Quality of Slaters loco wheels.

[John Candy]

Currently assembling a GRS MR 2F loco kit with Slaters wheels.
What is your experience with the quality of these wheels?
I find that they invariably exhibit a slight 'wobble' and one or two even appear to have (very marginal) concentricity issues.
Had the same issue when assembling the LNER N5 kit and expect the GWR 2021 will be the same (when I get around to it).
I have also found that the ready-assembled wagon wheels from GRS sometimes do not run 'true' and exhibit a degree of 'wobble'.

Since the loco/tender wheels are already cut to a 'fine' pofile, have a moulded insert with a flush-to-back brass centre bush and are on shouldered axles with in-built quartering, there appears to be no way of correcting these faults.

Slight filing of the axle ends would seem to be the only option but I doubt would prove a satisfactory remedy.

John.

[IanT]

I'd be pretty certain that the steel tyres are CNC cut before the plastic hubs are molded in - and so any slight differences in plastic shrinkage (as it cools) will cause it to run slightly out of true. I would also wonder if the larger the wheel - the more chance there is of this occuring - or of any movement on the outside diameter to be exagerated.

For wagon wheels - I wouldn't think this would be such a big issue - but if it was that noticable then I'd return the wheel and seek a replacement. For Locos it could be more of an issue but again if the 'wobble' is that large, I'd return the wheel set and ask for it to be replaced.

There is always some slight wobble on a wheel after it's placed on the axle - and for cast wheels I would normally take a very light skim over the wheel after it's been 'loctite' (ed). To do this you either need to have drilled 'centres' in the axle ends (Normally for Loco wheels - so you can mount the wheel set between the lathe centres) - or for wagons (smaller axles) have made up some simple fixtures to hold the axle bearing stubs. I have some 'female' centres that fit my older wagon axles to do this with. One is an old MT2 stub that fits in the tailstock - the other is a plate with a driving pin and a 10mm stub that fits into my collet chuck. Both have holes drill in their 'face' matching my wagon axle size. Although I've always done this for wheels that I've turned up - to be honest I've never actually looked that closely at the Slaters wheels I have been acquiring more recently - I'm talking about the cast iron wagon wheels that CES used to sell.

To be honest John if the wheels are that far out - return them. If the wobble is only very slight and GRS can't help - I'll have look at skimming them for you if you really are unable to live with them.

Regards,  Ian

[MikeWilliams]

I've never used Slaters wheels on a loco (much prefer metal with all that weight on them), so can't comment.  The wagon wheels however do indeed often not run true.  I have used a large number of their 7mm scale wagon wheels and returned about 10% for replacement, which they were happy to do.  Maybe its not so not noticeable in the larger scale, or maybe their quality control is better now but I find the failure rate in their Gauge 3 wheels is better.

Mike

[MikeWilliams]

John,

Two things:

I remember years ago Romford wheels rarely ran true.  The problem was the squared axle rather than the wheels, and a parting tool in the lathe trued up the seat of the square.  It did reduce the bearing area of the wheel on its square, but only by the width of the tool.  I always fix Slaters wagon and carriage wheels to their axles with Loctite (superglue) as they are often loose.

Secondly, I think people are afraid of cast iron wheels because they don't have the expertise to machine them.  This includes me.  I do use a lathe, but am not confident enough to tackle large wheels.  I recently bought wheels for a pair of 0-6-0 tender engine and the total including the castings, axles and all machining was just over £400 for both engines.  According to GRS's catalogue, Slaters driving wheels appear to be about £40 per axle and trailing wheels about £30 per axle.  Maybe I've misread the catalogue as that sounds a lot of money, but it makes the cost of Slaters Vs cast iron about the same.

The only drawback I can see with cast iron wheels on an electric loco is that you can't easily remove them from the axle to get at the gear/worm wheel, so make sure you fit a top quality one!

Mike

[IanT]

Couple of things with respect to Mikes comments below.

Personally - I think cast iron wheels are very simple to turn but the trick is to get under the 'skin' of the casting and not to try to take too light a skim on your first cut. All that will happen is that the tool will skid and the surface of the casting gets very hard to turn thereafter.

Modern tipped tools make this operation very much easier - but even with HSS tools, there are simple 'tricks'. One is to drill the centre hole and then do a first cut (on the wheel hub) by cutting from the edge of the hole outwards. Doesn't help with the rim/tyre but if you don't have carbide tipped tools (and they are not expensive these days) then take a good first cut with your HSS tool and just accept that you will probably have to give it a quick touchup on the grinder before you go much further. Once you've got down to nice clean cast iron - you can of course mount the wheel on a small mandrel and turn it to size. For this part of the operation I much prefer HSS (over carbide) as I get a better finish with a nice sharp HSS tool (once you are under that first bit of crust)

With respect to problems with removing cast iron wheels - if you've used Loctite to fix them (recommended) they come off pretty easily when you heat them up a bit but you will of course have to re-paint them afterwards. However - if the gearing has been damaged (which should be a pretty rare occurance) then it's just part of the fix. I've never used Slaters loco wheels but another requirement of using cast loco wheels is of course that you need to 'quarter' them but at least you can make sure they are bang on when you do it this way.