Home Made Tire Truer

[Avi_Y]

Hi,
Wanted to share my (and my friend Alex) build of a tire truer for a Mini-Z. I got a bunch of Inzane Cut-Z tires, which require sizing an truing. I did not want to spend the $150 on a truer, and decided to build one on my own.
I used the frames and the main shaft of a halicopter blade ballancer as the chassis for this project. The main shaft has a long M4 thread on it, and is perfect of the mission.
I designed the wheel adapters so that they have an M4 thread, and fit both front (shallow) and rear (deep) Mini-Z rims, and had a friend make them on a lathe. This is the only part I could not do at home.
http://www.mini-zracer.com/forums/al...&pictureid=290
As a pully for the main shaft I used an old Mini-Z differential the theeth of which I filed while spinning it on a dremel.
http://www.mini-zracer.com/forums/al...&pictureid=289
The complete shaft with 2 rear wheels:
http://www.mini-zracer.com/forums/al...&pictureid=291
The motor that I used is a standard 540 motor (Maybe 20 years old...). In order to keep things compact, the motor is placed between the frames of the ballancer. A middle shaft is used between the motor and the main shaft, and allows connecting the upper belt in the middle of the main shaft, and not on the side.
http://www.mini-zracer.com/forums/al...&pictureid=299
The middle shaft is an M3 threaded rod, seated on two bearings. The bearings are held by small wooden plates. The tension of the belts can be changed by lowering or rasing the wooden plates.
http://www.mini-zracer.com/forums/al...&pictureid=300
Sanding is done by tilting the large wooden plate with the abrasive paper on it towards the wheels. The shaft of the plate is paraller to the main shaft, and the two wheels are sanded to the same diamter.
http://www.mini-zracer.com/forums/al...&pictureid=301
This screw is used to limit the movement of the sanding block, in oreder to reproduce the same diameter on a different set of wheels (front / rear, or multiple sets). The wooden block at the bottom of the frames is the stopper of the setting screw.
http://www.mini-zracer.com/forums/al...&pictureid=302
http://www.mini-zracer.com/forums/al...&pictureid=303
Pulley on the middle shaft is made of an old Mini-Z rear rim. The other pulley is made of a rim of an RC airplane wheel.
http://www.mini-zracer.com/forums/al...&pictureid=304
At one end of the threaded rod I locked two lock nuts against each other. This serves as h "handle" for gripping the threaded rod. Using this "handle", other nuts can be threaded to the rod easily for placement of the pullies.
http://www.mini-zracer.com/forums/al...&pictureid=305
http://www.mini-zracer.com/forums/al...&pictureid=306
Hope you find this helpful...
Avi

[color01]

That looks good! I should try something similar for my school's design project class, it'd be fun and useful in the long run.

[camaro93]

i think that is the coolest thing i had seen and it is very use full i was just looking at things like this but this looks more fun and cheaper btw what kind of sand paper do you use looks like 500 grit

[MINIz guy11]

That's very nice! I myself have been trying to come up with a tire truer, just one that's less complex without any major fabrication of parts.

I've tried a differential shaft on a Dremel, but that was a no-go. The Dremel spun too fast, tires would just fly off.

I'm now trying a stock motor pod setup and just giving the motor 7.2v of Li-Ion power to see if that will spin the tires fast enough, but not fast enough that they fly off. I'm waiting for my batteries to fully charge, then I'll have to experiment on that.

[Avi_Y]

Hi,
Thanks for your comments.
The abrasive paper is for number 2 for wood work. I am not sure it is the best for this application. I am going to try a coarser one.

As for fabricating parts, I only had to fabricate the wheel adapters. However, I got two adapters with the original blade balancer. Thus, I could have managed without fabricating the other two, and true tires one by one.

[okoye]

what is the exact purpose of this? is it to renew tires?

[Avi_Y]

The purpose of the device is truing foam tires. That is, making them completely round. Also, foam tires come in various diameters, and by sanding them you can get the final diameter that you wish. However, you have to make sure that you keep them round.