Wheel that I made

I have been determined to make a wheel for months. It was one of those things that I was determined to do.

I started out with a big pan. I cut the handles off, drilled a hole in the center, and roughed up the running surface. It has a 16" diameter.

It is aluminum, so it will never rust and there is no powder coating to peel off. I put a shelf above the wheel so someone won't try to get on top of it.



I used an industrial grade bearing. It spins freely and quietly and will do so for probably 20 years.



And a video of Arnold giving it a try:
http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/6781/mvi1071.mp4

I made 3 so far and the chins seem to like it much better than the 12" plastic junk that I trashed.

WOW, Steven...I don't have wheels but those look amazing and I don't hear anything!!! Silent wheels!!! Arnold seems to approve Great job!

I agree, it looks and sounds great- awesome!

Cool idea! (and cute chins )

WOW, that is very well made!

Looks great! Can't say I'm not a little jealous. You obviously did a wonderful job!

That is what I have been trying to get my fiancé to make!!! Where did u get the bearings?? Great idea with the shelf. Love, love it!!

So. Um. How much?

mishellyshel said:

That is what I have been trying to get my fiancé to make!!! Where did u get the bearings?? Great idea with the shelf. Love, love it!!

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I got the ones I used off of ebay. It is called a 4 bolt flange bearing. The ebay ones are "self-aligning" which means the bearing swivels inside the cast iron housing which won't work. So I removed the bearing from the housing and used JB Weld to keep it locked. No JB weld is visible and therefore not accessible to the chins to eat. Similar bearings that come fixed are available online but they are a little harder to spin. (I got one of these but thought it was too hard. Now I think it would be fine.)

My hyper chin Munchkin runs full throttle then jumps off and the wheel keeps spinning for 30 seconds. I am going to try the other bearing to see if it helps withough making it hard to turn. The wheel weighs 5.7 pounds. They have no problem getting it to spin.

Ash said:

So. Um. How much?

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This is what everything cost me for each wheel.

Pan=$39.74
Bearing=$9.15
Zinc plated steel used to mount to cage=$3.99
Nuts, bolts, washers=$10ish
Sandpaper, grinding disks, drill bits=$5ish

Definitely not cheap, but I wanted something that will last. I figure this is the same cost as a chin-spin (shipped) but this doesn't have cheap lawnmower wheel bearings, wood back, and chippable powdercoating.

Wow, awesome job! I wish I was as crafty.

That's amazing! I love how it looks too. Its purdy. If you could find the pots cheaper, say at a restaurant supply store, you'd be in business!

Wow! That looks so awesome, great job!

I'd definitely be interested in one if you could find the pans a bit cheaper and would decide to make them for sale!

That is very awesome I commend you sir

Great job!

momenteller said:

That's amazing! I love how it looks too. Its purdy. If you could find the pots cheaper, say at a restaurant supply store, you'd be in business!

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You could probably easily get pans cheaper at Walmart, 2nd hand stores and garage sales.

This is the same idea one of my friends had when I was trying to come up with an idea on how to make one.

Can you take a pic of the back from the outside of the cage?

I have 2 friends that do powder coating so if I went this rounte I may consider having one of them powder coat it.

you have no idea how much my mouth dropped when i saw the video.

it looks flippin amazing! i agree with everyone, if you find that you can buy pans at a cheaper price, i would definitely be a customer! no joke...

good job on that wheel!

Steven absolutely amazing! What a great job!

Yea, that's pretty awesome. The idea of making my own wheel had intimidated me to the point where I've given up on it. Congratulations for making them yourself, they look fantastic.

Thanks everyone. I have only suffered minor cuts and aluminum particles up my nose.

I ordered the pans from an online food service warehouse. That was the cheapest I could find in that size. It is an 18 quart "brazier pan." The 15 quart pan was a few dollars cheaper but it has a 14" diameter as opposed to 16." That may actually have been better for my smaller chins now that I think about it.

I'll see if I can find everything else cheaper.

fbodgrl said:

Can you take a pic of the back from the outside of the cage?

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Remnants of the handle



Lightly textured running surface - Main point was to reduce weight of wheel.