Polishing Royal Racer Wheel Bores

General discussions for car and semi-truck racers.
Post Reply
CliffordT
Apprentice
Apprentice
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:04 pm
Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Polishing Royal Racer Wheel Bores

Post by CliffordT »

I race with Royal Racer style wheels, but we don't mount on the dowels, just the screws right into the body (work group and we have a large stockpile of these kits available). Decided to up my game and do bore prep this year with Red Rocket polish. The problem I'm up against is the bores are 0.125" and I don't think the kit supplies will work well on this diameter. Any advice on how to properly do the prep for this setup? Thanks in advance!
User avatar
whodathunkit
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 2476
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2009 5:56 pm
Location: Forgan, OK

Re: Polishing Royal Racer Wheel Bores

Post by whodathunkit »

:welcome: CliffordT,

So you won't be useing the dowels.. (just the screws into the side of the block.)
Is there enough of an iner hub on the wheels to hold the wheels out ..
and keep them from rubbing up against the side of the block.

Are the wheels you'll be useing the older 4 spoke style.. or the newer 6 spoke type?
As far as larger wheel bore polishing kits or a bore polishing tool that I know of..
S&W crafts mfg has a wheel bore polishing kit..
& then DW has a pro-bore polisher tool just for the larger wheel bores types.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
CliffordT
Apprentice
Apprentice
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:04 pm
Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Re: Polishing Royal Racer Wheel Bores

Post by CliffordT »

Our kits don't have spokes, but other than that look like the Royal Racers wheels I've seen (solid wheel, fully round tread, larger straight thru hole bore with a cone shaped center area). I have also seen some labeled as Royal Racers on various sites that look exactly the same. I think there is another class called Royal Rangers that has the spokes, the RA Racers seem to be what this is. These kits actually show they are made for the "Calvanist Cadet Corps", and come with little 1/8" ID plated washers that presumably you run against the wood (at least that's what everyone seems to do in our races). I've debated using the washers on the screw head side since I run the rears with negative camber and should stay off the body, this would seem to be the easy way to have a perfectly smooth screw head. We've had a couple of cases of these kits at work for the past few years so who knows how old they are.

I'm starting to run out of time with just over a week to my race. Just trying to understand what kind of material makes an optimal bore polish pin if I have to improvise. I did find some Tamiya modeling craft cotton swabs in the Hobby Lobby model paint section of the store that are basically expensive precision q-tips but they are just a hair too small (they do work amazing on my BSA style wheels for another contest I enter so not a total loss). Standard q-tips are just a bit too big to fit, at least the ones we have around the house. The bores aren't too bad to begin with, so I'm hesitant to use something that could do more harm than good.
Speedster
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 1972
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:48 pm
Location: Toledo, Ohio

Re: Polishing Royal Racer Wheel Bores

Post by Speedster »

CliffordT, you stated your wheel bores were 0.125". I have a Walgreen's Studio35beauty cotton swab, paper stick, and generally measures 0.101". I do not have a Q-tip brand cotton swab at this time but I recall the shaft was a bit bigger. You then said the "Standard q-tip", which I take to mean the brand name Q-tip, is a bit too big to fit. If that is true, your wheel bores are not 0.125". What's the diameter of the Tamiya cotton swab?
The cotton swab shafts are used with Novus 2 to polish bores and remove scratches. No Scratch applicators and Extra Fluffy pipe cleaners are used with Red Rocket.

You referred to BSA wheels. Am I reading everything correctly?
User avatar
whodathunkit
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 2476
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2009 5:56 pm
Location: Forgan, OK

Re: Polishing Royal Racer Wheel Bores

Post by whodathunkit »

CliffordT,
When you said..
CliffordT wrote:I race with Royal Racer style wheels, but we don't mount on the dowels, just the screws right into the body
My thoughts were of the Royal Ranger kit..
because of the dowels and screws type axles use in the kit.

Ok I got you now:
Your useing a Royal Ambassadors kit.
In 1999 the brand name changed..to Royal Racers RA Race car.
This kit type also uses axle slots in the block & uses a pin type axle also ..
kinda: like the Awanas axle type that I know of.
And not a screw type axle like whats used in the Royal Ranger kit.

(Is this right?) :idk: :?
As you keep saying screw head type axles are used in your kit.
http://www.royalracers.com/royal_racer_kits.html" target="_blank

Whoda.
What type of automobile can be spelled the same forwards & backwards?
CliffordT
Apprentice
Apprentice
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:04 pm
Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Re: Polishing Royal Racer Wheel Bores

Post by CliffordT »

We use #4 wood screws for axles and there are no slots in our kits, just stock holes. We are allowed to redrill custom wheelbase to our liking. Unortunately these screws are still pretty sloppy but we need to use what we were given. Pretty sure they are RA racer wheels but maybe a niche kit overall.

