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East-PAC |
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East Piedmont Armor Club |
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The tires for the 1/6 scale T34-85 project were made using real rubber for automotive tires.
In order to make these, there was a need to build a few items for this project. J.R. Bates and James Miller built the items necessary this part of the project.
These include a small oven for heating the tire mold frame and rubber injector build by James. James also turned the mold for the tire itself. J.R (Rusty) made the injector mold.
The mold is a three piece unit. Note the nipple fitting on the middle ring, this is where the injector is screwed on when passing the heated rubber to the mold.
The rubber was purchased through a tire recapping supply house, we found the best type to use was a made for tire repairs and used in an heated "Extruder Gun", the rope shaped rubber is about $80.00 for a 30 pound box and has a shelf life of about 3 months. Although my last supply was 17 months when used last it seem to work quite well.
The whole process takes about 45 minutes per wheel, after 140 wheels I'm kinda of tire of making tires. CHUCKLE! |
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In the picture above, you can see the injector, the two rods at the top are used to pull the plunger assembly back to the top once the process is complete. |
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In the picture on left, you can see the plunger removed and rubber being placed into the open cavity. |
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In the picture on the left you can the 20 ton press with the injector and mold ready for shooting the rubber into the mold, heating the injector before applying pressure helps greatly in moving the rubber from the injector to the mold. |
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Once the rubber is injected, the mold is placed into the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes to cure the rubber compound. |
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In the picture above, the hot mold has been removed and placed onto a small to remove the clamping nut. Once the mold is taken apart, the tire is removed. Once cured the tire can be handled with the rubber losing its form.
In the picture below, you can tire in the frame with the rubber flashing drooping over the sides. This will be removed later. |
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In the pictures above you can see the excess rubber and sprues being trimmed from the tire. The cutters should be very sharp for this operation. |
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Take me back to the main page |
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Final roadwheel with tires ready to be installed. |
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Copyright J.R Bates 2004 |
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