For all those interested the lathe cuts off chunks of urethane out from the wheels they aren’t cutted evenly so you won’t get a uniform surface afterwards.
After the lathe job you need to use fine grit sand paper in order to smooth out the surface, you can do that by mounting the wheels on the motor truck and just make them spin over the sand paper.
I’ll do this tomorrow and report back the results, hopefuly I could get a pro finish.
Wouldn´t it be easier to go with some 97 Flywheels/clones instead? I mean, you lose the light allrounder wheel function this way
they do look cool though…
Can anyone tell me why you’d do this?
What tool did you use on the Lathe?
Could you have used rough sandpaper directly on the lathe?
@Randyc1 it’s best to avoid abrasives in the lathe, unless you take proper precautions the abrasive particles can get into the ways and cause premature wear. I’ve found the best tool for urethane is a very sharp HSS tool with a very high positive rake. You have to take a fairly heavy cut or the urethane just squishes out of the way.
I’ve modded some flywheel knockoffs and if you do it right, you can get a good finish without any sanding.
Tired this last year. Took these wheels into a longboard shop that offered wheel lathe service. They had warned me that it may not work. Apparently the quality of urethane makes a big difference. They tried 2 different times on 2 wheels. The second attempt was tried by freezing the wheel prior to the lathe. Same results as yours on both attempts.
ok yes i understand about the abrasive particles potentially causing lathe problems.
I am so confused as to why people want to do this - the entire purpose of this wheel is to be AT, is it not?
Anorak,…It started from a problem on the Trampa Trucks cracking(fracturing), Some claimed it’s because of the MBS wheels Rebound And Knobs causing a frequency,…then causing the fracture.
Kaly’s reasoning that the Trampa Trucks have no Absorption (Urethane Bushings) like conventional trucks seems correct in My Opinion also!
,… so when for example:… you Ride over a sidewalk joint Straight On (both wheel hitting crack at same time) there is Nothing absorbing the Impact, unlike conventional trucks that have the Bushings acting like shock absorbers.
Be careful sanding urethane. Don’t breathe it! You should be wearing a respirator, or at least a dust mask. Urethane dust is very toxic and can cause serious respiratory problems if inhaled
Thanks for the heads up @jmasta
All the issues with the Vertigo Mini Trucks started with this cracking:
The whole history is here
Trampa claimed the culprit of this problem were the knobs on the MBS wheels, but I’m still not convinced about this.
They are claiming the knobs on the wheels caused the stress fracture in the hangar???
Yeah okay…
Just from looking at them I’m sure the uneven surface would provide a lot more grip than a standard wheel finish. Depending on how good you are on the lathe it could make your ride a bit more bumpy though.
Why not just do a burnout on concrete until the wheels are worn smooth like @kaly did? Seems much faster and easier.
I thought I would get a nicer finish with the lathe, I’ll get back and report how they look after sand paper them out with a fine grit
This is what I’m doing now, in order not to over heat the VESC again. First cut it down with a lathe or drill press
Then use the high rom of the board in order to smooth it out by doing butnouts.
Just don’t push the VESC too hard
How are these wheels fixed to a Lathe or Drill press ?
I’m so confused, what’s the point of getting those AT wheels if you’re going to gut them down? why not just use “normal” wheels. On another note if would be cool to have treads like the new Orangatan Onsens
