Pro-Wheel Shaver XT

[Stephen's Dad]

I'm beginning to wonder if the stock Grand Prix Official BSA wheels aren't being made from differing grades of plastic????? Consider the price of fuel & other petroleum derivatives & then consider the selling price of these kits. Isn't is possible that Grand Prix is trying to contain inflating costs by cutting corners on raw materials?

[psycaz]

I'm trying on BSA wheels. I"ll try again tomorrow with a couple of the extra wheels I have left. I'll completely disassemble the unit and make sure the guide screw is where it should be and follow the directions precisely as stated earlier in this thread. I'll post my results.

[Stephen's Dad]

Now you've got me wondering. The wheels that Stephen & I tested the Wheel Shaver on were leftovers from last year. It went well enough that he was able to finish one wheel before his hand fatigued. Now I will test it again on a known (presumed) 2006 wheel.

I'll also report on how it goes.

[psycaz]

Couldn't wait to try it until tomorrow. I used wheels from last year. Noticed that I was getting inconsistent cuts. Seemed to cut then blade would almost stop shaving. Figured I was just getting high spots. Got the wheel finished with no gouging. Went to back off the blade to remove the wheel since I was only going to do one right now and the blade wouldn't back off. Blade came out of the groove for the set screw. I got the blade out and it looks like I have a bent blade. Probably where all of my troubles are coming from. I'll have to order a new one.

One thing I did notice is that you have to be sure to use the same pressure all the time.That is when turning the wheel make sure not to push the wheel while turning it towards the blade. I caught myself doing it every so slightly and I could feel the wheel bind more that on previous revolutions without turning down the blade.

Hopes this helps someone else.

[MaxV]

One thing I did notice is that you have to be sure to use the same pressure all the time.That is when turning the wheel make sure not to push the wheel while turning it towards the blade. I caught myself doing it every so slightly and I could feel the wheel bind more that on previous revolutions without turning down the blade.

This is very important. Because the pin of the Pro-Hub Tool is smaller than the bore of most wheels, when shaving you must avoid pressing the wheel towards the blade.

Instead, apply some down force so the side of the bore nearest the blade is in contact with the pin of the Pro-Hub tool. If you are shaving in this manner, and then press upward while turning, you can easily get the blade to bite into the wheel.

[Pinewood Daddy]

Because the pin of the Pro-Hub Tool is smaller than the bore of most wheels, when shaving you must avoid pressing the wheel towards the blade.

I'm going to bring my Shaver to work tomorrow and have a .097 gage pin put in place of the turned pin.

I've had good luck using the tool (.001 run-out), with some digging of the blade.

Has anyone altered their Pro-Wheel Shaver??

[Stephen's Dad]

Teeeman wrote:

I've noticed a phenomenon with squeezing the wheel too tightly... you "dig" the blade, and the resultant down-ramp into the plastic is a self-eating watermelon that keep trying to dig the cutter in deeper and deeper with each pass it seems (not having touched the thumbscrew adjust for blade depth).

Anybody else run into this?

I've run into it now!

We tried doing all 4 wheels tonight. Everything was fine until we started getting close to "round". As we approached the point where the blade was rubbing against the wheel radius MOST of the time the blade stopped shaving. It appeared at this point to be burnishing rather than cutting. Turning the blade down even slightly at this point resulted in deep gouging. Any attempt to continue shaving at this point resulted in the same mysterious "self tightening" that Terry describes.

I was concerned the blade may have dulled after doing 2 test wheels & the 4 main wheels. Yet the XT performs flawlessly on a "bad" wheel on the first several passes. But get even close to finished & the thing starts locking, gouging & self tightening again. I was able to provide some "lift" at the gouges to "help" the blade over the gouge. This was essentially my adult hands flexing the frame (or maybe the mandrel) but I'd hardly call this a solution since once a gouge line was in the wheel there was no amount of "shaving capacity" left to remove the resulting groove.

It appears to me that the Pro Wheel Shaver XT can eliminate about 75% of out of round & that's about it. Once the wheel becomes "too round", the blade isn't able to keep shaving.

The device cannot be used to reduce the overall diameter even if that was the goal of the user. Nor will it make any wheel perfect. It just makes a bad wheel better than it was.

Despite an aching thumb & fore finger, I still think that when we test these wheels tomorrow on the dial indicator the results will be good. But I don't think we'll be able to avoid the drill press jig for "fine finishing".

I guess at some point a mini-lathe is the only real solution.

