Tutorial: Foam rubber wheels - Make your own

My recipy for gluing foam rubber donuts to wheel rims

Foam rubber donuts comes in many sizes but choose ones that has the same or slightly bigger inner diameter than the outside diameter of your rims.Tyres are also available in different hardness and brands. 

I mostly use Sigma Black Magic or JP as they work OK on most surfaces.

Front tyres are usually harder than the rears and can also be glued to the rims using superglue and another technique and are often coated afterwards with superglue or clear laquer to give them less roll resistance. But that's another story.

Make sure the rims are clean and roughen up the surface with a file if they are too nice and shiny, so the glue has something to bite on.

Wheels mounted on axles, ready to get some rubber on 


Put a thin layer of Contact Glue on the rim 


Put a thin layer of Contact Glue inside the wheel use the tip of the tube to spread it evenly 


Wheel now ready to mount 


Clean the tip and let the rims and wheels dry 


When dry add a bit of glue to the outside of the front face of the rim and on the wheel.
Due to ease of cleaning it's important that it is the front of the rim that is inserted first into the donut. 


Press the rim inside the wheel and clean eventual surplus glue with a cotton tip


Cut off extra rubber as close as possible 


I made this tool by gluing coarse sanding paper to a piece of thin wood, This is excellent to remove extra material on the side of the wheels.

 

Set wheel diameter. 

I use the jig wheels from Werks in Germany 

- comes in diameters from 22-28mm. 

The depth stop is homemade and works !! - see picture below

 

Sanding the sides flush with the wheel rim with my "special" sander tool - fast and effective. Then use the Hudy as usual to reduce the tyre diameter.

When the wheel has the correct diameter, carefully round the edges using a nail file or similar. Then the tires are ready to roll :-)

 

Finished front and rears for a vintage Nascar project

Depth stop for your Hudy 

I have made a simple and functional depth stop on my Hudy by gluing an old gear hub on the Alu axle block and using a piece of 3mm axle as stop. The hub has the nylon part removed and is filed flat on both sides som it is as narrow as possible to allow for small wheel diameters.

The hub is glued using superglue - remember that the set screw should point upwards :-)

Set the wanted diameter as shown above, press the 3mm axle forward to the stop and secure the set screw.  Simple and effective :-) 

Niels Elmholt 19-05-2015