Tires for conversions

[ddmckee54]

Here's another option for tires for conversions - roll your own. If you've got a 3D printer it's simpler, cheaper, and faster than it sounds. I'm including 3 links to YouTube videos.

All of these videos use Oogoo, which is a DIY mixture of 100% silicon caulk, corn starch, and sometimes water. (It has to be the caulk that smells like vinegar as it cures, the newer less odiferous caulk won't work - and no acrylic-blend caulk either.) The water is what causes the silicon caulk to set up. Other agents can be added to thin the caulk mixture, as shown in the third video.

In this first link he makes a solid tire using a 3D printed mold. The clock shows the the elapsed time from start to finish. He's using cooking oil as a release agent, and the ingredients he's using are black caulk, corn starch, and water. This is the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3IRgjFhW6Y

The next video shows a different mold that has a better surface quality, making a foam-filled tire. The release agent was silicone oil. The ingredients in his Oogoo were clear caulk, laser printer toner, and corn starch. It looks like he's making a pretty durable tire. In this video you can see that he weighed the caulk, but I couldn't find any info on the weights of the other ingredients. Here's the link to the 2nd video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X62rLgvMO5Q

This last video is not about making tires, but rather making the Oogoo more pourable by thinning it with naptha. The one thing that I did like about the 3rd video was that he not ony weighed the caulk and the corn starch, he told us the weights. That way he knew what his pot life and cure times would be. He used 10g of corn starch and 100g of caulk. I haven't been able to find a lot of info on this ratio, it varies from 1:1 which will cure in 15-20 minutes, to the 1:10 used here which sets in 1-2 hours. Thinning the Oogoo didn't appear to affect it's cure time, but I would guess that it would affect the shrinkage. Here's that link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_IOqxds130

Don

[dremu]

Originally Posted by ddmckee54

Here's another option for tires for conversions - roll your own. If you've got a 3D printer it's simpler, cheaper, and faster than it sounds. I'm including 3 links to YouTube videos.

Oh snap! At first I thought you were gonna suggest flexible filaments, which can be a royal pain, at least IME. And the detail left a lot to be desired.

But this, wow. Commonly available stuff, and the level of detail was amazing, especially on that second video. And once the mold is designed, making more is just a matter of hitting "print again" if one gets broken or whatever, not like they're hand-carved. This may be exactly what I need for a project that's been bouncing around in my head for a while.

Thanks!

(Also, *roll* your own? )

-- A

[ddmckee54]

Originally Posted by dremu

(Also, *roll* your own? )

Blame it on an obviously miss-spent youth, hanging around with the "wrong" type of people.

I've been looking for tires in the 75-77mm OD range that I'll need for another Bruder conversion that's in the works. I don't want to have to spend more for just the tires than I'll have invested in all of the rest of the conversion - just don't seem right.

Don

[dremu]

Originally Posted by ddmckee54

Blame it on an obviously miss-spent youth, hanging around with the "wrong" type of people.

I, err, was going for "roll your own tires" because tires roll. I have no idea to what else you might reefer, err, refer Dave's not here, man. =))

Originally Posted by ddmckee54

I've been looking for tires in the 75-77mm OD range that I'll need for another Bruder conversion that's in the works. I don't want to have to spend more for just the tires than I'll have invested in all of the rest of the conversion - just don't seem right.

Don

Yeah, it gets frustrating, especially when, as you pointed out in another post, you want a specific size AND a specific tread pattern. Oddly, I found a bunch of cheap Tamiya-style tires that are what I want for the rears of a project, but can't find matching tires a bit shorter in diameter for the tags, and nothing even close for front super singles, grrr.

Of course now I'm knee-deep in trying to CAD the tread Just So, and it's making my head hurt figuratively (sorting the geometry of the tread) AND literally (poor eyesight.)

We enjoy this hobby, right? =))

-- A

[ddmckee54]

Originally Posted by dremu

We enjoy this hobby, right? =))

We must. I'm pretty sure it's not the high pay, or the wild women, that keeps us coming back for more.

Don