Some of you have e-mailed me asking, “What do you mean, you made a wheel balancer out of a coffee table?”. I mean literally that. I welded up a static wheel balancer out of an IKEA coffee table I got tired of tripping over in the garage. A static wheel balancer is a really simple machine, and anybody with basic tools could build one for under 30 bucks. MotoGP teams trust them, so I think it’s perfectly fine for our applications. It’s just a stand that holds a pair of sealed bearings on either side that will hold a wheel axle or rod level and allow stiction free rotation of a rim/tire combination for balancing purposes. You lightly spin the wheel, the heavy spot sinks to the bottom, you mark the top of the tire with a grease pen, and take a guess at how much weight to stick on at that point. When the wheel settles at random and does not ‘sink’ to a heavy spot, it’s balanced with the proper amount of weight. It’s simple and easy to do.
If people really want me to post construction diagrams up I will, but honestly… I really don’t think that’s nessasary. Go to any skateboard shop, buy a sleeve of cheap skateboard wheel bearings for 10 bucks, and weld up a couple A frames and braces.
Start with one crappy coffee table with a busted glass top…
Some Skateboard Wheel Bearings…
And end up with this…
One of the most common demands has been tire changes and repair, becoming a major necessity in any repair shop.
This is so amazing! You have made a wheel balancer out of an old coffee table. With just some raw materials , you have made it.