Custom Tire Material

[tsroark]

I'm looking for some kind of stock I can use to make some custom tires and wheels. I'm looking for something with an outer diameter of around 2" and about 3/4" wide. I am looking to carve some oversized classic military style wheels to put on a set of semi truck rims. I would prefer something like solid plastic, or even a soft material that wouldn't squish too much under a large and heavy model. I did try a large wood dowel, but the tread lugs didn't turn out satisfactorily with the grain.

I'm also looking for a good, cheap material to use for truck frames. I have used brass channel and rectangular tube but when looking at a real chassis, the boxes are much rounder, with no sharp edges.

Thanks,

Tim

[Mike Kucaba]

Look for a plastic supply house and check out Nylatron,Delrin etc. These can be pricey so also search plastics on ebay. Not sure what to suggest for frame material.

[Casey]

PVC plumbing pipe?

[tsroark]

Thanks, I did think about pvc, but now I just thought to stack several different sizes to make a solid disk. I've used delrin before but didn't know It was available in large sizes.

Tim

[Art Anderson]

Delrin makes an excellent raw material for turning in a lathe, and should be available in round bar stock at any good industrial plastics supply house. However, acrylic (think plexiglas) bar stock works much better, even though it has to be painted. The trouble with PVC pipe is, it's fairly thin in section, and has to be laminated to get the thickness needed for tires.

Art