Thread: Fixing Wheels on TOYS

G'day Star,

Like yourself I use 1/4 dowels but with a 5mm hole in the wheel - just a dry fit, no glue. I've got toys my Grandad made me over 30 years ago and the wheels have never fallen off, nor will they come off.

Sometimes I've put wheels on out of square to the axel - you won't ever pull them off, I've had to break the whole axel/wheel assembly to fix the stuff-up fairy visit.

I make little bears with movable arms and legs.... don't use any glue on those dowel joints either and so far none came off, but they CAN be jiggled off.... the dowel then taken off with pliers..... so for somethign like a vehicle maybe a drop of glue would be better? Old woodworker once told me a little bit of glue won't hurt....

Oh..... if you use wood glue and that "fairy" visits.... as long as the item is small you're in luck... pop it in the microwave for 2 seconds and it'll come apart again!

Juvy

I know this may seem a little silly, but it was quite the obvious epiphany to me at the time, on the weekend in fact;

For a while i've been doing a bit of thinking about making toys with wheels, yet was getting a bit too deep into the thinking of how to make the wheels... was thinking about just using a circular drill press thing (not down with the lingo) and trying to maximize the number of wheels I could get from a peice of timber, and how to put some tread patterning on the outside, then the obvious dawned on me:

Sticks are round, and can be quite straight, have a nice natural tread pattern on them (bark) and are readily available in lots of different sizes. Just find a suitable stick, and slice it up, drill out the centre to avoid much warpage (and the centre is convieniently marked out naturally heh). Voila.

Ok ok so its not answering your question at all, but it was quite the potent thought to me - too much overthinking about how to do something that really is quite simple if you take a step back and think about it.

The original car from Bedrock. Fred and Barney would be pleased. Gives me an idea for my next project.

A Fredmobile.

Fred and Barney limos have been on my "to do" list for a while. Just hope I get the time to do one.

Chipman

Originally Posted by Tarant

Sticks are round, and can be quite straight, have a nice natural tread pattern on them (bark) and are readily available in lots of different sizes. Just find a suitable stick, and slice it up, drill out the centre to avoid much warpage (and the centre is convieniently marked out naturally heh). Voila.

I find your ideas intriguing, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Might have to save some of the dead banksia tree out the back for testing.

Come to think of it, there is a reason why you don't see wheels made this way so often... it has to do with strength.... being thin and cut across the grain, they are more fragile and tend to break off. The other thing is as they dry out, they tend to split in towards the centre... I seem to remember doing wheels like this as a kid when I first got into toy making.

I also used a small limb/tree trunk to make the "boiler" of a wooden toy train and eventually got a drying crack too even though it was painted. My brother in law eventually took it for his son and filled it with automotive body filler whch seemed to survive ok.

You may be able to find a timber species that does not shrink/split too badly and thick wheels would be required to get acceptable strength.

Regards
Chipman

Originally Posted by Chipman

Fred and Barney limos have been on my "to do" list for a while. Just hope I get the time to do one.

Chipman

Hi Chipman, one of these might do to get you around till the Fred and Barney limos arrives they are very economical, your feet go right through to the ground just the thing for this day and age
colbra

Hi Colbra,

Nice set of wheels!

Cheers,

Chipman

Originally Posted by Chipman

Come to think of it, there is a reason why you don't see wheels made this way so often... it has to do with strength.... being thin and cut across the grain, they are more fragile and tend to break off. The other thing is as they dry out, they tend to split in towards the centre... I seem to remember doing wheels like this as a kid when I first got into toy making.

You may be able to find a timber species that does not shrink/split too badly and thick wheels would be required to get acceptable strength.

Regards
Chipman

Ahh true, I had considered that briefly, although I haven't had the chance to play around with it much yet. I was under the impression that the radial splits can be minimalised if you take out most of the xylem - the bit that transports water. Hmmm I guess you could just use already dry timber - although I can't say ive sliced up any dry stuff to see how its splits are naturally. Gives me something to do tomorrow.
Maybe just a good ol epoxy bath is what the Dr. ordered.

I suspect that large dowel cut off in thiner slices may be more prone to breaking off too.

Chipman

Originally Posted by Tarant

Hmmm I guess you could just use already dry timber - although I can't say ive sliced up any dry stuff to see how its splits are naturally.

I was going to ask that - I have a smallish tree in my back yard which has been dead for a few years, and has branches about the right size for toy wheels.