Front axles.

Tips and tricks about building a car. painting it a making it run smooth.
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kiklo
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Posts: 485
Joined: Mon 9. Nov 2015 11:49
Location: Norway
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Front axles.

Post by kiklo »

I have been looking for a god way to have easy running front wheels on our models.

In my latest I have used M2x12 bolts like on the picture.

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It gives me an easy attachment and some 'realistic' center bolt look.

Using a pin is certainly an option but if you need to adjust it will get sloppy after some time.

The downside is of course the full threaded bolt - wheels can bind and be 'eaten' by rotation.
So I was going to try 'sleeving' the axle in some way.

Half threaded bolts in M2 have not been easy to come bye.

Today I found these which looks like a good candidate.

https://www.pendleslotracing.co.uk/thun ... s-1-8x12mm.
You can probably find it in other places as well.

Any other suggestion is welcome as they come at an cost.
Racing Regards

Kim K.
WesR
Posts: 371
Joined: Fri 21. Dec 2012 17:37

Re: Front axles.

Post by WesR »

All my cars now have 2mm screw front axles. Not great engineering practice but some cars have done hundreds of laps and I can't notice much wear in the wheels. I use 2mm pozi pan head machine screws, much cheaper than cap screws (£3.29 per 100 on e bay). An alternative is to fix the axles (screws) onto the wheels and run them in the steering king pin blocks so you can get a longer bearing hole, possibly up to 5mm. But this is more difficult to adjust.
Ned
Posts: 368
Joined: Sun 13. Apr 2014 01:02
Location: Sedona, AZ USA

Re: Front axles.

Post by Ned »

I use different front stub axles depending on the wheels I'm going to use to build a car. If I'm using front wheels I got from Wes, I use the stub axles that came with those wheels.
Most of the cars I’ve built during the past 4 years have been converted 1/32 slot cars. Most of the time I’ve used the front wheels that came with the slot car.

Most of those wheels do not have a hole going all the way through the hub of the wheel. Then I usually use a 18-8 Stainless Steel Flat Head Solid Rivet, 3/32" Diameter x 1/2" Length. I shorten the rivet and grind down the head as needed. This is very time consuming because they are very hard. The rivet goes all the way through the steering knuckles (steering king pin blocks) and is pressed into the hub of the wheel. The head of the rivet ends up being on the inside, not on the outside. The rivet spins inside the steering knuckle. The wheel is fixed to the rivet. They cost $7.03 USD for 100 rivets + shipping. https://www.mcmaster.com/97386A143/

Sometimes the front slot car wheel has a hole completely through the hub. In that case I use a 18-8 Stainless Steel Metric Pan Head Phillips Machine Screw, M2.5 x 12mm Length, with .45mm thread pitch. The wheel spins on the screw, which serves as the axle. The screw is fixed in the steering knuckle. The drawback to this approach is that the head of the screw shows but this can be mitigated by painting the screw head the same color as the wheel. They cost $4.29 USD for 100 screws + shipping. https://www.mcmaster.com/92000A107/
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