Thread: Making heavy machinery wheels for Toys and Joys models

i use dropsaw, drill press, bandsaw, disc sander and router table (and lathe to make hubs) to make those sort of wheels ... other people use different tools but this works for me ... they are made in two halves and then glued together

there are some on flickr showing parts and completed wheels for the articulated tractor

https://www.flickr.com/photos/132842...h/24390401163/ ... sorry they're right down the bottom

regards david

Originally Posted by robbygard

i use dropsaw, drill press, bandsaw, disc sander and router table (and lathe to make hubs) to make those sort of wheels ... other people use different tools but this works for me ... they are made in two halves and then glued together

there are some on flickr showing parts and completed wheels for the articulated tractor

https://www.flickr.com/photos/132842...h/24390401163/ ... sorry they're right down the bottom

regards david

Any chance of seeing your method of cutting your treads?

Originally Posted by Treecycle

Any chance of seeing your method of cutting your treads?

i will take a couple of photos and put it in this thread tomorrow afternoon

regards david

it is always good to see and read how people make there wheels

G'Day Lili, Great to see you back on the toymaking section of the forum.
On wheels, it's been a hot topic both here plus a stack of blogs on the Lumberjocks; Dutchy and HTL are members of both forums and both have done some first class blogs [Work in Progress] with photos & notes.
Dallas [treecycle] has also shared a wheel making jig as has Alex [karapens]; so before you purchase a special video, do some searches of this forum in toymaking & model making plus lumberjocks.
Cheers, crowie

Originally Posted by Treecycle

Any chance of seeing your method of cutting your treads?

five photos to follow ... at this stage the blanks are all prepared accurately to the same size with a hole already drilled centrally (actually the hole is drilled while the blank is still square and the hole used to centre the blank on my bandsaw wheel cutting jig and sanding jig ... the hole is 1/64 oversize for whatever dowel or peg i am using)


i mark the divisions carefully onto a blank from the plan and then push a dowel/peg into it to mark the rest (much easier and more accurate than trying to do it all from the plan and easier and less cramping on/in your hand than just holding them together by hand) .... photo 4 and 5 (sorry the photos showed up in the reverse order to which i thought they would)

incidentally i always make a few spare blanks from pine to test things out or as in this case make a master

i cut a piece of pine about a foot long and put a wheel blank against it with one side and the bottom flush and then drill a hole through for a dowel/peg to hold the blank (picture three) ... in this case i use the exact size drill not 1/64 oversize

picture 2 shows it screwed to mitre gauge

picture 1 show is set with a blank ready to run over a router bit on the table

note how i have shaped the top of the jig to match the wheel ... the mark on the wheel blank can be set to come exactly to the corner on the top then and is easy to see ... you could make a mark instead but i like to pretend that this gives the jig a certain elegance

note also some marks on the bottom front of the wheel blank which are projected at the angle through from the mark at the back ... you only need to do that once (on a test piece is good) but you line up your wheel blank to hit the router bit BETWEEN two marks so that you are not erasing the bottom ones before they get to the top to use (you line it up by moving the jig across before you screw it onto the mitre gauge) ...

i have proven that you can make this mistake a couple of times, once by not thinking about it and once by projecting the lines though using a square rather than allowing for the angle you are setting

another thing to mention is that you need a good clamp to hold the blank to the jig otherwise the router bit will pull the blank around ... i use a lipwig clamp because it is quick to set, free and reuse .... other folks use a table saw for this and it may not be as important then

it is probably also worth noting that whilst i have used the angle suggested on the plan, the angle itself is probably not critical so much as having the angle the same in both directions

hope that helps

regards david

Hi David
Thanks for your reply. So, it's not something requiring highly specialized equipment.
We have all those pieces of equipment. So, in theory, we should be capable of making the wheels. By the way, your wheels are lovely. How did you deal with the business of getting your treads so even. In something like a tractor wheel, with two 45 degree lines creating a lovely "v" being accurate is critical to pleasing the eye. I assume you created some sort of jig allow you to rotate the wheel by stages to do the cut?
I suppose, I'm not too happy about spending $30 on a mystery video, when all I really need to know is how you set up for the cuts and what you used for the cuts. We have discussed the band saw and the router. A table saw would also be possible, but a big saw would have a hefty kerf to deal with that might make accuracy rather dubious.

Hi Crowie
We've been keeping a low profile. Actually, David hasn't made much in the last year or so. My fixation on the half track truck (which I think is incredibly cool) has finally led to some interest in a new project.
What I find hard about searching this forum is two fold - firstly what search term to use to keep the answers fairly relevant. Secondly, the archiving of old posts means that you cannot see the whole thread.
In the case of wheel making, I found many posts too old to still have the full text and certainly no pictures. Lots of questions need a variety of possible answers to satisfy the enquiry. With this subject, there appear to be common processes (I even worked out that big wheels had to be made in halves to allow for the angles of cuts to look right), but then there are others who have come up with different jigs and ideas. One talked about templates, but I couldn't work out from what was left of the post, just what his templates were and how they could be modified in seconds. That kind of thing can be very frustrating. Even more frustration, for the contributor, is being asked the same thing over and over again.
I suspect we could use a permanent library of full threads for questions like this. Even better, would be to have agreed terms that we all use to contribute our ideas. It would make searching accurate and far less filled with irrelevant usage. Jigs, for example, bring up tons of sharpening ideas. Yet, I put in wheel jigs and that still brought up all the sharpening jigs.
Lili

Hi David
The process of working out how to make a suitable process for these wheels is coming together. Your example helped to clarify how you mark for your cuts. David is planning to use a Dremel with router bits, so he will be coming at the slot making from above. At the moment, he is trying to create a jig to hold his wheel in such a way that he can turn it in stages to make the next cut.
Your pictures helped to clarify one key aspect.
Thank you so much
Lili

Hi again Crowie
I've spent the afternoon surfing Lumberjocks and found some good stuff. I wasn't aware of that site and will be looking at it again whenever I am researching. Thanks for the tip.
Cheers
Lili

Originally Posted by LiliB

Hi David
The process of working out how to make a suitable process for these wheels is coming together. Your example helped to clarify how you mark for your cuts. David is planning to use a Dremel with router bits, so he will be coming at the slot making from above. At the moment, he is trying to create a jig to hold his wheel in such a way that he can turn it in stages to make the next cut.
Your pictures helped to clarify one key aspect.
Thank you so much
Lili

i really JUST use the marks and line them up with something ... so turning the wheel blank manually....the plan shows the correct spacing and they come together from that

i made a jig for a laminate trimmer to do lug tyres (so router on top) but it was difficult to hold the wheel and see what i was doing ... one to refine later ... good luck with it all

regards david

Originally Posted by LiliB

Hi Crowie
We've been keeping a low profile. Actually, David hasn't made much in the last year or so. My fixation on the half track truck (which I think is incredibly cool) has finally led to some interest in a new project.

i have been doing the halftrack but keep on getting distracted....i did the lattice boom crane which was also tracked and have a few jigs associated with that...the halftrack tracks are much smaller and,i think,more difficult as a result

i also modified track design a little to make them easier to make (mainly in that i drill from each side rather than all the way through ... that way i don't have to drill holes quite so deep which with 3/32 and 1/8 inch drills is a pain)

i used scrollsaw and drill press mainly with them ... being able to accurately drill the holes is, i think the most critical part of the tracks

regards david

There is this thread too

Wheel jig

And these ones

How I make my Tractor wheels

While the toymaking has been quiet Monster Trucks have multiplied in my shed....

1948 Ford Monster Truck with a Peterbilt twist.....

how i make toy wheels

Wheel Making