As for the holes I have some good mitutoyo calipers and they appear to be nominally designed at 0.125. Mine range from 0.128 to 0.130. The cotton swabs we have use plastic shafts, they are local store house brand. The cotton heads dont fit in the bore at all unless I remove some of the material. My Tamiya ones were just a thought and they ended up too small for these RA racer wheels but they fit my other BSA ones nicely, but that is using just the head. The shafts are waaaaay small. The heads are a nice tight and precision formed shape tho. They make a larger size but they looked too big in the bag.

I ordered the [no advertising for this vendor] zero friction polish and the red rocket polish but no applicators since I have the oddball size I guess my main question is what should I be looking for in applicator materials for both steps and how tight should the fit be? I'm also final lubing with zero friction graphite as we are a dry only race. Wanted to burnish, is a 1/2" pipe cleaner reasonable for this with the oversized bore?
Speedster
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 1972
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:48 pm
Location: Toledo, Ohio

Re: Polishing Royal Racer Wheel Bores

Post by Speedster »

If memory serves me regarding other Topics on wheel bores, neither plastic shafts nor the ends of a swab are used. The Walgreen's cotton swab paper shaft seems to be a good fit for the BSA wheel bore. There are those that prefer using the extra fluffy pipe cleaner and perhaps there are many other ways. Since the bore on your wheel is that big perhaps the vendors would have some advice. Best of Luck.
User avatar
Stan Pope
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 6856
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2003 7:01 pm
Location: Morton, Illinois
Contact:

Re: Polishing Royal Racer Wheel Bores

Post by Stan Pope »

CliffordT wrote:...
Wanted to burnish, is a 1/2" pipe cleaner reasonable for this with the oversized bore?
My idea of "burnish" is to use a just slightly smaller drill bit or smooth rod. Place the rod through the bore, add graphite and roll the wheel with gentle pressure against a firm but giving surface. For instance, roll it on your thigh! If you use a drill bit, check it for smoothness first! Reasoning is that the hard surface of the drill rod will press the graphite into the bore surface and will flatten / remove any remaining defects in the surface.

YMMV.
Stan
"If it's not for the boys, it's for the birds!"
User avatar
frontosacam311
Master Pine Head
Master Pine Head
Posts: 113
Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:53 am
Location: Pacific ,Northwest

Re: Polishing Royal Racer Wheel Bores

Post by frontosacam311 »

Try to find a grab bag of suckers that has the small Sugar Daddys and Zip-a-Dees by Tootsie Roll. The bag I picked up at Wal-Mart contained both and they should fit the bore nice and snug. For an easier method, start with sucker/q-tip stalks that are too large, chuck it in a drill and sand it to the correct size. Use a high quality sandpaper that won't shed any grit into the paper stalk. I am fascinated hearing about the older kits you mention, especially that they used #4 wood screws in a pre-drilled block! Makes a guy wonder how accurate those holes were drilled.
CliffordT
Apprentice
Apprentice
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:04 pm
Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Re: Polishing Royal Racer Wheel Bores

Post by CliffordT »

Thanks for all the advice. I'll see what I can find along the way of larger paper shafts. Also sorry about advertising the other site I didn't know if exactly what I was using would make a difference in how I do it. It almost seemed like one product was mildly abrasive to polish things up while step 2 was more of a lubricating wax paste. You guys just seem to be more knowledgeable about some of the variants. :D

Stan thanks for the tip on burnishing. I'd read different accounts on how to do it and I thought it would be bad to put something as hard as a drill bit inside the plastic. We will see how things turn out!


As for age I'd guess these to be less than 5 or 6 years but just part of a smaller subset of RA/RR kits builders. Says it was built for the Calvanist Cadet Corps. by the Illiana Council. I couldn't find anything on them but the wheels appear to be from the standard RA Racer kit. It does come with a dowel but thats not drilled.
User avatar
Stan Pope
Pine Head Legend
Pine Head Legend
Posts: 6856
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2003 7:01 pm
Location: Morton, Illinois
Contact:

Re: Polishing Royal Racer Wheel Bores

Post by Stan Pope »

CliffordT wrote: Stan thanks for the tip on burnishing. I'd read different accounts on how to do it and I thought it would be bad to put something as hard as a drill bit inside the plastic. We will see how things turn out!
Well, you aren't going to put the flutes of the drill bit inside the bore, just the shaft. And when you apply pressure you will use the smooth part of the shaft, not the part that has lettering stamped in! And you aren't going to put your full weight on it ... just a few pounds of pressure to mash up the graphite, push it into any pores, and flatten out any surviving peaks.

Don't sweat the reference to "blacklisted" vendors ... they just advertise stuff that the folks on DT thinks hurts the hobby. So, we just automatically suppress references to 'em in case one of us forgets! :)

Good racing!
Stan
"If it's not for the boys, it's for the birds!"
Post Reply