# Small, heavy, insulated wheelsets?



## big-ted (Sep 30, 2012)

First post. Long-time lurker in the live steam section...

I am trying to source some small insulated wheels for some scratchbuilt tipper wagons. I've been recommended Sierra Valley wheelsets, and their 'B' size wheels look perfect for what I want. ~20mm diameter, insulated, and reasonably heavy, being metal. I've contacted Sierra Valley directly about shipping to Canada but not received a response, and I have heard rumors that the owner is currently sidelined with health issues. Hopefully this is not the case.

Are there any other companies that offer similar wheelsets in something around 20 mm diameter over the tread readily available in North America?

Any input appreciated!


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## Tom Bowdler (Jan 3, 2008)

I was a long time customer of Sierra Valley and am sad to see that supply dry up. He doesn't owe me anything but there are others with horror stories.
Gary Raymond has some wheels that are .889" in diameter for LGB Grizzly Flats, ore and logging cars. Bachmann's small diameter ones are 24.5 mm. The Train Department's smallest ones are just over an inch diameter. 
Perhaps others know more,
Tom


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

LGB has the FRR wheels but are metal rims, not solid wheels.
If you can find these, Jay-Bee made FRR wheels with sleeve bushings/solid metal wheels and had electrical pickups.
I installed these in the LGB toy tender to add power pickups to my porter engines


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## Pauli (Jan 3, 2008)

Hello big-ted,

Just some suggestions!

Have you ever cast tin-figures? Tin kan easily be molten even on a kitchen electric stove.

Or cast them in resin!

The kind of solid (unspoked!) disc wheels you want, are very simple to cast successfully yourself! I did it in my early teens. (There was nothing available i Sweden.) You only need to have a model to make the mold(s). If you already have a factory made one, just add like 1,5mm thicknes on the back rim side with some material, to alow shrinkage. And for that small diameter, precision isn't that important.

The model could be 3-D printed. (In fact the all the wheels, depending on your budget.) Nylon wheels would be indistructable!

Unless you run the wagons extremely much - like an hour a day - they will last a very long time.

Depending on casting material, molds can be gypsum, silicone or sand. Silicone is very good, but high temperature resistant types were very expensive back then. With sand, you can cast in aluminium - but that requires cruciebles (spelling?) and gasheaters. Aluminium wheels will last even better, given the hardness of the material.

Resin and silicone molds is perhaps the best way to go - but the wheels will not be heavy in themselves, but you might add washers to the back, and nuts ot tubing to the axles, adding weight.

By the way, In my teens, I used food preserve tincans (best were the coffe ones - big size ;:-D )Back then, sodacans were steel, so could also be soft soldered. Todays aluminium would take glue.

With these techniques, cost per waggon will be second to none!

Insulation I never quite got perfect back then. Drilling a larger mounting hole in the wheel , and using a jig to mount the wheel with resin / epoxi glue worked, but getting it right was very difficult, Finding a hard plastic tube is probably better. Plastruct? Or maybee a sodastraw? (Plastruct wasn't sold here back then)


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

I recently purchased some Gary Raymond 0.889/20mm wheels as LGB replacements and I am very pleased with them. Gary recommended the FS version which has elegant but not too fine flanges.


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

.889 inches comes out to about 21.75 mm.


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## big-ted (Sep 30, 2012)

Yikes. The LGB FRR wheels go for ~ $22 for two axles. Having built these wagons out of recycled food cans that seems a bit excessive! 



> .889 inches comes out to about 21.75 mm.


By my numbers, (with the caveat that I avoid the imperial system of measurements wherever possible) I make it 22.58 mm. Slightly larger than I was hoping, but probably workable...


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

> By my numbers, (with the caveat that I avoid the imperial system of measurements wherever possible) I make it 22.58 mm. Slightly larger than I was hoping, but probably workable...


I have used them on the LGB Feldbahn cars, and they look great.


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## big-ted (Sep 30, 2012)

I spoke to Gary Raymond earlier today. I'm going to try and order some of his F18 wheelsets.


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