Train Axle Making Jig

[dr_spock]

A couple of years ago, I bought a large amount of train wheels and bogie frames but they didn't have the metal axles available.  I made own axles by cutting 2 mm diameter metal rods.  My free hand cutting wasn't all that accurate.  If I was off by -2 mm, then the wheels would derail in curves and switches.  I used up the first batch of bogies made.  It is time to make some more.  For this batch I decided to make a cutting jig out of a scrap piece of wood.  I milled a 2 mm slot and it secured the piece for an accurate cut every time.

 

 

 

 

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Hey man this is too cool!

[Trekkie99]

Two thumbs up! I'm loving it! 

[Ex cinno]

I like your method @dr_spock and I think my father-in-law would be able to do some of these axes for me. 

[zephyr1934]

Great work!

[dr_spock]

Thanks everyone. 

It is a inexpensive and quicky way to crank out axles. They are not as shiny or chrome plated as the LEGO ones. You could buff them shiny with some extra effort. Then again who is going to see them hidden inside the bogie frames?

[Trekkie99]

Do they spin as smoothly as official Lego train wheel axles?

[ALCO]

Really cool @dr_spock! Will these axles work in the same ball-bearings BMR is using in their models? I have been thinking about how I can get more axles... And this is great! Where did you get the 2mm metal rod you are using?

[legoman666]

I've never been able to get my eBay/Amazon 2mm rod to fit in the bearings. The real Lego axles are actually like 1.90mm. BrickTracks's Scott made Cale and I some that are the correct size, which are what's included with the BMR kits. If you ask him, he may sell them to you too.

[coaster]

42 minutes ago, legoman666 said:

I've never been able to get my eBay/Amazon 2mm rod to fit in the bearings. The real Lego axles are actually like 1.90mm. BrickTracks's Scott made Cale and I some that are the correct size, which are what's included with the BMR kits. If you ask him, he may sell them to you too.

I may have made a few:

Old LEGO ones are 1.98mm, new LEGO ones are 2.00mm.  These are made back to the 1.98mm.  Not sure how many I have left.  I found that even in the standard wheelsets, mine roll better than the LEGO ones, so I've been replacing all of mine.

[Trekkie99]

6 minutes ago, coaster said:

I may have made a few:

*snip*

Old LEGO ones are 1.98mm, new LEGO ones are 2.00mm.  These are made back to the 1.98mm.  Not sure how many I have left.  I found that even in the standard wheelsets, mine roll better than the LEGO ones, so I've been replacing all of mine.

A few?!   

So they work better than the official ones? Wow. Never would have thought! So cool. 

 

Edited January 6, 2018 by LegoMonorailFan

[dr_spock]

On 1/5/2018 at 9:54 AM, LegoMonorailFan said:

Do they spin as smoothly as official Lego train wheel axles?

Yes, they do. 

 

21 hours ago, ALCO said:

Really cool @dr_spock! Will these axles work in the same ball-bearings BMR is using in their models? I have been thinking about how I can get more axles... And this is great! Where did you get the 2mm metal rod you are using?

I don't know.  It'll depend on the inner hole diameter of the bearing.  You can get rods and piano wire in various sizes from hobby shops or stores that sells K&S.  You could try their stock #505 piano wire which is 0.078 inch.  That is a tad under 2 mm:  http://www.ksmetals.com/17.html

 

24 minutes ago, coaster said:

I may have made a few:

Old LEGO ones are 1.98mm, new LEGO ones are 2.00mm.  These are made back to the 1.98mm.  Not sure how many I have left.  I found that even in the standard wheelsets, mine roll better than the LEGO ones, so I've been replacing all of mine.

That's a quite few.  Looks so nice to have a machine to crank them out.  I have to freeze my ball bearings in my cold cold garage. 

[coaster]

Don't use 2mm rods.  Get some centerless ground (sometimes called precision ground) 5/64 (.078"/1.98mm) rod.  That's what I use, and then you don't have to do any other finishing and they'll fit perfectly into the bearings.

[Legopold]

@dr_spock: Good work. I once tried to make my own train axles, too, because I found the original LEGO ones quite expensive.

I ended up buying axles for a good price from this seller from AliExpress. The axles fit perfectly into the LEGO wheel holder. The axles have quite good quality (correct dimensions, straight and even). The only difference from the original LEGO ones I noticed are slightly uneven endings but that did not affect the function of the axles. I had no problems to fit them into the MR52ZZ (2x5x2.5mm) ball bearings which I bought from another seller at AliExpress.

60 axles including shipping cost only 5.20$, which I consider a really good offer.

 

[dr_spock]

On 1/6/2018 at 3:52 PM, Legopold said:

@dr_spock: Good work. I once tried to make my own train axles, too, because I found the original LEGO ones quite expensive.

I ended up buying axles for a good price from this seller from AliExpress. The axles fit perfectly into the LEGO wheel holder. The axles have quite good quality (correct dimensions, straight and even). The only difference from the original LEGO ones I noticed are slightly uneven endings but that did not affect the function of the axles. I had no problems to fit them into the MR52ZZ (2x5x2.5mm) ball bearings which I bought from another seller at AliExpress.

60 axles including shipping cost only 5.20$, which I consider a really good offer.

 

Thanks.  That's a good deal on AliExpress.  I can grind out 69 axles from $2.59 worth of piano wire.  Not much of a savings, the fun was in learning to make tooling and G-coding by hand.