RCCrawler Forums

bigdodge88 · 08-29-2008, 09:52 PM

Hello everyone,

I am trying to get into RC wheel making and was wondering what machines, if any, are you guys using to make them. I have been trying to find a good mini-lathe at a good price, but don't know anything about them. Therefore I don't know what would be a good one for making wheels out of aluminum and delrin. If anyone could shed some light on my situation it would greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Justin

Jkelley · 08-29-2008, 09:56 PM

if you've got a extra 70 g's layin around you can buy a cnc lathe

bigdodge88 · 08-29-2008, 10:06 PM

Yeah that would be great.

Joat · 08-29-2008, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigdodge88

Hello everyone,

I am trying to get into RC wheel making and was wondering what machines, if any, are you guys using to make them. I have been trying to find a good mini-lathe at a good price, but don't know anything about them. Therefore I don't know what would be a good one for making wheels out of aluminum and delrin. If anyone could shed some light on my situation it would greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Justin

Sherline,Unimat,taig all make nice very small lathes, might be a bit small for wheels ,when you start getting into the import 7x10,12,14 lathes mostly referred to as 7x's , you need to do some tweaking to get some precision out of them, I have a grizzly 7 x12 tweaked pretty good, with an adjustable backing plate on my 4" chuck I can get .0002 runout ,plus I have dro's and bunch of other tweaks.
http://www.mini-lathe.com/ very good site

http://www.cnczone.com/ both cnc and manual

I would look at getting a mill over a lathe, esp a cnc one, since you want to be able to replicate the same part over and over again.
There are cheap import cncs and you can even convert a manual mill/lathe
I trying to save up some dough for a tormach http://www.tormach.com/ which is quite a bit bigger then the common x3 size mills, even a x2 mill is decent just gotta remember to tweak them to the max -more time then money

HndsWthtShdws · 08-30-2008, 10:32 AM

I have a 10x18 from Busy Bee (canadian store) which set me back $1000 with some tool blanks, a drill chuck and arbor, and a parting tool. Out of the box this machine was accurate to 1.5 thou and needed to have one gib tightened. Its also lot beefier than the 7x machines. I dont need the capacity of it but thats ok, you can do small jobs on a big lathe. Buy the biggest thing that fits in your shop or you can afford.

Wheel blanks are easy enough to cut on a lathe. Hexes and holes for beadlock hardware arent. To cut the hexes and holes ideally you would use a rotary table with a 4 jaw chuck and a collet holding your cutter on the lathe. I'm saying 4 jaw chuck because it will keep everything accurate and you really want a 4 jaw chuck anyway, your lathe will probably come with a 3 jaw. Technically you could use the 3 jaw on the table since you will be using collets to hold the cutter. So far you at are the cost of the lathe, a rotary table, a 4 jaw chuck, a milled piece of heavy angle iron to mount the rotary and chuck to your bed, a set of collets, calipers, micrometer, angle gauge, tool blanks, a grinder, a set of drill bits, a set of taps, and a few end mills and centre drills.

If you wanted to make wheels on a mill you would want a mill, rotary table, 4 jaw chuck, vise (dont buy cheap here), your measuring equipment, basic cutters, drill bits, and taps. That will go a long way to make a lot of things and probably end up a little cheaper.

bigdodge88 · 08-30-2008, 10:38 AM

Thanks everyone. It sounds like I need to save money for a CNC machine since I want to do RC wheels right?

HndsWthtShdws · 08-30-2008, 10:43 AM

How many wheels are you making? If you want to setup a small online business and become a vendor here to sell them, you absolutely need CNC. If these are private use and you are maybe making a few for a few club members, manual is ok.

billet works · 08-30-2008, 11:05 AM

We use CNC milling machines to produce all our wheels. Repeatability is +/- .0002" and enables you to do all the work in as few setups as possible. Again it all depends on how many you are looking to make but if you want to go all out, I'd expect to pay out at least 50 grand for machine and tooling. You'll also need a descent programming software with correct post processor to write your machine codes. As Eritex, Mayhem, VP, and other great vendors here can tell ya, you have to plan on selling a lot of wheels to justify the cost of a CNC. Materials, tooling, and hardware eat an enormous chunk out of the profit on wheels.

Don

Eritex Inc. · 08-30-2008, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billet works

We use CNC milling machines to produce all our wheels. Repeatability is +/- .0002" and enables you to do all the work in as few setups as possible. Again it all depends on how many you are looking to make but if you want to go all out, I'd expect to pay out at least 50 grand for machine and tooling. You'll also need a descent programming software with correct post processor to write your machine codes. As Eritex, Mayhem, VP, and other great vendors here can tell ya, you have to plan on selling a lot of wheels to justify the cost of a CNC. Materials, tooling, and hardware eat an enormous chunk out of the profit on wheels.

Don

Don is spot on when it comes to this.

I started with this 30 months ago...

Which cost me around $1,000.00 after all the tooling and a rotary table. I bought it to make wheels. Those wheels took 2 hours a piece to make and were good to about .009"

I now run this...

with SW and MC-X2. Yes, I can hold .0003"+- now and it takes as little as 6 minutes to make a single wheel but the cost of all this is about 60 to 75 times what I started with.

If you just want to make a couple sets for yourself and are not that worried about being to fancy, buy a little machine and play with it. For the cost of 10 sets of beadlocks you could have a new hobby (machining). If on the other hand you are looking at producing them, take out a second on the homestead.

