Romford Wheels Question

"simon" wrote

WHY would you want to do that Simon?

John.

Cos have 2 with flanges filed off and 2 others with damaged crankpins that I cant remove. Would like to restore the flanges (as realised didnt need to mutilate them in the first place).

Just seems a waste to buy new wheels. Incidently bought some cheap Romford type wheels the other day, was told the make but cant remember. They have plastic centres, were only avail as 18mm and 20mm. Has anyone tried any like this ?

Cheers, Simon

Define the term "easy". ;-)

I have several very old Romford wheels (with paper isolation) where the tyre has come loose all by themselves - easy, wait 40 +years.

More seriously, cut a circle out of MDF so that the tyre will almost fit but the flange won't go through. Use the cut-out disk to push on the back of the wheel so that the force is spread as widely as possible. I'd suggest thatyou use a big drillpress to apply the pressure. The disk should be fractionally smaller than the tyre) (I'm assuming Romford wheels are still constructed the way the last ones I bought in 1995 are)

Regards, Greg.P.

"simon" wrote

So you want to remove the tyres from the ones with damaged crankpins and use them on the ones with filed off flanges.

Assuming you could manage that, I suspect it would be extremely difficult to get them to run absolutely true, without turning the re-assembled wheels in a lathe, which of course would make them marginally smaller than the good ones you're trying to match them up to.

Don't forget also that you're probably going to have to preserve the insulation between tyre & wheel centre on at least one of the re-assembled wheels.

Suppose it's got to be worth a try though, and I'd be tempted to follow Greg's advice and attempt to press the tyres off the wheels.

John.

Thanks John and Greg, Suspect its not going to be easy as hoped - wondered if there was a chemical method. However have got 4 useless wheels and will end up either no difference or with 2 useful ones.

cheers, Simon

Not entirely useless - you can use them as scenery in a repair shop. ;-)

cheers,

wolf k.

Thats true thanks - must be more inventive, windows perhaps ?

cheers, Simon

In message , simon writes

Hi Simon

Have you tried the application of some heat?

Many years ago when attempting to solder in a crankpin I heated the wheel enough to loosen the rim and it came off complete with insulating layer. It was then glued back together and was still OK when I parted with the loco some years later.

Regards

Thanks, will give it a try.

Cheers, Simon