The Home Machinist!

^^^ It probably cuts really nice. They make 1/4" round carbide inserts and holders, I've been watching ebay for one to come up.
My thought was to rough the wheels within about .030" and then finish cut them with that in one pass. Carbide likes to be "loaded".

I've created a first draft for a 12" Gauge Wheel Standard. Take a look.

http://ibls.org/files/Standards/IBLS%20 ... 0Gauge.pdf

This is based on the WF&P standard as published in Live Steam and Outdoor Railroading, Sep/Oct 2015.

I welcome feedback.

Daris,

Thanks for doing this. Hopefully others will comment also.

One question: should FW and WD be the same dimension? If not, how are they different? Seems like they should both be the same??

Thanks again,

Glenn

Good question. If FW and WD were the same, then the flange would ride on the frog. You want the wheel flange to be shorter than the depth to the bottom of the frog.

Daris, ok, understand now. One measurement is for the wheel, the other for the frog. Makes sense.

Thanks very much,

Glenn

Perhaps a credit to the WF&P would be ideal. After all, the members of WF&P came up with this standard a long time ago.

That's a good idea. I'll modify and repost. Thanks!

BTW, if you are viewing the PDF file in your web browser you will want to hold the shift key and click the reload icon to see the latest edit.

The wheel gage WG looks a little big. Other than the flange depth and frog depth being deeper than I had planned on I'm looking good, and I have been using a 10mm bolt for spacing my guard rails (just under .400"). I'm modeling in 2" scale though, shouldn't hurt to leave my flange depth shallower on my wheels as long as my track is all to spec?

rkcarguy,

Good catch, WG is a typo, should be 11.843 inches. I've posted an updated document.

Daris

I'm surprised the flange depth is as deep as it is, but I guess that is based on 3" scale as well. Is there any rule of thumb for scale vs. flange depth?
I'm modeling in 2" scale.

Ryan,

I’ve always heard that flange depth relates most closely to the profile of the rail and the frogs and points, etc the wheel must traverse, not the particular scale of the locomotive it fits on. ( In turn, size of rail, points, and frogs, determines carrying capacity and load stability - hence gauge, rail profile, and equivalent wheel design.) so your 2” scale locomotive would ideally be equipped with wheels that are most suitable for the 12” gauge track you wish to operate on. Prototype locomotive builders in the last century did this all the time, by progressively scaling engines and rolling stock to larger and larger sizes and carrying capacity, all the while maintaining standard gauge and wheel profiles.

Interestingly, In the earliest days of live steam development, Henry Greenly made a similar distinction between scale and gauge, and by reference - flange depth, saying that Scale determines the height, width of the locomotive, but gauge enabled the width of the selected fire box between the frame.

Glenn