Progress on the clock is slow but steady. Last time I mentioned that I had posted a question to the NAWCC discussion forum regarding the repair/replace question for the going-train great wheel. There have been an amazing 63 replies, with opinions ranging from “repair-and-conserve-at-any-cost” to “definitely-replace-on-safety-grounds.” You can read the discussion here:
http://mb.nawcc.org/showthread.php?99050-Advice-please-on-long-case-great-wheel-repair
My view has not changed, I am going to make a new wheel, largely on safety grounds, but hope to attempt a repair on the old one later. So last week the new wheel blank was blued, marked out, mounted on an arbor, turned to size, and then mounted on the wheel cutting engine to have the 96 teeth cut.
Calculations suggested a cutter of 0.85M for a wheel of this size (84mm diameter) and 96 teeth, but the slightly smaller 0.80M was a better fit between the teeth of the old wheel – 0.85M was a tight fit and I was concerned that the teeth may be cut too thin.
The wheel with all 96 teeth cut. It took 1 hr 20 mins to carefully cut all the teeth with slow hand feed. I will bore and broach the barrel arbor hole next before cutting the crossings.