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Sturmey Archer 3-speed 36H hub, drilled for heavy duty 12 gauge (2.6mm) spokes
The only steel Sturmey hubs I have seen have been drilled up in a back shop, not factory drilled. I believe your only factory drilled options are later model aluminum hubs.
Using one of these is problematic though since they are wider...and that requires spreading/cold setting of the frame and realignment of the drop outs....plus that hub needs special controls that are different than vintage stuff and they arent included with it.
I would think that heavy duty spokes would make 36h adequate, 40h being overkill.
If I drill a standard 36h hub, I worry that it might not be safe?
I think the rim might have come to me with something like a Centrix one speed that I disassebled
maybe 20 years ago.
To make a pair, I have a 32h heavy duty front wheel that I think is factory original.
Rims are 28" Westwood rod brake, by the way
Think about this...when you lace the wheel, are you using radial lacing that will pull completely perpendicular to the hub flange where the thin metal is? Or will you be lacing tangent to the hub using 3X? With spokes laced tangent to the hub, how will that tension be pulling on the thin part of the metal??
I bought a wheel that already had the drum hub drilled and laced up with a tandem rim. They didn't chamfer the edges of the spoke holes after drilling them up for larger spokes and a handful of spokes broke at the j-bend. Those broke because of the sharp edges causing stress risers. You have to carefully use a ball end burr in a dremel or similar tool to remove the sharp edges if that is the route you want to take.
Also, are you OK with flaking chrome after the drilling? ...that's what ends up happening. And is this going to be a bike that gets beat around by someone working in a factory? Or standard commuting?
I'm not sure what bike you are working on, but the vintage wheel sets I have found with 32h front hubs have had 40h rear hubs. I would want to confirm the diameter of the front spokes and what wheels were original to your model of bike.
always tangent, so I see your point about pulling against roughly the same amount of metal as pre hole enlargement.
a chamfer or small amount of Countersink on one side (alternating) also makes sense
don't care about flaking once/if I decide to alter/sacrifice a hub by drilling
prefer to find an old beat up factory drilled hub if such a thing exists
all my machines are personal/aesthetic and are rotated and only ridden occasionally
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