Squarebody Wheels

[Mike Slapattack]

I was planning out a 1987 GMC V1500 project the other night and decided to whip this up in SolidWorks. This is an OEM 15x6 6-lug steel wheel for 1/2-ton 4x4 Squarebody trucks, along with an OEM hubcap for 1977-1991 1/2-ton Squarebodys and 1977-1995 1/2 and 3/4-ton G-Vans. I still need to fine turn the proportions and curves, but eventually this will be available for sale. It will be a set of 4 that includes tires. Eventually I will branch out and do even more Squarebody wheel products.

These will be printed on my Elegoo Saturn 2 resin 3D printer I just set up. I will possibly just print several bucks and resin cast them to save time but that's yet to be decided.

 

Edited November 5, 2024 by Mike Slapattack

[Mark C.]

Interesting.  I was looking at using some of those wheels and caps for a future project.

Do you have a website?

[Mike Slapattack]

25 minutes ago, Mark C. said:

Interesting.  I was looking at using some of those wheels and caps for a future project.

Do you have a website?

I don't yet! I'm still figuring out the logistics of how I'm selling stuff. I'll make a public announcement with details on where to buy once I have my first product ready for production.

[av405]

That looks good, you can definitely count me in to purchase when they're ready for sale. Have you ever considered doing bench seats for the square body trucks and the 90's OBS trucks?

[Mike Slapattack]

1 minute ago, av405 said:

That looks good, you can definitely count me in to purchase when they're ready for sale. Have you ever considered doing bench seats for the square body trucks and the 90's OBS trucks?

I haven't but it's certainly something I can do!

[Mark C.]

17 hours ago, Mike Slapattack said:

I don't yet! I'm still figuring out the logistics of how I'm selling stuff. I'll make a public announcement with details on where to buy once I have my first product ready for production.

Sounds good!  Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.  As a suggestion, if you could include pics of the actual printed product (when they are ready), it’s much more helpful to the customer than a digital rendering of what they are supposed to look like.  

Of course I’m getting ahead of myself… take your time and get the parts looking right, and I’m sure you will do well.  Best of luck!

[Mike Slapattack]

28 minutes ago, Mark C. said:

Sounds good!  Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.  As a suggestion, if you could include pics of the actual printed product (when they are ready), it’s much more helpful to the customer than a digital rendering of what they are supposed to look like.  

Of course I’m getting ahead of myself… take your time and get the parts looking right, and I’m sure you will do well.  Best of luck!

Oh of course, I'm going to include pictures of the printed products once I can make them. I won't sell a single thing until customers can see what they're actually getting. 

[Mark C.]

Awesome!

[av405]

21 hours ago, Mike Slapattack said:

I haven't but it's certainly something I can do!

PM sent. 

[Mike Slapattack]

2 hours ago, av405 said:

PM sent. 

Got it, thanks! Let's keep in touch. 

[Mike Slapattack]

I'm going to need you guys' feedback! What kind of tires would you like to see available with these rims? For now I'm planning to release them with some generic Uniroyal Laredo-esque radials. I'm still pretty new to modelling tires, so I need some subjects to practice with. Here's the work so far:

Edited November 7, 2024 by Mike Slapattack

[Mike Slapattack]

Front wheel assembly started!

The wheel back will have a hub that passes through a hole in the wheel front. I still need to adjust the wheel back to accommodate the kit axle properly, but I'm working on that. I've also changed up the tires a bit!

[Mark C.]

For tires, I’d like to see something that is modelled after whatever originally came on the truck when new.  I’m not an expert on these trucks to know what that would be specifically, but since the wheels and caps are OEM style then perhaps that’s what the tire should be.  
 

There are lots of other tire options out there that could be used as long as they fit the wheels, so that might be another consideration - make sure the wheels are configured such that they will fit a typical model kit tire (though even that could be tricky I suspect).

Just one person’s opinion, so just take it as that.

[Mike Slapattack]

55 minutes ago, Mark C. said:

For tires, I’d like to see something that is modelled after whatever originally came on the truck when new.  I’m not an expert on these trucks to know what that would be specifically, but since the wheels and caps are OEM style then perhaps that’s what the tire should be.  
 

There are lots of other tire options out there that could be used as long as they fit the wheels, so that might be another consideration - make sure the wheels are configured such that they will fit a typical model kit tire (though even that could be tricky I suspect).

Just one person’s opinion, so just take it as that.

Yea, that's what I'm aiming for, the factory stock look. I'm scouring brochures and old magazines from my collection to find good references. 

