Wheel Maintenance III

Wheel up and running. I have kept the old leather friction wheel, in case the smart new material proves to be not up to the job. I am now attempting, (on the advice of my lovely Uncle) to stop the wheel from making so much noise. This requires that I rest its four iron limbs on cardboard, so the rattling does not reverberate through the ancient cobble floor; plug the gaps between the sheet sides and frame with bolts separated by rubber washers (and bunged in places with old rubber inner tubes) to prevent the metal shell acting as a drum for the slightly less than soundless running of the engine. This should mean that I may stand some chance of listening to music whilst potting, instead of being lost in an all-encompassing world of rattles.
However, the (usually strong) lure of making things of clay is not high right now, as all the water in my potting area is frozen, and everything is taking forever to dry out.

Finally, always remove the friction wheel from under the fly wheel when finished potting, to prevent the weight of the wheel from bowing the edges of the new friction wheel.

Wheel maintenance II

This is a series of photographs






















of the internal gubbins of my Potters Equipment wheel, pre- and post-dismantled. I am indebted to my Uncle, who is always willing to advise and turn up in chic (and oh so clean) overalls to help with the latest plan and also 'Geoff-down-the-lane', who with his extensive experience servicing a range of ancient motorbikes (BMWs and Royal Enfields) provided sage advice and the new friction wheel, made from some super modern material used in car brakes.
I basically unbolted the shaft (attaching the friction wheel to the motor) and the whole mechanism could be pulled out of the arm which swings the friction wheel under the flywheel (and therefore alters the speed of the wheel head) and the shaft could be slid out from the base of the flywheel. More in post III.

Wheel Maintenance I

My wheel is a fairly simple mechanism; the main wheel (wheel head) is joined to a heavy fly wheel turned by a friction wheel (these terms may be incorrect, I am a novice when it comes to mechanical jargonese) joined to a motor. See the below diagram.


My wheel was slipping and slowing under pressure, part of the problem was due to the lack of contact between the friction wheel and base wheel. The leather friction wheel was too smooth and slightly bowed resulting in a lack of contact. The springs on the main shaft (see photograph) can be adjusted to increase the tension between the fly wheel and friction wheel. This did not seem to work for me, so I returned to first principles. Dismantling as much of the mechanism as I could, cleaning, greasing where needed.