3D Printed Wheels. A First Attempt

Hello.

Today has been an interesting one. After a 'pep talk' from a fellow member of the 2mmSA Oxford Group with regards to my 3D printed wheel centers I then realised that I had enough bits to make a set of replacement wheels for a Graham Farish Pannier Tank. Below is what I managed to achieve in about 5 hours today...

Here are the ingredients for the conversion.

1. A Graham Farish Pannier Tank Engine
2. Some 1.5mm steel rod
3. A couple of etched coupling rods from the 2mmSA (3-205)
4. 6 x 3D printed spoked wheel centers.
5. 6 x 9mm Steel wheel rims (courtesy of the 2mmSA)
6. 6 x 2mmSA Crankpins (I used 3-106 but 3-107 would be better (I didnt have any!))

Step 1 was to press the wheel centers onto the rims. This was done simply by using (a very rusty!) machine vice and the centers were pressed into the rims until the back of the wheel was flush.

Step 2 was to cut 3 lengths of the steel rod for the wheel axles. I cut them with at least 10mm extra than I needed (for holding). I then used my rotary tool to clean up the ends and add a small chamfer to ease pressing on the wheels.

Step 3 was to press the axle onto the wheel. I used my drill press to make sure everything stayed square. I pushed the axle about 5mm through the wheel. I ended up with this...

Step 4 was to press the second wheels onto the axle. I did this by first holding the 5mm length of axle in the check and then pressing the second wheel on until it was on the axle. I then used a small length of tube which was a sliding fit over the axle and using a back-to-back gauge, pressed the wheels together until the gauge was a good fit between the wheels.

Im going to mention the gear now too. I 'salvaged' it from the original wheels as I didnt have an alternative but then found out that it had a bore of 1.6mm! Im not going into too much detail about how I got it to fit the axle (it was a bit of a cobble!) but it was pressed onto the axle of one wheelset before the second wheel was fitted in much the same way.

I then ended up with wheels like in the photo above. The pair nearest the ruler shows the next steps 5 where I cut the axle flush with the wheel (well cut it not quite flush then filed it down), then step 6 where I fitted the crankpins but pushing them through from the back with a bit of superglue to hold them in place.

Step 7 was them to paint them buy first giving the wheels a good clean in some IPA and then once dried I painted them with some Humbrol matt black.

Fitted into the chassis they look like this...

And below is how far I have got today. I still have a bit of work to do soldering the coupling rods in place but you get a good idea of the finished thing...

Julia :)