Right now the rims aren't too far off from being able to fit a kit tire, and that definitely is a goal. I don't want to create an exclusivity situation where you have to use my tires, that wouldn't be fair or very flexible. I need to change up the flanges a bit and do some trial and error test prints with normal kit tires. The wheels are already sized to the typical 15x6 size, so I'm confident that they should fit tires from a kit like the AMT '71 Chevy Van or MPC '76 Caprice or any of the full-size OEM spec car or truck kits from back in the day. Right now the bead flanges have a square profile, but tapering should do the trick. The tricky part is leaving enough thickness on the flange for it to keep it's strength. My printer has a minimum layer height of 0.01 mm and a pixel size of 0.028 mm, so I try to design parts to a precision with a margin above those, keeping dimensions above at least 0.05 mm or in that ballpark. Of course, dimensions that small are overkill to consider, but I am trying my best to make quality repeatable parts. 

I'm new to MSLA printing but I got a pretty high end printer.

Also, for reference, according to specifications I found in my reference material, 1/2-ton 4x4 Squarebodys came standard with 235/75/R15 radial all seasons, with a variety of other tires made available through dealers of course. As to what tires exactly these were, it most likely depends on where the truck was made. A truck made in the US would likely have had Goodyears or Uniroyals, while a truck built in Oshawa could possibly have even had Michelins!

Edited November 7, 2024 by Mike Slapattack

[Mike Slapattack]

I managed to add a taper, I hope this works!

[Mark C.]

That looks good to me, but I’m far from an expert on the topic.  I know almost nothing about 3D printing over and above what I have read on here and other forums, so you should probably take my ideas with a grain of salt.  

I was just thinking that allowing kit tires to work would give your potential customers more options, like a chunky snow/dirt tire, etc.  For me, I like the OEM cheapo steel wheel/dogdish hubcap look, so whatever tires you come up with would be fine.

Are you planning to do both Chevy and GMC versions, or were they the same across the divisions?  I thought they each had a different logo but I might be thinking of earlier year models.

[Mike Slapattack]

54 minutes ago, Mark C. said:

That looks good to me, but I’m far from an expert on the topic.  I know almost nothing about 3D printing over and above what I have read on here and other forums, so you should probably take my ideas with a grain of salt.  

I was just thinking that allowing kit tires to work would give your potential customers more options, like a chunky snow/dirt tire, etc.  For me, I like the OEM cheapo steel wheel/dogdish hubcap look, so whatever tires you come up with would be fine.

Are you planning to do both Chevy and GMC versions, or were they the same across the divisions?  I thought they each had a different logo but I might be thinking of earlier year models.

Yea I absolutely agree, and I also love the "poverty" look with the basic stuff. 

As far as similarities between divisions, the hubcaps look identical except for the center, which I believe was a separate insert fastened or brazed in somehow. The Chevrolet ones had a black insert with a gold bowtie and the GMC ones had a plain metal one with the red GMC logo. There was also a painted ring around the insert, with the Chevy's being gold and the GMC's being red. As far as I have seen, these hubcaps were also used on the 1/2 and 3/4-ton G-Vans.

I'm still debating on whether I will actually print embossed logos into the hubcaps, and I won't decide that until I can determine whether my printer is capable of such detail. It likely is, but in the case that it isn't, you could always use a decal.

Here are some reference pictures on Ebay:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/204559621821

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/204255416801

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/266296973845

As you can see from the third link, on the front hubcaps on the 4x4s, the insert was replaced with a conical ring with a center hole to allow for the hub to pass through.

Also, after I get these 1/2-ton wheels out I will be doing the 3/4-ton and 1-ton wheels, which were larger and had similar but different hubcaps with 6 simulated "spokes" instead of 5. OEM wheel covers are down the line too.

Edited November 7, 2024 by Mike Slapattack

[Mike Slapattack]

Some good news and some bad news for today.

I did my first test print, and the rims do fit normal kit tires! Unfortunately though, most of the pieces failed. I'm not sure if this is a software or prep issue, but I am investigating it. Some parts, like the hubcaps, had edges that were too thin as well and crumbled. I will be thickening those as that's an easy fix. There will be a little bit of change to the level of detail but that's just the reality of manufacturing, every method has its limits.

Like I said I am new to SLA 3D-printing so I sort of expected I will have to trouble shoot and fine tune things. I will be spending a good chunk of my weekend trying to sort this out.

Here I have attached some pictures of how things came out. As you can see, the detail on the rim fronts is superb, and they actually came out really well! But the wheel backs and hubcaps need some adjustment.

