Making steel wheels

[Ben Holko]

I have not been able to find a wheel that I am happy with for my M113, so I’m going to try making some steel ones.

 

The hub and rim will be laser cut, and then have a rubber tyre glued on. The tyre comes from a rubber PVC pipe joiner, about 8mm thick rubber which I can cut into tyres using a Stanley knife. It’s the perfect size being 100mm OD and 84mm ID.

 

Here’s the concept drawings, rim is 5mm thick, hub is 3mm thick. I will weld a shaft collar in to the centre to act as the bearing, which will be greased and run on a 10mm shoulder bolt.

 

So a finished wheel is a hub plate sandwiched between two rims, and the hub has those parts missing around the edge to provide a weld spot to hold all three pieces together.

 

The many holes around the edge are decorative, the ones in the middle also are and will have bolts for looks.

 

 

 

 

[Ben Holko]

Progress made on this! I had the parts cut, and have now assembled/welded about 10 wheels, only another 10 to go, and need to cut the tyres from the rubber pipe;

 

 

Laser cut parts from CAD, and a 10mm solid collar (set screw removed);

 

 

 

The 10mm collar and hole in the plate is a medium-force press fit, so I could be sure that it would be mounted centrally and level with the plate;

 

 

 

Cap screws for appearance;

 

 

 

 

Plate and two rings are aligned and clamped;

 

 

Then welded through the 4 access holes;

 

 

 

 

 

10mm shoulder bolts provide the axles;

 

 

 

 

The rear face gets tack welded at 6 locations with the collar;

 

 

Finished wheel complete with rubber tyre. The  tyre is slightly stretched over the wheel (about 3mm diameter stretch), and after the wheels are painted the tyre will be glued on to the metal right around, hopefully will be plenty strong enough;

 

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[Pete Curran]

That is some very fine work there.

Something for us to try to emulate

 

Pete

[Odyssey...@aol.com]

WOW! [Vader's voice] Most Impressive! [/ Vader's voice]

 

how much do you think it cost you per complete wheel?

 

Chris,
Odyssey Slipways

[Odyssey...@aol.com]

and how much do one of them completed wheels weigh?

 

Chris,
Odyssey Slipways

[Odyssey...@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/27/2010 5:11:59 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, mcrun...@bigpond.com writes:

That is some very fine work there.

Something for us to try to emulate

 

Pete

i think he's going to find them rusting pretty fast from everyone drooling over them :)

 

Chris,
Odyssey Slipways

[Clark Ward Jr]

for some reason about half of his pics didn't come through for me
(little red X vice images of glorious wheel assembly :( )

--
Clark in Georgia

[Ben Holko]

$3.85 per wheel for the laser cut steel, rim is 3mm thick, the “rings” are 5mm thick each

 

+ a 10mm collar

+ the cap screws

+ the rubber

 

Cost will depend on your local supply chain.

 

Ben

--

[Ben Holko]

One completed wheel, with tyre but without axle, is 334grams.

 

I will need 20, so my wheels will weigh 6.68kg, or 14.7lbs

 

Ben

 

 

From: rctank...@googlegroups.com [mailto:rctank...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Odyssey...@aol.com
Sent: Monday, 28 June 2010 12:29 AM
To: rctank...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [TANKS] RE: Making steel wheels

 

and how much do one of them completed wheels weigh?

 

Chris,
Odyssey Slipways

--

[Ben Holko]

Try this with attachments

-----Original Message-----
From: rctank...@googlegroups.com [mailto:rctank...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Clark Ward Jr
Sent: Monday, 28 June 2010 8:48 PM
To: rctank...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [TANKS] RE: Making steel wheels

--
Clark in Georgia

--

[Gregory Kampjes]

Wow, impressive! Are you going to etch paint them once you are finished to stop them rusting?
As an interesting observation, most vices seem to be blue, I wonder why.

-Gregory

[Cobra9431]

Mine is red, the whole sweat and blood thing.

[Ben Holko]

They will get a spray coat of etch metal primer, than enamel spray.

 

Ben

[Odyssey...@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/3/2010 7:01:50 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, sockl...@gmail.com writes:

Wow, impressive! Are you going to etch paint them once you are finished to stop them rusting?
As an interesting observation, most vices seem to be blue, I wonder why.

-Gregory

why etch paint them if they are steel? why not just a sanding (to remove any rust spots - if any), primer and paint? etch painting sounds more like for aluminum or glass

 

Chris,
Odyssey Slipways

[Odyssey...@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/3/2010 10:12:01 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, b...@holnet.net writes:

They will get a spray coat of etch metal primer, than enamel spray.

 

Ben

okay, i give, what's the difference between primer and etch primer?

 

Chris,
Odyssey Slipways

[Ben Holko]

Etch primer will provide better adhesion to metals than normal primer – typically for nonferrous metals, but will work to a degree on steel etc also.

 

Ben

 

From: rctank...@googlegroups.com [mailto:rctank...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Odyssey...@aol.com
Sent: Monday, 5 July 2010 1:09 AM
To: rctank...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [TANKS] RE: Making steel wheels

 

In a message dated 7/3/2010 10:12:01 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, b...@holnet.net writes:

 

Chris,
Odyssey Slipways

--

[Odyssey...@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/4/2010 6:35:32 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, b...@holnet.net writes:

Etch primer will provide better adhesion to metals than normal primer – typically for nonferrous metals, but will work to a degree on steel etc also.

 

Ben

gotcha, you're just looking for a better bite

 

Chris,
Odyssey Slipways