Anybody ever fabricate a custom chainwheel?
11-12-08 | 01:15 PM
#1
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Anybody ever fabricate a custom chainwheel?
If anybody has any experience with this, please share it with me. I'm looking to make one, but need some advice as far as the right kind of metal or if anybody can hook me up with a basic 48t template.
11-12-08 | 03:40 PM
#2
if it ain't broke, fix it
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From: portland, the one on the left.
Bikes: bikes, a bunch.
have you any experience with solidworks? we use it at work, you draw up the part, (it has a tool for chain pitch i believe) and it does the CNC code for you. There's a free trial vers avail somewhere around the interwebs. I'm pretty sure most nice chainrings are 7075 heat treated aluminum. I know sugino Zen rings are. good luck.
11-18-08 | 10:49 PM
#3
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From: Portland, OR
Solidworks does not generate G (CNC) code for you; it only makes a solid model. There are some CAM software packages that run within Solidworks that can do that, but they're separate programs you'll have to buy, and I'm not aware of a free demo version of Solidworks (though there may be one). There is a relatively cheap student version, though.
That having been said, I'm considering making some chainrings - what do you need? I'm planning to CNC mill them out of 7075 aluminum plate; most likely some 46t TA Cyclotourist (5 on 50.4 BCD) singlespeed rings at first, maybe some other designs in the future, like a 151 BCD chainring for an old track crank I have.
Andrew
That having been said, I'm considering making some chainrings - what do you need? I'm planning to CNC mill them out of 7075 aluminum plate; most likely some 46t TA Cyclotourist (5 on 50.4 BCD) singlespeed rings at first, maybe some other designs in the future, like a 151 BCD chainring for an old track crank I have.
Andrew
11-19-08 | 03:07 PM
#4
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Seems like the sort of thing you could cut with a mill or shaper, and a rotary vise. It would have to be a special use to be worth the trouble. I was on a project like this at one point trying to make a sprotor for a motorcycle.
11-20-08 | 08:00 AM
#5
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You could design it in solidworks or some other cad program, take your part and create a drawing,(one that shows the outlines of the sprocket) and export it in dxf format or dwg and send it to me. I make bicycle parts for framebuilders and a one off sprocket is a prime candidate for the jet. if you want to make your own with a rotary index you'll probably kill yourself before it's finished. give me a holler if you're intersted. nicolacycles
11-22-08 | 07:13 AM
#7
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You could design it in solidworks or some other cad program, take your part and create a drawing,(one that shows the outlines of the sprocket) and export it in dxf format or dwg and send it to me. I make bicycle parts for framebuilders and a one off sprocket is a prime candidate for the jet. if you want to make your own with a rotary index you'll probably kill yourself before it's finished. give me a holler if you're intersted. nicolacycles
+1000
Waterjet's are a huge timesaver to make a finished or semi-finished part. A chainring would need just a little extra machining that any machine shop could handle.
Jeff
