Inner Wheel Treatment

[Slot]

What do people do to treat the inside of their wheels to allow for "rolling" on the guide rail as opposed to "scraping" it? The more that I read comments from the experienced folk, the more I'm dissuaded from canting axles.

[Stan Pope]

What do people do to treat the inside of their wheels to allow for "rolling" on the guide rail as opposed to "scraping" it? The more that I read comments from the experienced folk, the more I'm dissuaded from canting axles.

Gentle, large radius rounding should be sufficient. I know of no studies. If you suspect that the guiderail may be hacked up badly then perhaps reduce the radius.

Meanwhile, of course, work to keep the car off the rails to the extent possible! (You know how to do that!)

[Slot]

By reducing the radius, I'm assuming that you mean thinning the tread. If I'm right, then aren't you, in effect, sharpening the inner edge of the wheel, making it more likely to dig into defects and slow the car?

[Stan Pope]

By reducing the radius, I'm assuming that you mean thinning the tread. If I'm right, then aren't you, in effect, sharpening the inner edge of the wheel, making it more likely to dig into defects and slow the car?

Oh, no! We're not undercutting the tread. We're "rounding" the inner edge of the tread that might contact the track's guiderail.

Look at the cross-section of the tread, then focus on the inner edge. If the track has a smooth guiderail, then rounding with a large radius would work better. But if the guiderail is rough or jagged, then you may need a smaller radius to lift the leading edge away from the indentations in the track's guiderail.

[Slot]

Stan, I sent an email with a pic of what I think you mean.