# Tire Wall - Cheap and Easy Solution



## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

Corrugated wire-loom split-tubing is inexpensive and looks like stacks of tires. I got *14 feet* of 1/4"-ID black split-tubing at Harbor Freight for about $3. That's a lot of 5-tire stacks.

Auto supplies carry it also, but I couldn't get it that small in my local store. The corrugations bring the outside diameter to a tiny bit smaller than a Tjet stock tire.

For quick and dirty installation, cut it into lengths of your preferred number of tire-edges, and just glue it down. Be sure to face the seam-split toward the next tire stack, so it won't be visible from the front or back. For a stronger wall, cut it a couple of tires longer and drill a 3'8" hole in the table for each stack or every other stack. It even comes in colors.

It's hollow, but surprisingly that isn't very noticeable, because the corrugations on the inside catch the light and give an impression of a thicker wall. Of course, you can see on close examination that it's just thin-wall tubing. 

I also tried filling it with thick-wall tubing to give a more solid tire look. Will report on that in the next message. Sorry for the blur in the photo - it looked sharp on my camera's little LCD screen.

-- D


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

For once, a convoluted solution is perfect. Nice discovery!


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

*Filled Split Tubing*

I tried a number of ways to fill the split tubing for more realism and strength. The first photo shows the most successful methods.

#1, 2, 3 are made with the wooden beads I mentioned in two posts in the  _Anyone Make a Tire Wall?_ thread. These are just for comparison.

#4 - Split tubing, hollow. It's about 3/8" Outside Diameter (O.D.), 1/4" Inside Diameter (I.D.). Slick, shiny, somewhat flexible black plastic. It has a slight overlap at the split with one side set in a little.

#5 - Split tubing with a thinwall plastic tube appr. 3/8" O.D. inserted, then dipped in Plasti-Dip tool-handle insulating rubber to build up thickness and make a softer, less shiny surface.

#6 - Split tubing filled with thickwall 3/8" O.D rubber hose (windshield washer vacuum line), cut off flush. The total diameter is larger because the plastic tubing spreads at the split. The small I.D. of the vac hose has been drilled a bit larger at the end that shows, but is still too small. The gaps and irregularities between tube and hose don't show too badly in black.

#7 - Same as #6, but painted off-white. The gaps and irregularities showed so badly it was necessary to fill them with spackling paste, smooth, and repaint. End of vac hose has been drilled larger. Don't know how the thin filler layer would take repeated impact.

#8 - Split tubing with thinwall frosty-clear plastic tubing (appr. 3/8"O.D.) inserted and a Tjet standard tire glued on top.

#9 - Same as #8, but with a cast end, patterned on a Tjet tire (I'll describe how in a later message).

The second photo shows early attempts. 
The *first tire* has the top filled with a ball of air-dry modeling clay with a hole poked into it then drilled when dry. It looks good but is hard and not flexible, and probably wouldn't take an impact without damage. May be okay for the inside of curves.
*Second tire* has rubber vac-line inserted, the hole drilled larger, but was not smoothed flush with the tubing. *Third tire* is the same, but with thickwall clear vinyl tube, which cuts a bit cleaner than rubber.
*Fourth tire* has vinyl tube cut short of the top, with a layer of filled (so-called "3-D") acrylic paint to shape the top surface. It shrank more than I expected and looked poor.

More on some of these methods in later messages.

-- D


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## T-jetjim (Sep 12, 2005)

Dslot- Thanks for assembling all of these options. Almost all of them look pretty good for the purpose. 
Jim


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

Great stuff D!


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## moondoggy (Feb 9, 2009)

nice write up.
thanks for the side by sides


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## Tycoarm (Jan 7, 2006)

Yes, nice variations to choose from and all look good from the pic.


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

> _AfxToo sez:_ For once, a convoluted solution is perfect. Nice discovery!


Chuckle. Let's hope Pico makes corrugated tubing a little more competently than they describe it.



> _Jim sez:_ Thanks for assembling all of these options. Almost all of them look pretty good for the purpose.


I'm kind of a designer/experimenter by nature. Since I don't have a permanen layout, I like to fiddle with ways of doing things between temporary setups.

The problem here is the sheer number of tire-stacks in tire-walls. Tjet-sized stacks run about three per inch, so for the _inside_ of a 12"R curve, you'll need about 40 just for a quarter-circle. For the _outside_ of a 12"R with a 1" apron, that jumps to almost 60 stacks per quarter. Fewer with tires of AFX-size or larger, but still plenty. 

So the basic single stack of tires must take minimum work and minimum cost per unit, but still look good - and also absorb impact if used on the outside of the curves (I hadn't planned to use them on the outside, but others want to, so that complicates the issue). A decent challenge.

For strength, I've been trying a system where there is a small nail inside every other stack. I glue the stacks down by scooping off a glob of flexible contact adhesive (I use black *Shoe Goo*) into the bottom of the piece of split tubing to glue the pieces down onto the table or apron surface. The glob fills the bottom 1/8 to 1/4" of the stack. Then I drive a small nail down the center of every other stack, through the adhesive and into the wood, letting the adhesive set around the nail. (The last couple of taps will require a nail-set to get the nailhead down into the top of the tire-stack. 

This is producing a wall with a little bit of give, that is certainly strong enough to take T-jet/AFX impacts. The guys with the blur-speed magnet cars will have to do their own tests, but my guess is that it will handle them too. I've been using a flattened toothpick afterward to wipe adhesive between the stacks to glue them together. Any blobs of black adhesive are pretty much invisible in between the black tires. I'm beginning to think this step is not necessary - the natural overflow glues them together at the bottom anyway. 

It goes reasonably fast because there's no precise measuring and drilling, and you can do the same operation to twenty or more stacks at a time.