If anyone on here doing 3D resin printing has some advice on how to fix the distortion and outright missing areas on the wheelbacks please let me know! I'm using an Elegoo Saturn 2. I have conducted a screen exposure test and it works fine. I also thoroughly clean the machine after use and regularly inspect the FEP film. I'm not sure what else to check.

 

[Mike Slapattack]

Not able to 3D-print from where I am right now, so I decided to go ahead and start on the 4x2 1/2-ton rims!

[Mark C.]

What you have done looks great so far.  I can’t offer any advice on 3D printing but will offer encouragement to keep going!  Looks like you are on the right track, and I’m sure it will only be a matter of time before you can work the bugs out.

My preference for the hubcap logos would be the embossed/stamped look that I could detail paint to get the desired appearance.  I prefer that over decals, and it would be more prototypically correct as well.  However, if it’s not possible to capture that detail in the print, then you have to do what you have to do.

Keep up the good work!

[peteski]

I suggest posting your failed prints in the 3D printing sticky thread in the General part of the forum.  You will likely get some opinions and suggestions from members familiar with 3D printing.

[Mike Slapattack]

Thank you for all the support guys! I will check out that 3D-printing thread for sure.

I changed up the models a bit to be stronger and more defined, re-levelled and reaaallly tightened the printer's build plate, and did another test print. It is also possible that my previous G-code file was corrupted, so I also made sure that there were no visible problems with the new G-code file by reverse engineering it back into a 3D model and checking for issues.

Thankfully all of this effort paid off there has been a vast improvement!

I also changed up my post processing procedure. Instead of removing the supports before UV curing the resin (which most YouTubers and people on forums reccomend), I cured the parts with the supports. I think for small parts like this it's better to leave the supports there rather than risk damaging the vulnerable uncured parts. I've seen a lot of other model part guys do that and let's be real, it's not like we modelers haven't removed parts from sprues before ?.

Overall everything came out very rigid and snipping off the supports was a breeze.

I even tested out a few different kit tires! The rims fit any ordinary '70s fullsize car tire, however I found that these tires were too low profile to give the right proportionate look when posed up in the wheel well. I may try picking up one of the newer '92 Silverado kits and try the tires out of one of those. They seem to be closer to the 235/75/R15s these came with from the factory.

As you can see, the wheels look a bit small, but from my visual comparison with photos and brochure illustrations the tire is where the difference is.

So yea, overall going well, however there is still ONE part giving me issues: the wheel back.

It seems to have the exact same issue in the same spot as before, which was a layer shift causing it to be out of round and not fit right in the back of the wheel front. Based on the repeatability of this issue I'm thinking that it was an error on my part in laying out supports. I'll be playing around with those settings in the software to see what works. I'll also be consulting that printing thread to see if they have any ideas!

Edited November 9, 2024 by Mike Slapattack

[1972coronet]

Great progress you're having there ! 

I'm down for a set or seven once you get 'em finalised .

Those attachment "sprues" look intimidating to the resin neophytes (like me) , but they truly aren't. For example : I bought a grip of resin 1971 & 1972 Demon resin grilles from A Few Sprues Loose . Incredible replicas ! But those 'mounting' 'sprues' looked intimidating to me - "How am I going to get off all of those nibs without damaging the grille ?". 
Took my Tamiya side cutters and went to town. I was pleasantly surprised as just how easily those 10,000,000 attachment 'nibs' broke-away from the part without damaging it whatsoever. 

But, I digress... 

Keep on keepin' on !

[Mike Slapattack]

11 hours ago, 1972coronet said:

Great progress you're having there ! 

I'm down for a set or seven once you get 'em finalised .

Those attachment "sprues" look intimidating to the resin neophytes (like me) , but they truly aren't. For example : I bought a grip of resin 1971 & 1972 Demon resin grilles from A Few Sprues Loose . Incredible replicas ! But those 'mounting' 'sprues' looked intimidating to me - "How am I going to get off all of those nibs without damaging the grille ?". 
Took my Tamiya side cutters and went to town. I was pleasantly surprised as just how easily those 10,000,000 attachment 'nibs' broke-away from the part without damaging it whatsoever. 

But, I digress... 

Keep on keepin' on !

I'm glad you could give some word on your experience! It's good to get the perspective of a 3D-printed product customer. You'll know what to expect then!

Also, for everyone I'll give an update on the 4x2 rim set. It's very similar with the obvious differences. Here are the latest renderings.

[Mike Slapattack]

I engraved a GMC logo onto a hubcap to see how it would look. It looks great in CAD and I'll see how it comes out in my next round of test prints.