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Congrats :) Remember, building is fun right?

Great work Rob. I would like to turn my own wheels one day

IF I can do it 3 more times, I'll never turn anything this tiny again. I suddenly realized during the boring process that it would have been much easier to turn HO wheels. Seriously, a lot easier. I may turn some 1/32 wheels in the future now I know I can do it, but believe me, a 10 inch diameter wheel in 1/32 is too small for my eyes, hands and tools. Oddly, an HO wheel is so much more simplified, I think they would be simple.

Just a little bit of madness there.

I totally feel your pain. these are the wheels that I turn for my 1/43 Austin Minis they have a .240 o.d.
you did a fine job, they look great

A quarter inch diameter? Do you turn them on a drill? Snug up to a drum sander that is running the opposite direction? Man, I thought I was beating myself up. Wow.

Well, that proves it: I'm WAY too lazy to do this kind of work...nice stuff both of you.

Nice work guys. No wonder most places CNC those wheels. They are too tedious for hand work. I got my smallish wheels from Ranch Designs. :)

There are machinable resins. Have you considered making a mold with the low shrinkage silicones (.001"/inchor less) and just casting a bunch. Ream the hole on each when done. If you screw up you have lost a few cents worth of resin. Mold Max® XLS® II

Wow, that's cool, Rob. Great work! Lots of respect for the guys who build from scratch, turning lumps of metal into something useful.

I have a couple of benchtop lathes that I turn wheels and such on. great investment. my grandfather left me one of them and I am a machinist by trade. you should look into one.

Mine's a Cummins 7X14. I have been looking for years for decent instruction. Ironically, one of my closest friends here is a miniature machinist (founding work), but he never has time to teach me what I need to know. So, I learn from Youtube and some books I ordered. Lately, I found a deal on the best textbook out there ($126, discounted to $24 and older edition). That should really put me ahead of where I am.

I got the lathe for making small finials to go on cabinetry I build, but I haven't done a lot of that after all. I use it for stripping foam tires off wheels, turning aluminum wheels to a narrower size, making inserts out of plastic wheels, etc.

Ah very good. that should serve you well. once you have the hang of it, it will come easy to you. I went to school for it many moons ago but you really have to teach yourself. so far those Austin mini wheels have been the hardest to do. I scrapped 3 before I got a good set. I turned these tonight for a 39 Mercedes grand prix car. I got 3 done and my endmill chipped so I will have to get another tomorrow. the depth for the insert is only .060 with the backing at only .050 so keeping it from blowing out was tough. the Austin wheel is there for size comp.

W154? Those cars have a lot of fans around HRW, me and Matt B in particular.