Aaronw Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 I've been fooling around with 3d drawing with the hope of making a mid 20th century split rim wheel for older medium and heavy trucks. I'm focusing on the Firestone RH5 style "Widow Makers" since they were very common so I've been able to find a fair amount of information on them. They were found on a lot of Ford and GM trucks from the late 40s through the early 70s.It's actually going better than I had hoped, although I won't know until I try to get some printed.Anyway, it has occurred to me that I can actually make these in 3 pieces, the two halves of the rim allowing the tire to be easily mounted (much like the 1-1) and a use separate center disk which if I design it right should be adjustable for different wheel offsets. Originally I had planed on making the wheels 2 piece with the disk and one rim half a single piece, but the separate center seems like it might be a useful feature.I haven't seen any wheels done this way before and am wondering if there is any reason that this seems undesirable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted December 28, 2014 Author Share Posted December 28, 2014 (edited) So here is what I've got for a 17x5.5" RH5 rim with an 8x6.5" lug pattern which would have been used on a 1950 Ford F3 or Chevrolet 3800 1 ton truck. Edited December 28, 2014 by Aaronw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 I haven't seen any wheels done this way before and am wondering if there is any reason that this seems undesirable. As long as each piece locates positively to each neighboring piece, I say do them as three pieces. Do you have a specific, existing tire in mind which would be used with these wheels? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted December 29, 2014 Author Share Posted December 29, 2014 No, the tire will have to be done to fit the rims as there is nothing available. I'm working on this particular wheel for the 1950 Ford F-3 I'm doing, so I'm looking at some vintage off road tires for ideas. Coker tire is a very handy resource for this since they focus on vintage car and truck collectors. Tires are more proving more challenging than the wheels due to the tread which adds a whole new issue.I think I've answered my own question on the separate centers which you also get at. When drawn to scale there is room for a fair bit of adjustment, but since these won't be made from steel and there are minimum working thicknesses much greater than the 1-1 in scale there is a big advantage to combining the outer ring and center.These are just an experiment for me. Nobody really does vintage truck wheels, and I like building vintage trucks, so... time to learn a new skill.It seems like people are having good luck with Shapeways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooknladderno1 Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 Aaron, I know that Alan from Ma's Resin has at least one vintage wheel/tire combo. I too would love to learn how to master 3-D drawing! Somehow work, life, and "honey do's" get in the way... Good luck, look forward to following your journey! David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 I'm not really familiar with Ma's Resin, but the only vintage wheels / tires that I am familiar with are 20" rims for 1.5 to 3 ton trucks (Opel Blitz, Modelhaus). I've been tinkering with Sketchup off and on for quite a few years now, mostly just using it to make plans I can then print out on paper to translate to cutting plastic, but now that 3d printing has advanced to the point that you can "borrow" someones high tech printer I thought I might as well see what I can do. I've got a CAM 104 siren almost ready to go. CAM was a San Francisco Bay Area based company whose sirens are found on a lot of California fire apparatus in the 1950s and 60s. Just need to add the slots around the stator housing and make the base. There are "better" free CAD programs out there, but Sketchup is very user friendly with a lot of good tutorials available online and on youtube. I'm not an engineer so it is about my speed. I tried some of the other programs out there which can do more, but I can't really function in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olsbooks Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 I think this is incredible work. You are a huge step ahead of many of us that just wish we could do this. Stick with it and who knows, you might be in business before you know it. It would be nice to have a OLD truck parts source. Keep us posted with your updates! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 The main drawback with having things 3D printed is the surface finish. It's going to have a very slight "wood grain" appearance. I have had quite a few things printed by Shapeways in their FUD (Frosted Ultra Detail) which is their highest level of print and they all have a very slight grainy surface from the machine printing in layers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted December 31, 2014 Author Share Posted December 31, 2014 I've been following a lot of the 3d threads here and elsewhere so I know about the texture issue. Also understand due to limitations in the program Sketchup can result in some minor faceting on circles. I expect there will be some need to give things a once over with some sand paper, just part of the learning curve. I was planning on using the Frosted Ultra Detail as the description sounds like it is most appropriate for our uses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooknladderno1 Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Aaron, Here you go: http://public.fotki.com/cnaind/mas-resin-price-lis/ David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Yes, the Frosted Ultra Detail is the most expensive but produces the best finish and detail! I just ordered a set of 1/24 Cat D9T bulldozer tracks a friend drew up for me. They cost 225.00 with shipping but I found a coupon code online for 10% off. Ended up only costing 203.13 including shipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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