complicated here. Initially, a couple of videos will be enough various sizes. If you plan to roll metal to customize motorcycles, then a couple of rollers 30-50 mm wide will be enough.
Due to the small rolling area. For processing sheets larger area rollers with a width of 60-80 mm or more are required. Let me make a reservation right away: it’s not easy to get rollers; companies selling English machines don’t sell them; you can either order them from abroad or from local turners. Fortunately, the Internet is now full of drawings, in different variations. The cost of a set of videos from ebay sites is about 10-15 thousand rubles. How many turners will they take? How do you agree? The clamping mechanism can be borrowed from other machines, for example a mechanical pusher or vice.
To further minimize costs, you can use old beam from the truck. The metal on them is powerful and, moreover, you can buy them at scrap metal collection points for pennies.
