Steve's wheel truing jig

[dgman]

If you make a lot of toy cars and trucks and like to make your own wheels, Steve's wheel truing jig is a great idea to make consistently sized wheels. Steve uses the front face of the jig to keep the wheels consistent, however by doing this, the front face will wear very fast and you will have to replace the jig often. To make it a more permanent jig, make the base wide enough to add a miter slide on the bottom of the jig so it rides in the miter slot of the disk sander table. This way the the face of the jig will always stay the same. Make the base just slightly wider so when first installed in the miter slot you will sand the front face flat up against the sanding disk. Then drill the holes and add the dowels as indicated.

[Fab4]

Hi dgman:
Great idea
What I was thinking when I saw that you would have to replace the front face
was to try and screw in a thin metal plate onto the front face of the jig, but the result would be the same where eventually you would have to replace your jig.
I like your idea much better
Thanks
Fab4

[campasano]

dgman,

Great suggestion, thanks for the tip.

Mike

[Rapid Roger]

I like Steve's jig and will probably make one. But, I'm lazy and usually cut my wheels using a hole saw. It gives you the 1/4" hole dead center of the wheel every time and the wheels are sure to be the same diameter. They still need to be sanded though.

One tip that I might add when using a hole saw to cut wheels is to drill 1/2 or a bit more into the wood and then turn it over to finish the cut. It is easier to get the wheel out of the hole saw by prying with a screwdriver or rod through the slots on the side when you have 1/2 the wood thickness sticking out the bottom of the saw. The pilot bit will break through the bottom for aligning the saw on the back/bottom of the wood for the final cut.

Rog

[Dakota Saw Dust]

Dgman - good add to Steve's wheel gig but I just finished 24 mug lids with a slight change to your miter slot addition.
i found the miter slot bar still had some play and the cover around the sanding disk interfered with the entry.  I achieved my goal by extending the jig out past the table on both the miter slot and left end sides.  After I sanded the first flat with the jig back a good 1/16+", I stopped the machine, temporarily clamped it in place, and attached two stop strips to the bottom of the jig on the front and left end.  This allowed me to return all 24 pieces to the exact position before I clamped it down and started to turn the blank. There was no ware or tear on the jig and I'll store just in case the client wants more. Brian