You guys know that I've been looking for a pipe trolley for my Host rail that I built a few weeks ago. I was going to go with a pipe trolley system, but decided that this may be just the project to design my own trolley.
Here's the link to the Overhead Hoist topic
http://garagehangout.net/index.php?topic=113.0
Here is the Hoist project from a few weeks ago --
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0128Medium.jpg)
The pipe needs a trolley to make the hoist glide. So I chucked up two of these old iron wheels that I used several years ago to make English Wheel anvils with. IIRC I got about 20 of them from Northern Tool at the time because they were on sale for $1.50 each on a closeout.
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0151Medium.jpg)
The plan is to install some good bearings, and then cut the concave radius so that the wheel will track on the pipe.
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0160Medium-1.jpg)
First I chucked the wheels up and used a small boring bar to cut the bores for the bearings.
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0159Medium-1.jpg)
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0167Medium-2.jpg)
After the bores were done, I used my trusty homemade radius cutter to form the 2-1/2" radius that I needed for the rail.
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0163Medium-1.jpg)
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0161Medium-1.jpg)
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0162Medium-1.jpg)
This cast iron cuts very difficult because it flakes, so every now and then I smoothed it out with some emory cloth to make the surface easier for the cutter to traverse.
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0164Medium-2.jpg)
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0165Medium-2.jpg)
After about 30 minutes I was able to get my radius completed with one final smooth cut.
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0166Medium-2.jpg)
The finished trolley wheels with bearings installed --
(http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo18/goodfellow_2004/misc/PICT0168Medium-1.jpg)
Next, I'll have to build a frame around those wheels. That's a job for next week. beerdude