Building a Clayton 2" Scale Steam Wagon

designed by Robin Dyer

built by Tony Simons

Front Wheels

The front wheels are an aluminium casting, they needed a bit of fettling around the spoke area and then I turned the outside diameter as far as I could, then bored the centre for a bronze bush. I then 'wrang' the wheel onto a slightly tapering mandrel and finished turning the outside diameter. Next were the hub caps. I machined these from brass stock and then used the milling machine to drill the holes for the securing screws using the PCD function on the DRO. I mounted the 4 jaw chuck from the Boxford to the table of the Tom Senior mill using an adaptor that I turned. Changed my mind and rather than use the 4 jaw independent I used the 4 jaw scroll chuck. I mounted a bar of the correct diameter in a collet on the Tom Senior and used that to align with the internal bore of the hub cap.

I then programmed the DRO for 3 holes on the correct PCD, drilled the holes in the hub caps, swapped to the wheels and drilled the tapping holes. All aligned nicely and the front wheels are in place. They are held by a taper pin in a collar and the hub cap covers.