Garden Railway Forum

If I want to reduce the tread diamemter of a metal wheel is this only possible with a lathe?

Doesn't help but can't see without a lathe how you would get four consistent wheels. I am not a metalsmith though. What diameter are you aiming at? Is it something not available commercially?

tom_tom_go wrote: Sat Aug 25, 2018 10:59 am If I want to reduce the tread diamemter of a metal wheel is this only possible with a lathe?

A lathe is pretty much the only game in town, if you want a decent set of wheels at the end of the process.

You might be able to rig up an electric drill in a vice and slowly reduce the wheel diameter with a file, but the chances of it being both circular and concentric would be slim. The chance of getting them all the same diameter also wouldn't be good.

Even with a lathe, it also depends on how much you want to remove, as the wheel rims may not be thick enough.

What are you trying to do?

Regards,
Graeme

The wheels I want are Accucraft W&L 30mm diameter 32mm gauge but these are out of stock online.

I have the Accucraft IoM 32mm wheels they supply but the tread is wider on these than other Accucraft wheels I use (see picture) which prevents the IoM 4 wheel coaches going round Peco ST605 curves:


When I use the W&L wheels the coaches can just about negotiate these tight radius curves.

tom_tom_go wrote: Sat Aug 25, 2018 2:17 pm I have the Accucraft IoM 32mm wheels they supply but the tread is wider on these than other Accucraft wheels I use (see picture) which prevents the IoM 4 wheel coaches going round Peco ST605 curves:

OK. I see now what is going on. The IOM wheels are made to the coarser G1 profile as they are intended for 45mm gauge. The wheel treads being wider doesn't make much difference to this particular problem, it's the flange profile that is the issue. Basically you need to reduce the flanges in both thickness and height, from a G1 profile to the finer O scale profile.

It might be possible to do it with a file and the old drill in the vice trick, but I've only done it in the distant past and in HO scale. If you try it, make sure the file has a proper handle, as having a file tang driven into your hand if something goes wrong is not a pleasant thing.

It would still be easier to reprofile the flanges with a lathe. Are there any model engineering clubs in your area with a workshop and machine tools, or is there anyone in the group you run trains with that can help?

I've noticed before that Roundhouse do the same thing on some of their wheels and 32mm gauge wheelsets have a finer profile than 45mm gauge wheelsets. So it would be worth looking into what wheel profiles other wheelset suppliers use for their 32mm gauge wheelsets.

Regards,
Graeme

Thanks for explaining this Graeme.

Someone in my local 16mm NGM group with a lathe is going to have a go at adjusting the wheels so I will report back if it's worked out.

Although the wheels have been adjusted the coaches still can't negotiate the radius.

He has done a great job on the wheels though so they will get used on another build one day.

Not sure why they advertised these as being able to negotiate 2ft 6" curves because they can't with the wheels supplied!

Tom,
Have you tried temporarily swapping the problematical wheelsets with those from a vehicle that does what you want, to see what happens? It may be a problem with the length of the wheelbase rather than the wheels themselves. A longer wheelbase effectively results in gauge narrowing because the two axles are further apart round the curve ( sorry if I'm teaching granny...)

I understand what you are saying regarding wheelbase, however, as I said previously the coaches can go round these curves with the 30mm W&L Accucraft wheels.

Ahh, Ok sorry I misunderstood that bit, thought you mean't that W&L vehicles went round.