Loose front wheel. How to tighten?

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PWD
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Loose front wheel. How to tighten?

Post by PWD »

I have an axle hole that has become loose. I usually do not glue axles as it has not been necessary in the past. I am torn between glueing it or drilling a hole from bottom of car crossing hole and glueing in this manner.

Anyone have any other tips on how to tighten up an axle hole?

If glueing the axle what procedures have others used with success?
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sporty
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Re: Loose front wheel. How to tighten?

Post by sporty »

There are a few ways.

1- a dab of elemers glue into the axle whole.

2- water to swell the wood.


3- epoxy.


4- a set screw into to the wood from the top or bottom of the car or both.


5- fill and redill, some use a tooth pick and wood glue.
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Re: Loose front wheel. How to tighten?

Post by rpcarpe »

I do a lot of demonstration/hands on with old cars, so I've had this problem when it comes time to run one down a track.
I usually opt to drill 2x small holes (#44 drill bit from axle drilling) along the axis of the axle, drop in some CA to hold the axle for the races. This works fine for 6-10 races.
This keeps any glue from sticking to the side of the car, thus avoiding a glue brake on the wheel's hub.
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Pinewood Daddy
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Re: Loose front wheel. How to tighten?

Post by Pinewood Daddy »

I built a car for myself this year. I drilled and reamed the axle holes and opened one hole a little too much. I put some water in the hole and the next day the hole was just the right fit.

Other than that I would drill a small cross hole and glue.
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Re: Loose front wheel. How to tighten?

Post by FatSebastian »

PWD wrote:I am torn between glueing it or drilling a hole from bottom of car crossing hole and glueing in this manner. [...] If glueing the axle what procedures have others used with success?
PWD, how might you define "success"? Would you want to get the axle back out after the race?

We usually don't need to pull the axles afterward, and generally follow the procedure that rpcarpe suggests, except we use a single hole and we sometimes use gel CA glue instead of the runny stuff. After you do this however, it can be difficult to get the axle back out; this can be an issue if there is, say, a mishap where an axle gets bent. In our experience we needed an axle puller and a lot of force to get out the axle (as we forgot to bring along some acetone), then the axle hole needed to be redressed a little with a drill bit.

I like some of sporty's suggestions, but have not tried all of them. If you need to get the axle back out, PVA glue (Elmer's) might be preferable. We have also filled and re-drilled before, but I seem to recall not being fond of the outcome of drilling through the dried wood glue.
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Re: Loose front wheel. How to tighten?

Post by quadad »

I agree with FatSebastain that it depends how long you want to keep it in there, and would add it's also dependent on how rough your stop section is, etc.

We have mostly gone to the Elmer's suggestion from earlier, which appears good for a modest number of heats and allows you pretty good ability to get them out later (they may be loose already). Go to stronger glue or add more glue holes as your see fit depending on your track/intentions.

Just don't use the CA glue (monster glue ?) which is very runny and dries to a larger size than anticipated. We did this our first year and it made a mess that had to be trimmed.
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Re: Loose front wheel. How to tighten?

Post by FatSebastian »

quadad wrote:Just don't use the CA glue (monster glue ?) which is very runny and dries to a larger size than anticipated.
Are you referring to Polyurethane adhesive, aka as Gorilla Glue, which expands in the presence of moisture? If so, I could agree with you there!

Cyanoacrylate (CA) glue, aka Super Glue or Krazy glue, can be very runny, which is why we recommend the gel formulation (which does not run). In our experience it does not expand significantly, though. It dries in seconds and adds no measurable weight, which can be advantages.
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PWD
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Re: Loose front wheel. How to tighten?

Post by PWD »

Great question on success.

I don't need to take the axle out after racing. The problem is that it is so loose right now that alignment is getting a little out of wack after a few runs. The axle is not going to fall out. But a little alignment change makes a huge difference in the speed of the car. I saw one run where the car was 1/10th of a second slower. I had to do a double take on the timer because I could not believe my eyes.

I am debating between the water trick and drilling a pilot hole and gluing. I have done set screws and have the hardware, big screw and then little screw down the middle but quit doing it a few years ago.

The issue is glue setting while the car is in good alignment. I have found using pilot holes in the past can make the axle harder to get in alignement before gluing. What happens is less wood holding the axle makes the problem worst. But I think the holes were too big in the past.
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Re: Loose front wheel. How to tighten?

Post by doct1010 »

Try a bit of water as suggested by Pdad. An alternative is make some shims to tighten it up or fill and redrill. I have done all three with good result.
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Re: Loose front wheel. How to tighten?

Post by FatSebastian »

PWD wrote:The issue is glue setting while the car is in good alignment. [...] But I think the holes were too big in the past.
Perhaps. We haven't noticed that problem before, but we tend to keep our holes pretty small. You can use a rather small hole with CA glues because they flow well. Because they flow well, the glue seems to get around the nail and grip it pretty well.

Where you put the hole may also factor in. We target our hole so it is just below where the pointed end of the axle begins to taper when the wheel is installed (but not quite over the taper itself) under the belief that this maximizes the amount of wood toward the axle head, offering the most structural support.
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Re: Loose front wheel. How to tighten?

Post by Rocket21 »

try wax paper shims. only takes a few or even one to tighten up the hole.
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