Hello dear and esteemed Fellow, I hope this finds you well,
I'm writing hoping you afforded and wished to share with the community on wheel-making tooling, methods, and on distributors akin to selling such to collectives.
Particularly, we aspire to be more autonomous in making or substituting this most demanded component of bikes within our capacity. For this purpose, we would benefit from advices on lacing methods and bench-size machines to make wheel (parts) that respond soundly to physics, and tighter budgets.
We think of machines like Morizumi or Phil Wood, which would perform the operations to make spokes from a stock of stainless steel wire. Or even nipples and maybe rims. For cutting and rolling threads but also, head swaging, elbow bending and reducing wire diameter of spokes by rolling or drawing with acceptable results. Should we also think of methods for using wire with minimal fixtures and metalwork astutely.
We don't mean to dream splendidly for the B-Choppe, our basement in Montréal Qc, where we share and uphold anti-oppression ethics and relationships first. Varied wheels size arrive with seized spokes (from de-icing salt) as we contemplate shortages and difficulty to order. Above all in current times, we felt relying on ourselves instead of (very unsteady) supply from far manufacturers to be wise and exciting. While most parts wholesalers refuse selling to us, arguing «unfair» or «too stringent competition». As we seek sustenance and relationships, not profit, but would not mind funding the shop by providing with value.
I think this could be technically feasible, some operations could involve re-purposing body-actuated tools used in other trade (especially for diametric reduction of wire). Ideally be combined in dedicated gems like those WheelFanatyk offer with discernment and expertise, I find.
Expanding beyond our capacity, If you happened to know organizations whom had summarized knowledge in metallurgy and modeled practical setups, I feel some of us would be excited to know. For instance, which alloy (or actual wire) to use, which forming process to perform (drawing or rolling, at which temperature), which annealing to enable and senseful equipment to build economically for that matter.
As a member of a free shop, I'm open to reconsider spokes-and-nipples for other building and truing methods (materials). What I'd be happy to share if we ever came to sound and thrift results.
Thanks so much for reading my best Second Language from french. I hope this is senseful and above all, that you are well and holding your values.
Thank you so much, with our kind and highest esteem,
Louis
Atelier B-Choppe
Montréal Canada
(I hope this is right, as the purpose of the ThinkTank seems to be a «discussion on our Discussion» while I read technical matters on it. And did not see our current preoccupation making a subject on the Wiki. However, I feel a discussion stemming from this post shall benefit more on a Community repertoire where Subjects can be searched in fields like «wheel» ; which the ThinkTank does no longer allow. Suggestions welcomed, thanks).