Flange depth/anyone ever had any luck shaving down flanges?

[LordsofMedieval]

So, obviously the pizza-cutter flanges are pretty necessary on Lego trains due to the combination of relatively low track quality (plastic), relatively low wheel quality (plastic), and the fact that - overall - bogies and wheelsets don't weigh all that much. Because of the way they are typically mounted (technic axles) and sized (wheels - including the custom ones for sale - are generally X.5 tiles tall with 1 tile-deep flanges), this presents a problem - especially (I have noticed) with mounting larger trailing bogie wheels under a steam locomotive cab (since this bogie must swing). Basically, you are often forced to use smaller-than-ideal wheels to accommodate the enormous flanges.

Has anyone on here ever attempted to shave down the flanges for these circumstances? I am a) not sure of a half-tile flange depth would be sufficient to hold the wheels to the rail (in theory, even this would be way, WAAAAAY over-sized for a real locomotive... but we're not talking about a real locomotive here), and b) not sure I could actually accomplish this task of milling down the wheels myself.

But considering that it comes up nearly EVERY TIME I design a steam locomotive with a trailing truck, I have to imagine that someone else has considered doing just this before. Anyone ever tried it?

Edited June 6, 2023 by LordsofMedieval

[Karle]

I do it to nearly all of my steam engine MOCs.  Usually, about 25% of a pizza-cuter flange is filed away.  To help prevent the truck from derailing the vertical movement must kept to a minimum without interfering with the trucks swing.  The pivot point of the truck should be as close as possible to the lead or trailing driving axle and secured with an L2 half Technic lift arm to act as a double pivot to allow for lateral offset of the trucks.  I must point out that my equipment is designed for a minimum 104 radius curve and the motors are mounted in the boiler.  I Hope this helps.

 

[LordsofMedieval]

27 minutes ago, Karle said:

I do it to nearly all of my steam engine MOCs.  Usually, about 25% of a pizza-cuter flange is filed away.  To help prevent the truck from derailing the vertical movement must kept to a minimum without interfering with the trucks swing.  The pivot point of the truck should be as close as possible to the lead or trailing driving axle and secured with an L2 half Technic lift arm to act as a double pivot to allow for lateral offset of the trucks.  I must point out that my equipment is designed for a minimum 104 radius curve and the motors are mounted in the boiler.  I Hope this helps.

 

It definitely does!

How do you shave them down while keeping an even profile? Like, do you use an exacto knife + small grain emeryboards and just eyeball it? Thanks for all the help.

[dr_spock]

There are many ways to re-profile wheels. 

 

 

[Karle]

Nothing as fancy as Dr Spock's rig, which I'm going to have to try.   I mount an axle in a cordless drill, place a wheel on it and use a file and emery boards to profile the flange.

Hard to see but the 1 and 4 drivers of each engine have been reprofiled.  90% Lego. 

Edited June 7, 2023 by Karle

[LordsofMedieval]

1 hour ago, Karle said:

Nothing as fancy as Dr Spock's rig, which I'm going to have to try.   I mount an axle in a cordless drill, place a wheel on it and use a file and emery boards to profile the flange.

Hard to see but the 1 and 4 drivers of each engine have been reprofiled.  90% Lego. 

That's actually brilliant. Thanks. The only problem with Spock's is I don't own an XL motor.