Large Scale Central

Slaters Plastikard Wheel Sets

Reviews
#21

John Caughey said:

David Maynard said:

John Caughey said:

David Maynard said:

wheel assemblerextraordinarycommon doohicky.

A.K.A. wheel press?

2 comments;

  1. Wow you read the whole post!

  2. I got that $12 word from ebay just for you (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

1, aren’t I supposed to?

  1. Just for me? I didn’t know I was that special.

1.At times it seems folks only read the subject [No names]…

  1. Yes there is something Special about you… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
  1. I know. Or they only partly read the post, and then answer with an answer that doesn’t quite fit.

2 Yea, I have been labeled “special” before. It doesn’t bother me anymore. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)It doesn’t bother any less neither. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#22

Pete Thornton said:

As Eric says, they are mostly nylon wheel centers and not suitable for live steam.

Very sad about that. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)I’m glad you sparkey powered guys found a nice wheel though.

#23

Actually nylon center wheels are not great for sparkies, because when you get a derailment and short, it will heat up the tires and melt the centers of the wheels.

Best for battery power.

Greg

#24

Pete Thornton said:

We’ve been looking around for tires for Devon’s 3D printed wheel centers and for my EBT 4-6-0 kit. Slaters in the UK has expanded their range into gauge-3 which is quite close to our Fn3. They also make gauge-1 (1/32nd scale) and 16mm scale (1/19th scale 2’ gauge) wheels. https://slatersplastikard.com/wheels.php

(Gauge-3 is 1/22.5 standard gauge, or 64.5mm gauge. The Brits seem to like it - you can even get a live steam 4-6-2 to run.)

I was looking for a 48" diameter driving wheel with 12 spokes. Slaters sell a gauge-3 4’ 6" 13 Spoke Driving Wheel for a UK loco, which works out to the equivalent of 48.314" in Fn3. So I ordered a wheelset with a gauge-1 (45mm) axle instead of the usual g-3.

What do the wheel sets {as in a pair} cost ?

#25

Greg Elmassian said:

Actually nylon center wheels are not great for sparkies, because when you get a derailment and short, it will heat up the tires and melt the centers of the wheels.

Best for battery power.

Greg

Greg, shouldn’t the power supply cut off, fuse, circuit breaker, remove the power before the wheel heats up too much? Or am I just not aware of these things, because I run on the low side of the amp curve?

#26

David Russell said:

Pete Thornton said:

We’ve been looking around for tires for Devon’s 3D printed wheel centers and for my EBT 4-6-0 kit. Slaters in the UK has expanded their range into gauge-3 which is quite close to our Fn3. They also make gauge-1 (1/32nd scale) and 16mm scale (1/19th scale 2’ gauge) wheels. https://slatersplastikard.com/wheels.php

(Gauge-3 is 1/22.5 standard gauge, or 64.5mm gauge. The Brits seem to like it - you can even get a live steam 4-6-2 to run.)

I was looking for a 48" diameter driving wheel with 12 spokes. Slaters sell a gauge-3 4’ 6" 13 Spoke Driving Wheel for a UK loco, which works out to the equivalent of 48.314" in Fn3. So I ordered a wheelset with a gauge-1 (45mm) axle instead of the usual g-3.

What do the wheel sets {as in a pair} cost ?

Pete Thornton said:

The tires/tyres are stainless steel, which makes the wheels quite expensive - about $60/set. However, we are talking to Slaters about making some tires exactly 48" in Fn3 using mild steel and they should be a more reasonable price.

Edit: Because it’s fun answering questions by only quoting

#27

Randy,

You forgot to add “Shut up Rooster!” (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#28

Who’s rooster. I thought he left us? And some fine upstanding gentleman named Mr. Russell replaced him.

#29

Yes, we can only hope! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#30

Thank you Randy …I completely over looked that !

#31

Greg Elmassian said:

Actually nylon center wheels are not great for sparkies, because when you get a derailment and short, it will heat up the tires and melt the centers of the wheels.

Best for battery power.

Greg

Greg, sometimes your comments are curious, to say the least: “not great for sparkies” is a bit of a generalization - and “will heat up the tires” is another assumption on your part. A short circuit doesn’t always heat up the wheels and won’t necessarily melt the centers! For example, the Aristo TE will blow a fuse long before you heat anything up!

