Custom Made Wheels
 

Recently someone asked me something and I thought...HMMM, I think I have time to do that. I have already made my own custom truck drifting wheels and I was asked if I could make centerline style car rims. Well, here's the first test. There is still some fine tuning required but the basics are there.

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/r...k/xmods276.jpg
http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/r...k/xmods277.jpg
(didn't plan on dark blurry pics, but it adds to the mystery.)

Q & C always welcome.

So what are they made from?? ... How about a tutorial or somthing. Looks nice.

To have that kind of seamless precision, XXX, they're probably CNC'd. Wouldn't doubt it, anyway.

They look good. Get us some better pictures, please! :)

They're made of Corian, (which is made by DuPont - makers of Delrin) which is basically a fancy acrylic plastic used to make countertops. And I'm not sure how I would do a tutorial, I machined them on a CNC machine at work.

Thanks. And yes, you guessed it - CNC'd. Better pics will come when they're finished. These are just a test run.

Ok, cool. I wish I had access to a CNC machine. Must be nice. Well they look good.

they are really smooth i also wish i had acces to a cnc machine :)

any chance you would make some rims that would fit a mini-z mr-01 but the same size as a xmods truck slammed rim?

they look really smooth and clean maybe you should start selling sets of them...

CNC'd? How much does a set run?

I think someone with a small lathe and some good plastic/metal could make rims like this as well. Like simple rims, maybe some holes. More intricate stuff would need a CNC machine (or a really good machinist).

very cool... do you plan on coming up with more intricate designs? How much corian do you have access to?

Hmmmm....mr-01 slammed rims. I'll have to look into that. No d-hole that's a bonus. I have already made a set of slammed wheels for my drift ram project. And when I first thought of making wheels it was with the intention of selling them but I got a little discouraged by the problems with the d hole. This set I decided to make with the intention of using XI rim adapters.

What do you mean 'how much does a set run?'? I made them myself. I do wish I had access to a lathe as well but the machine I am using I couldn't use with blank wheels made on a lathe and then machine them.

I'm not sure of more intricate designs. I have limited tools at work. More intricate designs would require smaller tooling than the ones that I have at work. As for Corian, I have more scraps of Corian than you could imagine. Seriously, there's probably enough kicking around to make 1000's of sets of wheels, but do you really want forest green or ocean blue or sand beige wheels? I have lots of white but very little black, which are the best colours of choice for wheels.

i honestly think you should give that option to ppl who are wanting to maybe purchase wheels from you. gives the buyer a personal touch and the chance of no 2 sets being alike. so makes the rims a tad more rare. and you should have a choice of rim designs. colours, and the rim size in general such as dish depth, height, etc to fit the evo cars. gen 1's and trucks. so you should have a range of different sizes in a few catagories for ppl to chose from. i think the range of options like that would really attract ppl into purchasing stuff like this. and it could save alot of time for us all to figure out how to get truly custom rims of our liking and wont have to cut up other rims and risk completly messing them up.

EDIT: i forgot to mention that if the buyer choses to buy the white. they could also have the option of painting the rims themselves or if you have good skills as a painter you could offer those services aswell

A choice of designs, diameters, offset, height, deep dish, etc, etc...I would love to give these options, but do you have ANY clue how much work is involved in making just one set. I don't have CAD, so every set I make is a result of several prototypes being made. Colour is a personal choice, so if someone wants blue rims, I could make them blue. As for paint, Corian is nonporous, so I don't think paint would adhere. (And I say 'I don't think' because I am NOT a painter.)

ok well scratch that idead then lol. well what if you made premade rims. then charge extra if you were asked to make in a different colour or something. i think rim services like this would go good if all worked out well

If he made premade rims THEN charged extra if they want them in a different color or design then that would make the premade rims useless due to the fact that they are already made and he would have to just make more.

I kinda get you mean like have a base to say "hey look what I have if you want custom ones I can make that work" Is that what you mean? Or am I just off lol.


Those look kickass if you don't mind me asking what do you do for a job?

i dunno wut im really getting at here lol im just sayin that if he wanted to he could make some extra money from makin rims. but its all based on what all he can do or offer. im sure ppl will buy them fast. but would they be cheaper then alloy rims you can buy or more expensive. i think they would be better. cuz ther a bit lighter weight. but might not be as durable i dont even know wut the material is. i know you said it but i never heard of it but it looks to be very good

look at this from a buisness point of view.
do you like money?
free material=high profit.

autocad is reletively cheap conscidering how much you could actually make with all but free supplies.
it would pay for itself after the first few batches sold.
there's also the possibility of subbing work to autocad masters like color0 and still turning a profit on every set.
getting finer tools for finer designs would come after selling a few of the basic proto's.
you've got a few fish on the line in less then a day of showing the prototype and this forum makes up a small percentage of the micro-scale hobby.
going by mini-z rims rims pricing(the easier of the two) most vendors sell a set of two for about $5-12.

just about any surface you can think of is paintable with the proper preperation.
there's also the possibility of plasti-electroplating wich is a base coat of paint with a high iron content wich is then electro plated with nickle and zinc(chrome) just like a metal piece would be.
this would of course cut into profits but again,when the materials are free......

i'm not trying to come down on you in any way,i'm just saying that you're fortunate to have access to materials and a CNC.
if i had the resources that you do,i'd be making a killing in this hobby.

Is this the same process that is used to gold plate vehicle emblems? Many moons ago when I was a Nissan tech, a guy would show up and electroplate the factory plastic emblems with 24k gold plating. He hooked a cable to ground and then swabbed the emblem with a cloth covered wand that would plate the emblem gold. Was quite popular in the mid 90's and seemed to hold up very well.

pretty close.
gold plating on previously chrome parts is an acid based reaction to an electrical current.
the chrome is "painted" with an acid wich etches into the plating without damaging the sheen and then an electrical current is introduced causing the acid "paint" to yellow giving the appearance of gold.

you can electroplate chrome to 24k but the trend in the 90's that went over big with the lowrider crowd was majorily the first option.
plating with acid was under $100 for all the badges on a full sized sedan as opposed to 24k plating wich was usually about $100 per badge.

It was sold as an option on new cars, who knows what process was actually done but the "guy" told us it was 24k. looked great and seemed to hold up well in the few years I was there before I went railroading. Of course it would come as no surprise to me that it was not gold. Back on topic, the point was that it was quite a simple process (albeit having the proper equipment) that the OP could use on his wheels as you stated.

Thanks. I actually work in a cabinet/countertop shop. I mostly run a CNC that make cabinet/countertop parts.

Thanks Bondo. I agree with what you say and I don't think in any way that you're coming down on me. Here's my point of view. Yes, I like money. Yes, for the most part the material is free. I probably couldn't install autocad on the computer that runs the CNC because it's not mine. Also, I don't know how to then convert the CAD picture into machine language G-code.
And although I am very pleased with the feedback I have gotten with this one set of wheels, take a look at my garage. Did you see the custom 5-spoke alloy slammed rims? I helped design those. I got the guy who made them to actually make them and he got almost no interest in them. I think he only made 7 or 8 sets and I have 4 of them. If I make wheels to sell I have decided that the d-hole is too much of a problem and am going to use XI rim adapters. They are $10 a set. So I would have to charge at least $20 + shipping for a set of wheels. So let's say $25 a set for plastic wheels. And I know that he had trouble selling alloy wheels at I think $30 a set. Do you see my dilemma? If there is enough interest, and I have the time I will gladly make as many as I can and sell them. That was my original plan, but I posted a project on another forum where I made slammed drift wheels and got no 'hey can I get a set of those?' kind of interest.