Ever wonder how rims are made?

[nonkem]

I found this pretty interesting.

http://www.jrponline.com/downloads/mm/rays.wmv

[Psycho Dad]

Very interesting. I've heard stories from old machinists talking of making mag wheels. Apparently magnesium is something else when it comes to machining.

[Scorps]

I seen rims being made on TLC's Overhaulin'

[JStrider]

thats pretty neeto... its amazing how automated everything is these days

[Cynthetiq]

my father used to make them when I was a kid.

I recall going to the shop and going to the nickel plating machines collecting the globs of nickel and taking them to a metal scrap yard for some pocket money. I don't recall ever seeing the machines moving and people operating them, but I did get to see the whole assembly line.

[amonkie]

I saw them the same way Pain Train did - They had a show for Choppers where they were making someone's custom rims for their bike, and got to see the whole thing from start to finish. Prett neat stuff.

[BadNick]

That was quite interesting, thanks, I never saw that vid.

The "mag" wheels in this vid were all made from aluminum, no magnesium that I saw or heard of in that vid. There are still a couple of companies that make actual magnesium wheels for cars, mostly for minimum weight like for hardcore racing. I looked into forged magnesium wheels a while back for auto racing purposes and they cost almost $2000 each wheel. Real mag wheels are somewhat more common on high performance motorcycles.

As far as I know, Rays wheels are well above average quality and strength, especially their forged wheels shown in the first part of that vid; later they also covered their cast wheels. When I was in Ontario Canada a few years ago, near Kitchner, I visited a wheel manufacturing facility that made mostly OEM car and truck wheels and their methods didn't impress me nearly as much as that, except for the huge number of wheels they made. Being a car nut, I've also seen in person shops that make custom billet wheels like some of you above mentioned they saw on the TV shows; I also saw some those TV shows, but I don't recall any of them using specialized forgings (or even castings) like shown on the Rays vid. The car and bike shows I've seen all made billet wheels from a generic blank of forged metal typically cut from a larger forged bar or rod and then machine it to their design, which is not nearly as good/strong as a custom forging with the "metal flow lines" and grain structure advantages described in the Rays vid.

[roadkill]

Never seen rims being forged before, that was neat to watch. Did any one else notice the red robot in the casting part had a face on it?

[Scorps]

Originally Posted by amonkie

I saw them the same way Pain Train did - They had a show for Choppers where they were making someone's custom rims for their bike, and got to see the whole thing from start to finish. Prett neat stuff.

Gotta love cable

[IanSturgill]

Most places that really make wheels either cast the aluminum or press the steel. We have a pest control business, and i used to walk around in a wheel factory all the time. The made custom wheels as well as the wheels for the KY Toyota Factory. Smelting aluminum is an awesome sight.

[mule12]

Very cool video, kind of like that video that shows a BMW being made. Something is very cool about factories' inner workings..

[Arachnid]

hrmm nice find

thanks for that one


Cheers

[ziadel]

Originally Posted by BadNick

Real mag wheels are somewhat more common on high performance motorcycles.

While thats true, the hardcore motorcycle racers are now using carbon fiber rims, because magnesium is too heavy

[ziadel]

Originally Posted by IanSturgill

Smelting aluminum is an awesome sight.

um, I dont think they were smelting aluminum...