Cadflat Tube Bender Project.

[Oddbod]

Hello to everybody.
I've been off the grid for a while now.
The usually issues with family business and my health.

Anyway Im a bit ahead of myself but figured that Id just post a comment for now and add pictures later.
My tube bender while very useful does not get the use I anticipated, however I have with a few modifiactions made it into a multi use machine that now allows me to fit and strip tries from rims.
I'm not sure if I posted somewhere previously that I fabricate my own version of a wind down bead breaker which works fine and only cost me a couple hours and a handful of scrap metal.
I previously tried using me log splitter to press the tires and break the bead, but while the principle was good it was less than satisfactory.
For my tube bender, I just purchased a couple of cheap tire irons and a duckbil bead guide that runs on my tube bender whicle I lock the rim to the base to prevent the rim rotating.
My original motivation was just to strip old tires from rims that I wanted to store for future projects.
Getting old tires removed at a service outlet is kind of expensive for throw away purposes some places are charging $25 a tire.
So far I've stripped around 12 tires and refitted about 6 new tires to rims.
Its still somewhat of an energetic process but when I do the maths on 18 tires at $25 each equalling $450 I feel that its been worth the effort and revalues my tube benders diversity.

[Oddbod]

Whoops, I see that I've posted a couple of early pictures of my tire remover in my Off the Grid Posts.
I must be getting old and not spending enough time here.
Call my current post a up date of how happy I am with the cost saving and convinience of having this item at home.

I also had a pair of Ford rims that I wanted to use as front wheels on a hot rod project that has been sitting around too long.
Initially I planned to use my rim narrowing machine but certain design issues with new rims sometimes prevent it from being done easily, I found some free Honda rims in our version of Craigslist, I cut the welds and pressed the centres out which provided me with a narrower rim band section.
I then did the same to my Ford rims and removed the centres and pressed them into the Honda rim bands.
I centred them up and MIG welded the new centres into place.

Ive since had a couple of sets of circular metal rings laser cut out which I intend to weld into these new centres which will then allow me to use the old 1935 Ford hubcaps.