Hi :)

[Louise-Paisley]

Just a quick hello... Hello

I ended up on this forum several times while searching out wood butchery methods, being an electrician by trade mostly my joinery skills extended to replacing smashed floor boards etc : but that is all behind me now as I abandoned that to start up an online cat related pet accessories and toys shop. I would sooner have a life and no money than 12 hour shifts pulling cables, loads of money and no time to do anything with it.

Anyway, branching out from cat walking jackets and catnip toys I decided to start making cat wheels and cat climbers/ furniture etc which led me on the search which brought me here.

I must say I have found some superb information here, and gone from nowhere to router templates and home made jointing jigs in.. well.. about 48 hours!

Absolutely superb, I doubt I well ever reach the levels most of you lot have reached but I am thoroughly enjoying turning flat sheets of plywood into 3 dimensional creations - there just seems to be something so satisfying about the process.

I have nothing much, well anything really, to contribute of course but I will be lurking around soaking up all your shared knowledge like a sponge.

Thank you very much for everything

Louise

 

[kirkpoore1]

Louise:

Welcome aboard. The locals are friendly, the water is warm, and the drinks are cold. I'm sure you'll have plenty to chime in on, particularly if you don't mind talking about your previous profession. I'm not a cat guy, but wouldn't mind seeing your work, and maybe you'll inspire other too.

Kirk
who has no idea what a cat wheel is, but is willing to speculate...in ways that cat people might not care for.

 

[lanemaux]

Welcome Louise , don't worry about matching my level of work , if you do then someone will set you straight quite quickly. Cannot allow such backsliding now can we?
Drop by the hand tool ward when you can , endlessly entertaining . Be aware that the hand tool "slope" you will hear of plays no favorites , you have been warned. This is a fine place full of fine folk who will help with most any problem. Many fountains of great knowledge just waiting for questions. And since they put up with my daft silliness , well let's just say that no question anyone else poses could be silly by comparison.

 

[Louise-Paisley]

Think hamster wheel, but four foot across

Basically that's what it is, a giant exercise wheel that the cat can run in. Most non cat types think it is complete madness, but I have four cats two of which are pretty expensive bengals which I have no intention of putting outside to get run over or poisoned (which seems to be becoming entirely too common these days) so I bought a cat wheel for them so they can run all day if they wish - and most days they do.

The one I have is pretty expensive and to be honest the quality is pretty poor, the stand is made from pine and has more flex than a 3 foot rubber band. The wheel its self is made from MDF and has a washing machine bearing attached to an MDF back which again flexes.

So I am making my wheel with two rims and a 15" wide running surface between the two rims. The running surface will be fixed into grooves on the inside faces of the rims. Instead of a bearing the whole wheel will sit on a base unit which has 3" or 4" bearing castors mounted in it thus letting the wheel rotate on the upturned castors. An optional extra will be a trip computer which will record the distance travelled, top speed, average speed etc etc.

I have not as yet made one, it exists mostly in my mind and my cad program.

I have tried several methods of bending ply to create the curved running surface including steaming (the steam box was all wrong to be honest but still wasn't happy with how it was going) and layering 3.6mm ply which still started cracking and creaking. I tried kerf bending last week on a test piece and that was the most successful so going with that and back filling the kerfs with Caskamite - thinking maybe mixing in some of the sawdust into the glue to bulk it out a bit, does that sound like a reasonable idea?

The rims are being made with 18mm ply in four quarters, jointed with a half lap joint. Once the 4 parts are glued up they will be trimmed down to true them up with a large compass jig and router, I got hold of 3 foot bars to fit the router fence so the plan there is to screw a bit of wood with a pin to the fence then I will have the fine adjustment screw on the fence to fine tune the diameter.

I am quite lucky in that I have a 24" digital cutter/ plotter so I can plot out the cad drawings full scale, spray the back with adhesive and stick them onto the board to cut out by just following the lines

I got started proper on the first wheel today, cut the rim template, rough cut 7 rim sections and ran out of ply :, then made a jig to slide the parts into to route the half laps. As I am one part short of two rims I got one glued up and clamped at least.

The jig for the half laps has a track that the part slides into from the back in the photo, then has a cut out in the top layer to run the router around with a guide bush, I must say I was doing a happy dance when I cut the 8 half laps and laid out the parts in a circle and everything mated up near perfectly.

It might not look like much, but as I say I am no joiner, in fact the first time I have ever picked up a router let alone used one was today and I am in love with it already! What a fantastic bit of kit, should have got one 20 years ago

 

[Louise-Paisley]

By the way, I am NOT responsible for making that appalling bench thing, my pal made it.. I may not be a joiner but I do have some standards

 

[doorframe]

Hi Louise.

I'm also a cat-loving ex-sparky, but I walked out of the electrical game 8 yrs ago. Got fed up with being laid-off every other Friday just so that one of our Eastern European friends could do my job for half the money.
I really hope your new venture works out. I did something fairly similar about 5 yrs ago to test the response and it worked quite well, but then the economic downturn kicked in and I chickened out. I keep telling myself that when the economy recovers I start up properly on my own, but every 'expert' that comes on the radio tells me it'll be grim for years , so I'm stuck doing lousy shift-work for a while yet.

Be sure to hang around and show us more of your work. And be careful with that router, they take no prisoners!

