Eric, the 40mm is perfect, so I am curious what gauge do you get on the Kadee wheels after that (measure up to, but not on the fillet)…
I have heard the Kadee wheels have really thick flanges, and it was hard to get correct gauge once the back to back of 40mm was set.
Greg
I’m finding that to be true, now that I’m gauging them properly. The flange is a bit thicker than an Aristo wheel, but the profile is very different. I may need to modify the gauge to the minimum specified thickness. Snow day tomorrow, so I’ll futz around with it.
I downloaded a drawing for a wheel gauge from the Saskatoon Model Engineers, and it has the back to back at 39.5mm But since I don’t set my wheels tight to the back to back, I set my wheels so the flanges fit in the slots and rotate in the gauge freely, my wheels are probably just a smidge under 40mm back to back. It works for me.
John Bouck said:
All track is not a perfect 45mm spacing…
Actually, none of my (commercially made) track is, its all a bit wider. I have found the same to be true in HO. The NMRA track gauge falls between the rails, because its over-gauge too. I wonder if manufacturers do this on purpose (for whatever reason) of if its just that manufacturing tolerances aren’t tight enough to get the gauge spot on.
David Maynard said:
I downloaded a drawing for a wheel gauge from the Saskatoon Model Engineers, and it has the back to back at 39.5mm But since I don’t set my wheels tight to the back to back, I set my wheels so the flanges fit in the slots and rotate in the gauge freely, my wheels are probably just a smidge under 40mm back to back. It works for me.
John Bouck said:
All track is not a perfect 45mm spacing…Actually, none of my (commercially made) track is, its all a bit wider. I have found the same to be true in HO. The NMRA track gauge falls between the rails, because its over-gauge too. I wonder if manufacturers do this on purpose (for whatever reason) of if its just that manufacturing tolerances aren’t tight enough to get the gauge spot on.
David
Is this drawing something you could post?
Tom
Sure
Here is a 39.53 mm version. This is the NMRA minimum dimension. https://www.dropbox.com/s/qczibgtbuk1li08/Wheel%20Gauge%2039.53%20v1.stl?dl=0
David
Thank you very much.
Tom
For most purposes, the Aristocraft wheel and track gauge seems to work well, and is reasonably simple. Too bad that no-one is manufacturing it at present. Might be one old Aristo product, that Kader/Bachmann should consider producing. I favour their +/- features, and the fact that they are made of metal so they don’t wear out too fast.
Fred Mills
Based on the input here, and a couple of PMs, here’s a new version. It has steps for max and min gauge, and a slot for the USAT gear in the center. This will also allow for centering the gear when pressing the axles back together. I just need to measure the width and diameter of that gear before finalizing the design.
Fred Mills. said:
For most purposes, the Aristocraft wheel and track gauge seems to work well, and is reasonably simple.
I totally agree, but they are going for more than $40 on eBay.
Yeah, I looked all over the place for the Aristo gauge and couldn’t find one. One on Ebay just went for 42 bucks!
Good thing I bought 2 for $10 each (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
I’ve also tweaked them, a couple of the measurements on the go/no go gauge were off by a few thousandths.
Greg
We are rich Greg ! I still have barber trucks with “end caps” in stock
Forgot to add Fred in as that Aristo gauge could buy a damn good dram or two on Ebay
Prototype of the max/min stepped gauge (Greg’s idea) with a slot for the USAT gear (Richard’s idea). I had an axle that needed a sleeve, so I gave it a try. It worked well. It presses the axle to the correct gauge, and ensures that the gear is centered.
