Wheels

[Speedster]

FWIW. A scout had won his Den race and qualified for district. His DFW had become damaged and needed to be replaced. This gave us an opportunity to play with my new gauge. We tested 12 wheels and found 4 that were .001, but not .002, out of round. The 4 wheels have numbers 1, 5, 7, and 13. None of the numbers are listed by vendors as being Premium Matched Wheels, numbers 2, 3, 6, 15. I have only 1 wheel, number 6, that is a Premium Matched wheel. This #6 wheel is .003 out of round. I noticed it did fit more snug when installed on the Vermont .0965 Class ZZ pin gage.

[ngyoung]

I think the wheel quality changes per mold depending on the production run.

[Stan Pope]

I think the wheel quality changes per mold depending on the production run.

[MaxV]

When we measure wheels, we select 10 wheels from each mold out of two large purchases. Then we average the measurements. That is how we select the premium molds. In virtually every mold number, there are a few good wheels. But on average, the better wheels are the premium numbers.

We remeasure the wheels every summer.

[sporty]

Randy.

Those sample tests from your large batches.

How do we know that the batches. Would be the same when others buy ?

You got a great news letter. Great products. And you work very hard at ensuring information and quality.


But as a former mold machine operator and you are too. With owning one and Makino and selling your own max v wheels. Which is pretty cool in my mind.

But it's impossible to know which batch run of wheels u get. When you buy elsewhere.

Or if during the run they used re grind or kept up with b using mold injection spray during the runs or if they switched to a x different batch of pellets during a run.

So. Why I agree with the possibility of one customer getting a large batch of wheels that could have came from the same run cycle.

I would not asume that wheels sent off to different re sellers would be the same. Could be even older or newer depending on how long they were sitting in the warehouse or at the store they were being sold at.

The first rund. The wheels weigh 2.4 grams. Now they at 2.6 grams.

Man. I miss the first run wheels..


How long do u dry the pellets for yours ?


When I worked at that place I was at. Sometimes the dryer hopper would not dry the pellets as well or did not get the time the pellets needed. But production must go on. So they ran any how. Just tinker with the heat and cycle time. Until the dryer was working better.

Ecample.

Takes about 2 hours to dry before run start. After that 20 minutes in automatic dryer / fed to hopper on mold machine.

Heck we would start running after 30 minutes. Yet. We knew we needed another 1 1/2 hours. But that's the way it goes.

Then you don't know if the injection pins and molds are getting cleaned or sprayed, silicone when they supposed too.

Worse yet. You don't even know if the mold machine is the same one. We would stick the molds into other machines. Even tho the best mold machine would have been the right one to use. But was being used for something else at the time.

Maybe this does not apply here.

As I don't have all the facts to there process and can only give by comparison what I seen and went thru.

Your sample size is larger. Which is great.


I found over time. Mold numbers don't mean much anymore.

The gage pin and individual testing of each wheel. Proved better for me to do. But also was truing my own wheels.

I certainly hate to pay $25 to $35 for a set of wheels with more than .002 run out.

.0005 is the best I could make them. And .001 is good too.

T
Cutting wheels and getting low run out is not easy and costly to get a bunch of good wheels.

And randy. If I could ever ask anything. Please redo your wind tunnel testing news letter article.

It upset me. That the information was not some thing I felt was very good.

The wind speed and weight system to measure wind resistance. Was not something that was close enough.

Real wind speed of 9 to 13 miles per hour should been used. Not sure what that is for scale speed.

But certainly n I t 25 to 45 miles per hour wind speed from that fan.

Sorry to mention. But that great news letter reaches so many. And I just feel in my small minded mind. It was not realistic close enough data.

Please except my complaint. As not a bad thing. Because I have much respect for you. So I'm sorry if it upsets you. Not my intention.
I would love to see a article on cant. Measurement. Because I use to find that what was a certain degree was not actually that degree.

That would be a great project to dive into.

[MaxV]

1 Batches - Obviously, I don't know what batches the BSA wheels they come from. All I can do is buy a bunch of wheels and test them. Over the years, 2, 3 and 15 have continually been superior wheels. So I have to assume those mold cavities are the most accurate. Others vary, likely depending on the amount of cooling they get.

2. Pellet drying - I am not familiar with this issue. All I know is that our MV wheels are run at a relatively slow rate, so they are cooled before being popped out of the mold to help ensure accuracy.

3. Wind tunnel test - That would be a fun test to redo, but I would need a more accurate way of measuring the force. Not quite sure how to do that.

Thanks for the feedback.