Is the lathe still needed with the new style wheel

[clydesdale]

I imagine so, but are the new wheel better to the point where they are more round and the lathe is not necessary?

[RacerX]

Just a little up date to the new wheel as the season has progressed.

The first runs of the wheel were good, clean molding and few defects which made our biggest issues here at Derby Worx / Warp Speed getting the new wheels. We would get in many cases of wheels and sometimes they would be as high as 30% old wheels mixed in.

As the season has gained speed the quality of the wheels has greatly fallen off and our reject rate is now paralleling the old wheel: IE, wobblies, distorted faces, dirt in the mold that opens up holes during machining, the same assures as before, BUT we are down to 12% old wheels mixed in with new ones, YEAH!!!!

The new wheel has provided some fixturing issues but we addressed that in the beginning and even improved upon it with the addition of removing the step and adding a cone under the axle head, FAST!!!

But to answer your question about lathe cutting the new wheel, if you get lucky and get some from earlier batches and are prepping your own wheels, they are pretty good. If you get some bad ones they will benefit from truing BUT careful mounting or fixturing with something that is repeatable and accurate is a must or you will create run out in a different spot. PLUG: Pro Wheel Shaver XT 2 is the easiest way to get a accurate and true wheel that will repeat its run out measurements since we use the hub bore are the center reference and it only takes a few thousandths of a cut off the high spots, bringing them down to the low spots to bring a wheel from .010" to .001" radial run out.

Best to all this season.

Racer X

[roosclan]

Feb 10, 2010 10:17:27 GMT -6 RacerX said:

The new wheel has provided some fixturing issues but we addressed that in the beginning and even improved upon it with the addition of removing the step and adding a cone under the axle head, FAST!!!

And for those of us who have to prep our own wheels, what do you recommend for wheel/axle prep? I have every single one of your tools (I think). I'm using the ProShaverXT2 to true up the tread, but the outer step and the axles is where my concern lies (we are not allowed to remove the outer step).

I bought some mostly-prepped axles from Max-V (slight polish and tapered head), and am unsure about using the Pro Axle Press to taper the head even more like we did last year (and the Press tapers the head a LOT). Have you found any friction/binding issues with the taper the Press puts on axle heads and the double step on the new wheels? It looks like there would be friction points at the bore itself and at the outer step, increasing friction when running negative camber (which we do on the rears -- 2.5deg). We run positive camber on the FDW, but with the outer step, I don't know what degree to use to prevent binding, get it to move toward the body, but still be shallow enough that the body can push the wheel out.