DIY wheel cover

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StuE

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Has anyone tried to make their own wheel cover using whipping or rope ? If so I would like to know how to proceed.
Immediate questions that spring to mind are

1 What diameter whipping
2 How to start
3 How to finish

Any feed back would be much appreciated
 
Start and finish it at a spoke. However probably better to cover it with leather using either a kit or have it done for you.
 
Yes. Used approximately 3mm blue cord. As said, start at a spoke and leave a good tail to work with later.

You will need a long evening and a long roll of cord. I used the exercise to teach my son a lesson in the value of mathematics. Calculate the circumference of the wheel rim itself allowing for the thickness of the cord being used ( mine was a 25.4mm ali rim + 2 x 3mm cord = 30 mm diameter. Mult by pi = 92.4mm per turn. ) then work out the circumference of the wheel itself. ( 803mm * pi = 2523 mm ) divide that by the thickness of the cord to get the number of turns ( 840 ) multiply that by the length per turn ( 804 * 92.4 = 77700mm or 77m! ) I bought a full 100m spool and sat down to put 804 turns on the wheel!

Do it with the wheel cool, aluminium expands quite a bit and the binding will loosen when the wheel is cold unless kept good and tight. At the spokes you need to add enough turns to get the covering to half the thickness of the spoke before stepping to the other side of the spoke.

Identify the spoke that is at top dead centre when the wheel is centred or adjust it to there when done. Start at that spoke and lay on some turns on the spoke itself. When completed that will act as a tactile reminder to wheel centred position.

Using some fancy tricks it is possible to tuck the cord ends back under the binding but with man made cord tieing it off with a good reef knot and melting with a soldering iron will give a permanent finish.

Good and grippy, shrugs off water, stays much cleaner than leather.

http://cariad.imolesworth.info/?page_id=2&nggpage=3 has a pic of the cockpit and wheel on Cariad.
 
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I did mine with 3mm para-cord bought from the chandler in a bag of bits.
I just started with clove-hitch and then French whipped the cord - a fancy name for a series of half-hitches around the rim. It produces a spiral effect which looks good and is very grippy.
Finish with a clove-hitch, then use a soldering iron to melt the loose ends into a blob.
 
Cover the gaps with a turk's head. Somewhere I've got Brion Toss's book The Rigging Handbook that shows you how to do a three legged turk's head. Perfect for this job. I did mine whilst motoring along on autopilot. Dead swanky compared to a bit of tape.
 
michael_w said:
Somewhere I've got Brion Toss's book The Rigging Handbook that shows you how to do a three legged turk's head.
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Sounds good. I recently acquired a copy of the Ashley Book of Knots - no doubt that one is in there (it has a large chapter on different kinds of turk's heads) but the book is more of a catalogue of different knots than a manual of how to tie them. Most knots just have a single illustration of their finished form. Perhaps I should get the famous Mr Toss's book as well.

Pete
 
did mine with 3mm polyester cord using a 'french whipping' type application...... hated it as the feel on bare hands over time was sh*te as far too coarse!.....If you go down the cord route find a nice soft material to use..... am now in the process of fitting padded elk hide!....... oh and before you think that maybe I have soft gentle hands and just not used to the rough of it........ I've spent a life working hands on in engineering and heavy plant
 
ean_p said:
did mine with 3mm polyester cord using a 'french whipping' type application...... hated it as the feel on bare hands over time was sh*te as far too coarse!.....If you go down the cord route find a nice soft material to use..... am now in the process of fitting padded elk hide!....... oh and before you think that maybe I have soft gentle hands and just not used to the rough of it........ I've spent a life working hands on in engineering and heavy plant
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I wonder if 2mm might be better on the hands, cost is the main driver as a leather cover is around 100 quid also the satisfaction of making something yourself :)
 
ean_p said:
did mine with 3mm polyester cord using a 'french whipping' type application...... hated it as the feel on bare hands over time was sh*te as far too coarse!.....If you go down the cord route find a nice soft material to use..... am now in the process of fitting padded elk hide!....... oh and before you think that maybe I have soft gentle hands and just not used to the rough of it........ I've spent a life working hands on in engineering and heavy plant
Click to expand...

i worked out the cost of 3 m/m cord & put the cash towards elk hide
 
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