Nylon wheel centers may not work for YOU, but I believe Slaters is selling lots of wheelsets to UK model locomotive builders, and the models are track powered. I didn’t see any adverse comments when I was googling for information from the users.

#32

Y’know we can most likely substitute nylon for the lost wax in making bronze centers, it should burn out clean vaporizing any ash … but some provision for the counter weights should be made before the burn…

Just saying…

#33

Pete, that’s what I was thinking. Heartland locomotive drives have a similar construction, although I think the Heartland are some kind of plastic. Anyway, I haven’t melted the centers yet, and I do have the odd derailment from time to time.

Now if my power supply didn’t shut down at a bit over 5 amps, if I had to pull 35 amps before it shut down, then I could see where I might have an issue. But I don’t run 4 SD74-9MACs pulling 35 lighted passenger cars up a 5.7% grade at 61 scale mile per hour neither, so I don’t need to have 35 amps available on the rails. 5 amps max is plenty for my railroad.

#34

look at the experiences with mth locos when they came with plastic center wheels… derailments that shorted as i described melted the centers… mth changed the wheels as i understand… did not say no good, i said BEST for battery… read carefully

#35

Greg yes, but like I said, my power supply cuts out at 5 amps. I have yet to melt the wheels on my Heartland locomotives, due to a derailment. So while those wheels may be best for battery power, those of us on low current track power should not have issues with them.

#36

take your loco and feed 4.9 amps through a short… it’s easier to conceive on a diesel, put the power across the left wheels on the rear truck and the left wheels on the front truck.

Yous short circuit is through the wiring that connects the track pickups, not through the decoders, etc.

Same for a steamer, for example between the tender and the loco.

Unless you individually “fuse” all separate track pickups, a derailment can run the short through wires that are independent of the decoder. or rest of the internal circuitry.

MTH apparently had quite an issue, granted most MTH people run much higher current capability, but you would be surprised what a few amps can do when a loco sits derailed.

So, again, I said “BETTER” for battery operation… where no shorts “through” the wheels are possible.

I believe Pete has no MTH, only live steamers (or mostly) and no layout. Throwing what I have to say out the window without experience is your choice.

In an Aristo RS-3, the front truck and the rear truck connect to each end of the board… the short between the trucks burned up the trace between the trucks. The loco still ran ok, but stuttered a lot, that is because not all pickups were working. The tires of plastic centered wheels can heat from a short and soften the plastic.

Greg

#37

Greg, I think you are taking the tack that I am arguing with you. I am not. I am just saying that plastic centered wheels can work well on track power IF there isn’t enough power available to weld, and or fry stuff, like you have shown on numerous occasions.

As of yet, I have never had a partial short, where excessive current has been drawn, but low enough so as to not trip the safety built into the power supply. When I have a derailment caused short, it draws enough current to trip the safety.

#38

Pete Thornton said:

A short circuit doesn’t always heat up the wheels and won’t necessarily melt the centers! For example, the Aristo TE will blow a fuse long before you heat anything up!

Yep that’s what happens when Superliners derail and lay flat across the track!

#39

Well, that IS what a fuse or circuit protector is supposed to do. Open the circuit before a lot of damage is done. But if the thing trips at 15 amps, then there is a moment of 15 amps, or more, rushing through the circuit/short. Some guys have systems that will supply even more then that before they trip. My system trips at around 5 amps, well below the 10 amp fuse’s rating in the TE. Power equals voltage times current, so I have a lot less destructive power at 5 amps the someone else would at 15 or 20 amps.

#40

I’ve done my best to explain, I’ll leave you guys with this:

how much continuous current (in a short through the wheels) does it take to soften/damage the wheel?

if you have a 5 amp fuse, how long can it run at 4 amps (hint, forever)

that said, what current do you think a 5 amp fuse blows at (hint, it is NOT 5 amps, look at the manufacturers specs)

The bottom line is that it is pretty easy to heat up a wheel if the short is through the wheels and you are pushing around 5 amps… the reality is that we CANNOT fuse our locos to completely protect from this when you have to allow around 4 amps for the loco in normal operations.

OK, you can take it or leave it. Everything I have said can be backed up by some simple research.

Greg