Roy

 

[Jacob]

So what about cat in one wheel, infront a mouse in a small one , and behind a dog in a big one? Link them all by pulleys to generators!! Hmm.

 

[Lons]

Hi Louise

Welcome from a northerner - not THAT far from bonny Scotland.

I,m not that keen on cats but my daughter who lives alone, loves them and I understand why. She's only ever had one at a time but unfortunately has lost her last 2 in quick succession on the roads which abvsolutely devastated her, so that looks very interesting 'cos shes just taken in a stray :roll:

Apart from that, I can think of a few kids who would greatly benefit from the use of such a wheel. (would need a door so you could lock them in though) :lol:

Bob

 

[devonwoody]

Welcome Louise, a cat wheel?

Is that to make the cat walk more interesting at those fashion shows.?

Or are you just progressing to that level.

 

[Jonzjob]

Welcome from me too Louise.

Good luck with your new ideas!!

 

[Blister]

Hello

It MUST be Youtube time , I would like to see your cats having a workout on the wheel

 

[Louise-Paisley]

I don't have any video of them on the wheel, but this is one of the bengals having a stroll.



I removed (hacked off with a saw) the stand from this one and bolted it directly to the wall to minimise the wobble, my design will not have a back in it.

 

[Blister]

Nice one :lol:

The cat does look like its having fun :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[whiskywill]

Many fountains of great knowledge

.......................and me.

Welcome.

 

[nev]

Hi Louise ,
welcome to the madhouse, you should fit in well
As an alternative to ply if you haven't already tried and dismissed it, flexi mdf may or may not be another material choice? or maybe some sign-makers sheet materials like Foamex.

 

[xy mosian]

Hi, enjoy joining in the fun.

This lot might have something of interest.

http://www.winwood-products.com/eng/tim ... lywood.htm

Bendy Ply, does just that. It is probably not cheap, but could be worth costing up just for comparison with your labour costs etc.

xy

 

[Louise-Paisley]

Hi Louise ,
welcome to the madhouse, you should fit in well
As an alternative to ply if you haven't already tried and dismissed it, flexi mdf may or may not be another material choice? or maybe some sign-makers sheet materials like Foamex.

I looked at flexi MDF originally but dismissed it because there was several boards on the shelf already split and I have some cat breeders who are interested in an outdoor version for the stud cat pens. I figured that using wbp ply and giving it several good coats of a half decent paint then with minimal maintenance they would survive outdoors in a covered open fronted pen where the slightest ingress of moisture into MDF would likely very quickly result in a pile of mush rather than a wheel.

Foamex type materials would also have complications for creating the curved running surface, most notably joining the ends together. The plan for the running surface is 12mm ply, kerf cut to bend and the kerfs filled with caskamite and sawdust, the ends chamfered to 60 degrees or something like and glued together possibly with some 12mm screws pocket fitted across the join if required. I would like to have more of an angle on the join but the kerf cuts will be spaced 20mm max and preferably 15mm so would not leave much room for getting the joint in.

I am fairly sure it will be pretty strong once assembled, the rims are 18mm ply with the surface glued into circular slots in the rims, so in effect the kerf cut surface will be a collection of 12 x 15 or 20 x 380mm long slats between the rims. Filling the kerfs in again should give it a bit more strength and resistance to cracking.

Which brings me back to the question above.. is mixing sawdust in with caskamite to make a filler for the kerf cuts a good or bad idea? anyone?

 

[Louise-Paisley]

Hi, enjoy joining in the fun.

This lot might have something of interest.

http://www.winwood-products.com/eng/tim ... lywood.htm

Bendy Ply, does just that. It is probably not cheap, but could be worth costing up just for comparison with your labour costs etc.

xy

Bendy ply would be the ideal solusion, but cost wise not so ideal and I would need at least 3 or 4 layers of 3mm or 2 x 6mm.. It is available in full pallets only and at least for now I could not justify that kind of outlay. I have quite a few people bugging me about wheels but history shows that out of 10 people bugging for something only 3 will actually buy it when you take the time and trouble to make it.

Time wise the kerf cutting is not that bad, I did a test piece to try it marking out the kerf lines and then cutting freehand with the circular saw and it only took about 5 or 10 minutes. I have a kerf cutting sledge/ jig/ thingy in mind for quickly kerf cutting the ply and I expect that to at least half the time. Having a workshop which is basically a large garden shed means I have to make do with what I have so the hand held circular saw will be the weapon of choice - a thin kerf blade for it would not go amiss though as I think the one I have in it is about 3.5mm which is a bit on the large side.

 

[mailee]

Hello and welcome Louise. I had not heard of the cat wheels either but have now been educated by you, thanks. Keep us posted on the build of your wheel it sounds an interesting project.

 

[Louise-Paisley]

Hello and welcome Louise. I had not heard of the cat wheels either but have now been educated by you, thanks. Keep us posted on the build of your wheel it sounds an interesting project.

Ahh, a codhead..

I originated in Grimsby, well Caistor actually but I moved into Grimsby when I left home <cough>many</cough> years ago. I used to work a market stall for my mother in Freemo market when I was a mere kid I went back to Grimsby (well Clee) for a couple of years about 8 years ago - at the time I was working on the Humber International Terminal (HIT) Phase 2 at Immingham, the largest machinery I have ever worked on in my life, but I returned to Scotland which is a place I have come to love.