Bermbuster · 08-31-2008, 05:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigdodge88

Hello everyone,

I am trying to get into RC wheel making and was wondering what machines, if any, are you guys using to make them. I have been trying to find a good mini-lathe at a good price, but don't know anything about them. Therefore I don't know what would be a good one for making wheels out of aluminum and delrin. If anyone could shed some light on my situation it would greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Justin

Hey Justin,
Do you have any machine shop experience? You could take some courses at a voc tech trade school and make the wheels there while learning about machine tools and machining techniques. Good luck and show us some wheels when your done...

berm

bigdodge88 · 08-31-2008, 04:46 PM

Well,

I have been reading your replys and it sounds like I wont be getting into wheel making per say. I guess I will just stick to custom wheel design on CAD. Thanks for everyone's help on this subject.

HndsWthtShdws · 08-31-2008, 06:25 PM

A mini lathe or mill is still a great investment and a fun tool to mess around with. I enjoy my mini-lathe just as much as RC and it saves me a ton of money by making my own parts to fix stuff and for RC. The sooner you buy it the sooner it will pay itself off.

gas · 09-07-2008, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigdodge88

Well,

I have been reading your replys and it sounds like I wont be getting into wheel making per say. I guess I will just stick to custom wheel design on CAD. Thanks for everyone's help on this subject.

try farming them out till you get the cash

lugie · 10-07-2008, 05:27 AM

If you already have it drawn, farm it out. There are lots of hungry machinists around here that would love some extra work.

08-29-2008, 09:52 PM	#1
bigdodge88 RCC Addict Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Monroe, NC Posts: 1,547	Mini Lathe Hello everyone, I am trying to get into RC wheel making and was wondering what machines, if any, are you guys using to make them. I have been trying to find a good mini-lathe at a good price, but don't know anything about them. Therefore I don't know what would be a good one for making wheels out of aluminum and delrin. If anyone could shed some light on my situation it would greatly appreciated. Thank you, Justin

08-30-2008, 10:32 AM	#5
HndsWthtShdws Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 341	I have a 10x18 from Busy Bee (canadian store) which set me back $1000 with some tool blanks, a drill chuck and arbor, and a parting tool. Out of the box this machine was accurate to 1.5 thou and needed to have one gib tightened. Its also lot beefier than the 7x machines. I dont need the capacity of it but thats ok, you can do small jobs on a big lathe. Buy the biggest thing that fits in your shop or you can afford. Wheel blanks are easy enough to cut on a lathe. Hexes and holes for beadlock hardware arent. To cut the hexes and holes ideally you would use a rotary table with a 4 jaw chuck and a collet holding your cutter on the lathe. I'm saying 4 jaw chuck because it will keep everything accurate and you really want a 4 jaw chuck anyway, your lathe will probably come with a 3 jaw. Technically you could use the 3 jaw on the table since you will be using collets to hold the cutter. So far you at are the cost of the lathe, a rotary table, a 4 jaw chuck, a milled piece of heavy angle iron to mount the rotary and chuck to your bed, a set of collets, calipers, micrometer, angle gauge, tool blanks, a grinder, a set of drill bits, a set of taps, and a few end mills and centre drills. If you wanted to make wheels on a mill you would want a mill, rotary table, 4 jaw chuck, vise (dont buy cheap here), your measuring equipment, basic cutters, drill bits, and taps. That will go a long way to make a lot of things and probably end up a little cheaper. Last edited by HndsWthtShdws; 08-30-2008 at 10:43 AM.

08-29-2008, 09:56 PM	#2
Jkelley Quarry Creeper Join Date: May 2008 Location: Hartsville, SC Posts: 461	if you've got a extra 70 g's layin around you can buy a cnc lathe

08-29-2008, 10:06 PM	#3
bigdodge88 RCC Addict Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Monroe, NC Posts: 1,547	Yeah that would be great.

08-30-2008, 10:38 AM	#6
bigdodge88 RCC Addict Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Monroe, NC Posts: 1,547	Thanks everyone. It sounds like I need to save money for a CNC machine since I want to do RC wheels right?

08-30-2008, 10:43 AM	#7
HndsWthtShdws Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 341	How many wheels are you making? If you want to setup a small online business and become a vendor here to sell them, you absolutely need CNC. If these are private use and you are maybe making a few for a few club members, manual is ok.

08-30-2008, 11:05 AM	#8
billet works I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Earth Posts: 2,488	We use CNC milling machines to produce all our wheels. Repeatability is +/- .0002" and enables you to do all the work in as few setups as possible. Again it all depends on how many you are looking to make but if you want to go all out, I'd expect to pay out at least 50 grand for machine and tooling. You'll also need a descent programming software with correct post processor to write your machine codes. As Eritex, Mayhem, VP, and other great vendors here can tell ya, you have to plan on selling a lot of wheels to justify the cost of a CNC. Materials, tooling, and hardware eat an enormous chunk out of the profit on wheels. Don

08-31-2008, 04:46 PM	#11
bigdodge88 RCC Addict Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Monroe, NC Posts: 1,547	Well, I have been reading your replys and it sounds like I wont be getting into wheel making per say. I guess I will just stick to custom wheel design on CAD. Thanks for everyone's help on this subject.

08-31-2008, 06:25 PM	#12
HndsWthtShdws Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 341	A mini lathe or mill is still a great investment and a fun tool to mess around with. I enjoy my mini-lathe just as much as RC and it saves me a ton of money by making my own parts to fix stuff and for RC. The sooner you buy it the sooner it will pay itself off.

10-07-2008, 05:27 AM	#14
lugie Newbie Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Cleveland Posts: 11	If you already have it drawn, farm it out. There are lots of hungry machinists around here that would love some extra work.

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