jtuttle11
Junior Member
I have come up with a tool and method for cutting very good quality foam board circles for wheels. I made a tool from a piece of 1/2 inch square stock and 2 pieces of ply to hold the #11 cutting blade.
The ply pieces are3 attached to one end of the square stock and the #11 blade is sandwiched between them using 2 servo mounting screws. The square stock is then drilled to provide the pivot point for the cutting of the circle.
Remember, This is the 'Radius' of the circle. The diameter will be double this setting.
I use 4 of these circles for each wheel and a spacer 'Tread'. The 2 outer pieces on each wheel I use to make the 'Tire' and finish the completed wheel off with a Jumbo Black Sharpie pen.
I start by gluing the outer 'Tire rings' to the inner 'Wheel disc'. Next I begin assembly by gluing each disc to the 'Tread /separator' (This has been pleated using the method I posted earlier).
Starting with a small area for the first attachment of the circles, follow the method used by the other Flite Test designs of slowly gluing and rolling the surface on the table to get a smooth glue joint.
Since you cut the Tread just over sized, you trim the tread to length leaving the excess paper to glue over the starting point to give a finished look to the wheel.
The ply pieces are3 attached to one end of the square stock and the #11 blade is sandwiched between them using 2 servo mounting screws. The square stock is then drilled to provide the pivot point for the cutting of the circle.
Remember, This is the 'Radius' of the circle. The diameter will be double this setting.
I use 4 of these circles for each wheel and a spacer 'Tread'. The 2 outer pieces on each wheel I use to make the 'Tire' and finish the completed wheel off with a Jumbo Black Sharpie pen.
I start by gluing the outer 'Tire rings' to the inner 'Wheel disc'. Next I begin assembly by gluing each disc to the 'Tread /separator' (This has been pleated using the method I posted earlier).
Starting with a small area for the first attachment of the circles, follow the method used by the other Flite Test designs of slowly gluing and rolling the surface on the table to get a smooth glue joint.
Since you cut the Tread just over sized, you trim the tread to length leaving the excess paper to glue over the starting point to give a finished look to the wheel.