[Stephen's Dad]

OK...We ran the shaved wheels by our dial indicator today. The choppy marks were as much as .007 deep! No wheel was better than .003".

Somehow 2 wheels that were .0015 & .002 before shaving both ended up .003 after.

I'm at a loss to explain how this happened. I've watched the movie 10 times. I even have it burned to a CD. I've read & re-read the instructions several times.

I'm giving this tool one more test but I can get better & more consistant results on my drill press so far.

[Stan Pope]

I have looked at the video and tried to see, in detail, the configuration of the blade. Looking from the end of the shaft with the blade above, it appears that the blade points generally down and to the left. Is this correct?

If this is correct, and if the wheel is turned counterclockwise as instructed, how does the blade dig in? The turning wheel would try to push the blade away.

[Stephen's Dad]

The configuration is as you observed. The blade is about 2mm left of center. When the wheel is rotated counter clockwise the blade shouldn't be gouging.

I've detected a phenomenon where the blade is merely brush the surface as it travels the highest remaining part of the wheel. Rotating it around the instructed 5 turns without adjusting the blade down seems to heat the plastic. On the third or fourth revolution the blade grabs the plastic. Rather than shaving a sliver off, it appears to tear deeper than the blade can reach.

I'm wondering if the plastic isn't expanding & becoming softer from the resulting heat.

[Pinewood Daddy]

I had decent luck with it last year. I don't remember it grabbing too much, and averaging .001 run-out. This year I used it on 4 wheels, taking the tiniest bite, loosening the bracket, putting on the next wheel, and repeating as necessary. And, just as you experienced, as the wheel was about completely round the blade dug in. The cuts must have been about .001 deep, but the blade dug in many thousandths, ruining the wheel. I stopped using the tool. I can't risk doing all that finger wrecking work and end up with scrap. I too moved to the drill press. I'm getting .001 to .004 run-out and my kids can do it (unlike the shaver).

[Stephen's Dad]

OK....I'm ready to eat my crow now.

I wasn't tightening the blade lock nut during the shaving step. The lock nut was just loose enough to permit it to move up & down when the thumbscrew was manipulated. This appears to have allowed a bit of blade chatter which exacerbated the gouging.

First I started over with a couple very good #4s. They had .003 or less in radial run-out before shaving. Low & behold, when I tightened the blade locknut before shaving, the gouge causing blade chatter was minimal. The 2 experimental #4s finished up with just a hair under .001 run-out.

Big sigh & a sense of exhilaration!

So back to the drawing board I went with the last 3 nearly perfect #2s we have. These were the nearly perfect #2s with just .001 - .002 radial run-out at the mold release mark. Very hard to find.

I took my time & shut the phone off during lunch. No interruptions & perfectly relaxed. They seemed to be shaving well with no gouges. Three passes were made being sure to loosen & tighten the two set screws after every step as directed. My fingers don't even hurt.

One exhibits .0007 run-out
One exhibits .0004 run-out
One exhibits ZERO detectable run-out

Those aren't typos. None of the 3 wheels exhibits a full .001. And the dial indicator isn't broken because I also checked the wheels we did this weekend & they're just as bad as they were before. I thought I was seeing things!

Take home points.

You can get below .001 if you're careful (with our particular XT).
Don't just read the directions....Follow them too.
Perform every step as directed...No short cuts.
Take very small bites....less than 1/8 of a turn is better than gouging.
Be cognizant of the smaller than ideal mandrel...a gage pin would be better.
You can still gouge as I did on the #4s if you try to bite too much.

Stephen is going to be psyched when I tell him. I know I am!

[Pinewood Daddy]

I wasn't tightening the blade lock nut during the shaving step. The lock nut was just loose enough to permit it to move up & down when the thumbscrew was manipulated. This appears to have allowed a bit of blade chatter which exacerbated the gouging.

Great obsevation!!! I didn't have any problem last year (and .001 run-out) last year because I got the XT upgrade this year!! I may try to cleanup some of our worst (.003 to .004 run-out) wheels.

I replaced the existing pin (.095 dia) with a .097 gage pin.

[Dan]

What exactly is "run-out"?

[Stan Pope]

What exactly is "run-out"?

A measure of error in symmetry. Computed by subtracting smallest radius of wheel from largest radius of wheel. If hub bore is irregular, then it gets more complicated.

Example: Tread is perfect circle, but bore is offset 0.001". Runout is 0.002". (This is what happens when a mandrel is used with a typical chuck in a drill press.)