I looked at a pair of Trexler wheels at $12 per pair that are not quite the right size or shape of what I want. I purchased a pair of foam wheels from the LHS that are still not the right size or type I want. Obviously I need something very light.

I much prefer to have some material(s) at hand to make what I want, when I want it, how I want it, so I am wondering about finding some black foam rubber and turning my own.

I'm looking for a relatively dense, but not too dense, black foam rubber sheet abount 1/2" and/or 3/4" thick.

Anyway, I want to give it a swing. Any ideas on how to turn this stuff would be appreciated. I plan to try to turn it as it is - or - soak it with water, freeze it, and then turn it.

Anybody know where I can get some of this and not have to buy a car load and/or pay and arm and a leg?

Planeman

I bought some neoprene foam sheet at a hardware store "OSH" in California a few years ago. They had a lot of 'industrial' class hardware in addition to the usual stuff. Sorry but I can't tell you where else to get it.

To make the wheels from this you can rough it to shape by cutting a do-nut of it with your scroll saw. For the inside circle cut don't cut right through the edge, rather put a small hole in the center waste area and thread your scroll saw blade through it. A hand held coping saw will work too, just be sure to cut a good circle at 90deg to the sheet foam. Don't try to hotwire the foam, it burns and the smoke is noxious.

You actually shape it by sanding. I usually glue the do-nut blank to the hub with CA. Then I put a machine screw through the hub and tighten it with a nut to serve as an arbor. This gets chucked into a drill or dremel. You then take coarse sandpaper and with the wheel spinning just sand in the desired contour. It goes quite fast. Finish it with a finer grade sandpaper.

Gerald...

I've been looking at the fantastic job you've been doing on the Thomas Morse Scout over in the "rigging" thread. You're a man after my own heart. Stick 'n tissue scale stuff. Don't 'cha love it!

Sandpaper! I believe you are right. A rough sandpaper should work. Now, just where can I get something to work on.

Planeman

planeman,
Had you considered the type of neoprene chord that Kurt Bengtson supplies with his wheel kits. He supplies 8mm, but I know it is available in other sizes. No sanding involved, cut it to length, CA the ends together and fit the tyre to your hub. I know it works well since I've been using it for my WW1 style wheels.

Pete

Pete...

Thanks for the reply. I'm not familiar with the cord but I will look into it.

I've been building scale rubber for a long time but i'm not familiar with his kits either. I went to his web site not long ago to download some plans, however I didn't look over his kits as I scratch build almost exclusively. Let me see if I can dig up that site. I think I saved it under "plans".

Planeman

Hey Planeman.I know just the foam you're looking for.I can get all the pieces of it I want,usually at no cost,at a place right across the parking lot from work. Gerald,if you ever need anymore you can get it at Raleigh Durham Rubber and Gasket.Planeman,If you can't find any send me an e-mail,I'll see if I can get you some.

You might try an industrial insulating firm. We hve it on piping where I work. It ranges from 1/2" to about 1" thick. You might try a hdw. store that sells knee pads for gardeners. One more place might be a LHS that sells on road R/C car tires. I believe that Du-Bro foam wheels come apart as well as Dave Brown.
One more thought. JR/Horizon sells a red knee pad. RED wheels!!

Good Luck,
Frank

Thanks DBlum!

If you don't mind I'll take you up on that if other sources to purchase don't work out. I know it would be a good bit of trouble to get it, pack it and ship it so I would want to make it worth your while.

The thought about RC cars is interesting. I'm going to look into that. I expect I'll still run into a size / shape problem, however it's worth a try.

Isn't this E-zone BBS and all of its fine brothers something great!

Planeman

Red Baron 47 sent me the following link/supplier:

http://w3.trib.com/~kmorris/Foamproducts.htm

Scroll down to "Rainy's Float Foam.
Availible in 1/4", 3/16", 1/8" dia in Black White Yellow and Orange.

He used this stuff for the tyres on his semi scale Bleriot XI

-E

Planeman,
PM me your address and I'll send you a piece of 1/2" black foam to play with. I found a piece of scrap insulation at work.

Frank
fgroza@msn.com

Hey planeman,don't worry about what thickness you find.when you have your round tire blank chucked up in your dremel tool,you can slice it to whatever thickness you want with an x-acto knife.Make any size you want.It's not a big deal to ship it,foam is across the parking lot,post office is around the corner.

Thanks everybody!

Turning this stuff ought to prove interesting. I have a Unimat I'll use. Finding just the right tool and technique (sandpaper, blade, Dremel tool with rough tool run at high speed against the rubber, ???) will be a challenge.

If I have any revalations I will post them.

Planeman

Planeman,
Got your message. Try chucking your wheel/rubber in the lathe and grind it with your Dremel and a STONE tool. It will make a mess but I use to do this to car wheels to true them.

Frank

I want to thank everybody who gave me advice on how to make my own foam rubber wheels. I especially want to thank those who sent me some pieces of black rubber foam! After I received the black foam I realized I had seen this before. It is often used to pad-out kayaks to get a good fit to the paddler. If I need any more I’ll ask the kayakers where they get theirs.

I have just finished my first set of foam wheels and it worked out great. I made two 1 ¾” dia. wheels with balsa hubs and a piece of aluminum tubing for the axle bearings. One wheels weighs only 2 grams! In my opinion these are better than the inflatable Trexler wheels as they don’t go flat and they weigh about the same.

All I did was rough out a round shape using a sharp knife, drilled the center, and turned it on my Unimat lathe using some 280 grit sandpaper. It didn’t take very long. The only negative is it makes a little bit of a mess, however I put the end of the vacuum cleaner hose near where I was turning and this took care of it.

I didn’t try it on a scale plane for my first go at it. The plane in the photos is a Veco “Dakota” biplane 1/2 A gas free-flight once kitted in the 1950’s. I have converted it into electric RC.

I now have an “unlimited” supply of black foam wheels for about whatever I build.

Thanks again,

Planeman

It helps if you freeze the foam before you turn it.