Posted by SK (202.27.176.157) on July 10, 2003 at 06:00:41:
This update is posted on behalf of SK, with his blessing, to update forum readers on the progress towards his, aka Besslers, wheel as previously posted.
As you may remember, SK was building his third actual “physical” wheel (each one an evolution of the previous but retaining the same design concept) when his gut feeling & experience told him that his wheel designs were to exacting & tolerance critical. It was becoming almost impossible to manually calculate individual component strengths & loadings etc as they were interdependent & circular in nature. Trial & error was proving frustrating & inefficient for him.
He decided that he needed other skills to properly analyse his design & expected performance parameters, & that a simulation package such as WM2D would be a good place to start. He could use WM2D to either prove the concept as it was, or to redesign the components into a simpler form to be both more workable & practicable to build & adjust.
SK contacted Rainer who provided him with technical support with regards to learning WM2D & ongoing simulations. This enabled SK to make rapid progress with the demo program & explore new practical design detail & options. He proved a very quick & capable student.
SK wishes to tell forum members & fellow JB wheel builders that he is now working on a new improved evolution of his original wheel design. It is a work in progress & he thanks them for their patience.
Best Wishes
SK
(as written by Fletcher)