legoman666

I'm afraid these are not what you are looking for. The flange is smaller but the overall size is the same. I could however whip up a blind wheel for you. God knows it'd be useful in my own designs as well. Sliding middle axles are tricky when the bogie is PF powered.

I ordered a set of 4 myself in plastic just to test. Also ordered 4 of the steam wheels in steel to put on my big boy. Also ordered 6 more of the original to complement my first 2. I'm afraid the flange on them is too big.

Should be good to go. Reduced flange size by .5mm and beveled edge of wheel to improve cornering. Wheel size minus the flange is 19.5mm, Official Lego wheel is 16.3mm.

Fair enough, but let me fix it for other buyers. I might order a set myself and I'll need the small gap.

I was able to buy a few sets from him myself. Last I heard he was in the process of moving so was unable to fulfill orders. That was several months ago. The price on Shapeways is for a single wheel unfortunately. Still cheaper than a new 9v motor though. Zephyr: I was just reading about that! I'll see if I can modify mine.

You're right, I was thinking in inches (that .05 inches would be plenty). I'll change it.

https://www.shapeway...ange-lego-wheel Small flanged wheel. NB: will very likely derail through switches and maybe even standard lego curves if your wheelbase is long. Dimensions should be correct, but let me verify them tomorrow when I regain access to a real wheel to compare to. Maximum width of flange is 23.95mm, which is just under the 24mm 3 stud width, so it shouldn't rub against adjacent bricks (unlike the official Lego wheels....) and fit nicely.

You're awesome. Down to $16. https://www.shapeways.com/product/MZ33DR32K/lego-large-steam-wheel I'm going to order a few soon. FYI, for others ordering, there's a 10% off coupon: C65GX. Edit: ordered 4. Working on editing standard wheel to make a few different sizes but with the same diameter flange.

Dimensions seem correct. Cost for your version in SS is $22. https://www.shapeways.com/product/MZ33DR32K/lego-large-steam-wheel?optionId=55153773 The estimate for the one I made was $15. Any chance you could sculpt out some of the inside of the flange and reduce the size of the spoke? Buying 8 of these for my Big Boy seems kind of .... exorbitant,

That's awesome! Design good from here, without seeing the dimensions. Only issue I see is the thickness of the flange. I've had issues with thick flanges catching on the outside rail in 9V curves at the connection between 2 pieces of track. The back was shelled to reduce material needed to keep cost down. Difference is probably negligible though. The full thickness will give me more area to scrape my wire against to pick up power. Link me to the .stl and I'll check the dimensions against the wheel sitting in front of me.

Right. Nope, I thought at first that it was just showing me a low res version of my circle, but later realized that it was really only like a 24 sided polygon. I know how to make it higher res now.

I tried Microsoft's little netfabb tool, it fixed one of the errors but left two. I tried using Meshlab to convert from .dae to .stl, and the resulting model was identical, errors and all. https://www.dropbox.com/s/2x2opw4l9pguxg1/wheel2_fixed%20%282%29.stl?dl=0 Here's the file netfabb created. I might have to start over from scratch, pretty low res curves, although I might order one in plastic just to check fitting.

.stl , Shapeways keeps filling in the pin hole for the driving rod. Not sure why, it's just a simple cylinder. I'm also worried about the resolution of the circles that Sketchup makes.

Indeed. I uploaded that too, but it is not my design. I've ordered 1 copy of it. Works okay although I bought it in white so it kind of sticks out. It's tough to put Lego tile on the sleepers. The studs are ever so slightly too big. Putting the finishing touches on my steam wheel, model is complete but shapeways is giving me issues with it when I upload it.

Nope, my CSX has 4 powered axles and 2 dummy axles with all with steel wheels. It can pull my 16' consist no problem.

It's certainly possible, but it'll still derail through switches. I have some of Alain's custom wheels that cause issues in switches if they're not perfectly spaced. My locomotive's are heavy too. I can make them for you if you're still interested. These are for pulling power up from the track, a rubber traction band would kind of defeat the purpose ;)

I understand your concern. My interest in this is to both drive with and pick up power at the same time. Otherwise I wouldn't need the Technic axle hole. My other steel wheels I use don't seem to be wearing down the track, but they're smooth.

The axles fit in the holes (obviously) but are a very tight fit. I didn't want spokes because I've never seen a spoked wheel on a diesel in my life. Why would these wear the track down any faster than the regular 9v motor?

You can look at the higher res originals if you get rid of the h at the end of the jpg name. On imgur, h creates a "huge" thumbnail. I've watched videos of 3d metal printers. They use some sort of metal sand that gets melted by a laser 1 layer at a time and built from the bottom up. I assume these were made using the same tech.

https://www.shapeway...ego-train-wheel I uploaded this model (not of my design) and ordered a few in Stainless steel so I can pull up power from the track. They look great. Someone else ordered 4 of them. I only got 2 to test but just placed an order for 6 more. Working on some of the bigger Steam wheels in SketchUp so I can upload and get some in SS too. I use phosphor bronze wire bent in to a spiral to scrape the back the wheel to pick up power. Works great and is cheap. I'll post a link when I finish the bigger wheels. I make no money from uploading these.

This is from 4 years ago.

The first car trailing the leading locomotive has custom steel wheels that pick up 24V from the track (only the straights are powered). There is a DC-DC converter to output 10.8V to a homemade Bluetooth motor controller that is powering two PF train motors. Additionally, there are 2 AAA battery packs connected in parallel that provide the juice when there is no track power. Batteries are protected by a diode, and power from the track is rectified. So the motor controller gets 10.8V no matter what. It is indeed controlled by an android app. More details about the Bluetooth controller here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=87340 More pictures of the bridge here, although they are old: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=97760

For your enjoyment, my souped up Horizon Express running at full speed on some R104 track: Apologies for general crappiness of the video, it is difficult to hold the camera and control the train at the same time. I can still make it derail if I remove a couple of the cars. EDIT: scratch that, can still derail. The trailing loco is top heavy and likes to tip over occasionally. Ask me how I know.... Perhaps I can add some weights to lower the center of gravity.

I received mine today too. Quick video: And some photos: (Major rearranging of my city going on) Overall pretty satisfied with the curves. Their clutch power isn't as strong as Lego, but seem to stay together once everything is in place. The beginning and end of the curves don't seem to want to stay attached to the baseplate. It's almost as if the radius of the curve is like 103.5 studs instead of 104. Also, my very first bag I opened of R104 had 17 inners and 15 outers. Still can't run my HE at full speed ;)

looks like a BNSF modified and built with different colors.