A wheel-manufacturing technology for rural workshops
Practical Action
the equipment needed to produce good quality wheels and bearings, while setting up centralized
production of conventional wheels involves a level of technology and capital investment which is
not viable in many developing countries. Imported versions, even those which are taken from
scrap vehicles, are generally in short supply and very costly. Because of these problems it is not
unusual for the cost of the wheel/axle system to comprise 50 to 70 per cent of the total vehicle
cost.
IT Transport is an associate of the Intermediate Technology Development Group, managing the
transport programme on its behalf. IT Transport's experience, gained from transport studies in
the rural areas of over 30 developing countries, has clearly indicated the need to develop
localized manufacture of wheels and this has been one of the main aims of the transport
programme.
The wheel development programme initially looked at methods of constructing alternative wheel
designs, to assess which would be most suited to the skills, tools and materials generally
available in small rural workshops. The two main conclusions drawn were: the skills and
materials required to produce wooden wheels of consistent quality were available in some Asian
countries but in few African countries. Also these wheels are rather limited in their range of
application and in their compatibility with different types of tyres. Steel wheels made from
commonly available steel sections such as flat and round bars, and tube and angle sections
could be produced quite readily in most rural workshops, provided that the means of producing
good quality rims was made available.
Also these wheels could be produced in a range of sizes to suit various types of tyres.
It was decided, therefore, to
concentrate on the development
of these forms of wheels and on
the methods of producing them.
Two basic designs have been
developed:
A split-rim wheel which
can accept most car or
truck tyres. This wheel is
mainly for use on
animal-drawn carts, but
could also be used on
tractor-drawn trailers.
Rigid-spoked wheels
which can accept
bicycle or moped tyres,
rubber tyres and steel
tyres. These wheels can
be used on a range of
vehicles including
wheelbarrows,
handcarts, bicycle
trailers, rickshaws, and
animal-drawn carts.
The manufacture of these wheels
Figure 1: The wheel-rim bending device.
1. Two lower fixed rollers; 2. Lever arm; 3. Forming tool;
4. Preset stop; 5. Adjusting screw.
is based on a simple, hand-
operated rim-bending device which is able to bend a variety of steel sections into good quality
wheel rims to suit a range of different tyre types. The device is simple to construct and can
readily be made in workshops equipped with welding equipment. Operation of the device is quite
straightforward and experience in a number of developing countries has shown that it can be
successfully introduced and used in rural workshops to produce a range of good quality wheels.
The versatility of the rim-bender is demonstrated by the details given in Table 1 which lists the
maximum sizes of different steel sections which can be bent in the device.
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