More info to come as work progresses.

-- D


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## JordanZ870 (Nov 25, 2004)

Or......here is a way. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNE0...things-?urn=nascar,14&feature=player_embedded


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

joez870 said:


> Or......here is a way.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNE0...things-?urn=nascar,14&feature=player_embedded


 
Only in OZ! - lol


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

*Casting in a Press-Mold*

I promised some followup posts, and then the real world presented its demands. But I need to get these up before I leave town, so here is the promised How-To on casting tire ends.

Photo 1 - I used a T-jet tire glued to the end of scrap dowel to press mold cavities into plain old oil-based modeling clay. You could use your favorite tire type, or your own sculpted or turned tire-design. You could easily make a 20-cavity mold (or more) and turn these things out on an industrial scale.

Photo 2 - I filled each cavity with rapid-cure black epoxy (JB Quick). Then I filled the split tubing with the desired size of plastic tubing to keep it round. I inserted the end into the epoxy, being careful to keep it centered.

Photo 3 - After the epoxy set, I pulled the clay mold away and cleaned the tire castings with a toothbrush and lighter fluid (naptha). I scraped off excess epoxy from the outside of the tubing. Here are the resultant castings, air bubbles and all. The mold is destroyed in the process, but it is simple to roll out the clay, make another series of cavities, and turn out another four or forty tires.

My conclusions - I think this could be a fast effective method of making the tops of the stacks. A bit more care and practice could reduce the air bubbles. I also think I'd try a more flexible casting material, perhaps the Plasti-dip tool-insulating rubber, or black acrylic paint.

Because of the sheer number of stacks needed for the outside of curves (see my earlier post), even this simple process would require a lot of casting, and might not be worth the effort. Still, it is easy and repetitive and could be done with the mind on autopilot, while watching TV or listening to the radio or the details of the TM's day. After a few evenings, you'd have a lot of pretty good-looking tire stacks.

-- D


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

Oops. The title is incorrect. Technically this is not a press-mold; it's an open waste-mold (because the mold is destroyed in the casting process). A press-mold is rigid and designed for clay to be pressed into it. -- D


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

*Results and Recommendations*



> _Earlier, *I said*:_ I glue the stacks down by scooping off a glob of flexible contact adhesive (I use black *Shoe Goo*) into the bottom of the piece of split tubing to glue the pieces down onto the table or apron surface. The glob fills the bottom 1/8 to 1/4" of the stack. Then I drive a small nail down the center of every other stack, through the adhesive and into the wood, letting the adhesive set around the nail...
> 
> ... I've been using a flattened toothpick afterward to wipe adhesive between the stacks to glue them together ... I'm beginning to think this step is not necessary...


This wall has thoroughly dried now and is very strong. Too strong, I think. I'd rather have some more "give." I went back and cut through the bond between every other stack; now there's some flex to absorb the shock when a car hits it. Even when cutting between _every_ stack, the wall seems to be strong enough. 

For now I'm going to recommend using a strong flexible adhesive, like Shoe Goo, to fill the base of each stack about an eighth of an inch deep. Some goo will get out and bond to the next stack at the base. Drive a nail about halfway down every third or fourth stack. Don't waste time gluing the stacks together; if the wall fails in service, _then_ go back and apply adhesive between every other stack.

If the look of the open tops bothers you, add a sliver of 3/8" O.D. vacuum line or a Tjet tire or whatever, at the top for appearance.

The photos show my test wall on a railroad-cork apron. The nail is the type I used, and it's pointing at two stacks with vac-line inserted for looks (I have trouble cutting that stuff clean and straight - some practice would help). The other stacks have open tops.

-- D


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

I liked the wooden beads #3 example the best for realism. What about using vacuum line for the tire wall? Would it take too long to cut them?


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

TomH said:


> I liked the wooden beads #3 example the best for realism. What about using vacuum line for the tire wall? Would it take too long to cut them?


In the parent thread to this thread, Bill Hall said: "Make a functioning tire wall!!!! ... Try some appropriatly sized fuel hose or vacuum line from the auto parts store. For realism chuck it into your cordless drill and spin it on some 80 grit to weather the outer surface. Slice it up like beenie weenies with a fresh blade. Age them once installed with some dullcoat or a flat wash."

I had a hard time cutting the sliced segments on the square. They seemed to end up wedge shaped a lot. I'm sure more practice and perhaps a cutting jig (or having Bill's manual dexterity and sense of craftsmanship) would clear up that problem. But also, I was discouraged by the number of stacks needed, so the prospect of cutting each individual tire separately was _*very*_ discouraging. I did discover that I could turn an entire stack by placing the vacuum tubing tightly around a rod and chucking the rod in a slow-turning lathe or drill with the far end supported. I used an X-acto fine-tooth saw blade, to score shallow marks in the tubing to represent individual tires, then used a drill to enlarge the center hole at the top.

For mass production, I liked the split tubing - one snip with the scissors makes a stack that looks acceptable. Then it's up to you how much more you want to put into making it more realistic by adding a detailed top, etc.

If you plan to paint the stacks or dull them with a spray finish, I do recommend dipping the split tubing in vinegar, scrubbing with a toothbrush, and rinsing to remove the mold release. Rough them up lightly with a wire brush. The plastic is still pretty slick, so a better idea might be to buy them molded in color.

-- D

-- David


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Dslot said:


> . . . The plastic is still pretty slick, so a better idea might be to buy them molded in color.
> 
> -- D
> 
> -- David


Handy Link! Red & White stacks would be a piece of cake. Maybe shove a little aquarium air line tubing down the middle firm it up a bit . . . ?


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## win43 (Aug 28, 2006)

Sure beats painting Cherrios.

Cool solution.


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