I’ve long been fascinated with water wheels. We designed and built a small wooden one in a very early project about forty years ago and another 12’ steel version about ten years ago. But I’ve dreamed of building a larger version of a Pelton wheel since then. We’ve designed and proposed a number of these through the years but other more pressing projects took its place each time…. until recently. We now have an eighteen-foot-six-foot diameter wheel under contract. It will be all steel, except for the (sculpted) stone base. The wheel will be fabricated in two halves, plus the center spool and the base as three sections for economical shipping on a step trailer. We will fully assemble it in our yard before shipping to ensure it is perfectly balanced. The steel is on order and the cutting files are ready for the plasma table. Stay tuned for when the sparks begin to fly…