$12 English Wheel, for the Bananas

[Globestream]

I was not happy with the looks of my Banana wraps on the front of mt 64 Globetrotter. I had taken them off once before and pounded out the large dents with a hammer. They of course looked better, but stiil had many many rock dings(dents). They looked similar to golf balls.




So I thought, maybe an english wheel would help massage the dents out of the compound curves. I did not want to buy an english wheel for two Bananas. So what could I roll the dents out with? Something heavy and round....




Shot Put, 12 pound Shot Put, $1 per pound at a shipping salvage store. I laid out a thin cloth on the garage floor and started rolling. The weight of the ball isn't quite enough to roll all the dings out, but with a little extra pressure the bananas started to smooth out.
This pic is after alternating rolling and sanding two times.


And after final sanding with 800 grit, and one pass with a sewn cotton wheel and tripoli...




There is still some small road rash but the dents are gone. I think I can live with these bananas.

[AWCHIEF]

Amazing results.

[reinergirl]

Whoa, nice work! And great thinking outside the box!

Just curious, where'd your trailer go to get that many dings? Alaska?

[Lumatic]

Neccessity is the mother

[Eric H]

Awesome! Do you have a link of where you bought it?

[Splitrock]

Nice job!

[Becky B.]

What a great solution to such a common problem!

[Globestream]

Thanks all for the compliments.

reinergirl: All those dents came from the previous two owners (I am the third). The first owner was a cattle rancher in southern Idaho, he would drag this trailer out on the plain/desert, with the herd in the summer (so I was told). The second owner told me that his favorite camping spot, that he visited often, was miles and miles down dirt roads, also in Idaho.

Eric H: I bought the Shot Put at a place called NPS in Salt Lake City.
NPS Store
They sell salvaged shipments. If UPS or fedex pays out a claim for damaged goods, they take those damaged shipments and sell them to places like NPS. Then NPS separates the shipment and sells the parts or products that may not have been destroyed. It's pretty hard to destroy a 12# Shot Put.

[danlehosky]

Great idea. My skins are good but I have a couple of shot puts here my son left from his track days. Hummm. I wonder if I could make a bracket, drill some holes through them, run some rod through the holes to the brackets.... and Whalaa. A homemade wheel. Just thinking out loud here. Probably not doable. I might try. I'll make a drawing anyway. Maybe next winter. Yeah.

[REDSLED88]

Seriously, best looking banana wrap re-do I've seen.
Wow, $12, 12#, and another 12K miles...
Great job

TIMK

[wmarsha]

just start a hole with a twist drill on opposite sides (180 degrees apart) in the shot put, then form a U shaped handle the appropriate size to clear the SP, then chuck a short piece of threaded rod in a drill press so you can file one end down to a semi-point. Drill/tap your U shaped device (take 1/4 flat stock steel, bend in a vise to make the right sized U-then weld it to a piece of black pipe) place the threaded rods (you'll need to make two) into the tapped holes and the threaded rod(s) will make an adjustable "axle" (use standard nuts on the outside to lock the rods in place) for the shot put ball. whew! you now have a modified Kip aluminum roller that will have a fair amount of mass such that it will (can be used to) roll out dents in just about anything as well as the banana wraps. Sell 'em for what ya have in them here on the Forum (I figger about $80!) take 'em to the next vintage restore/rebuild rally.