# Homemade tire scuffers



## Hornet

Has anybody made a homebuilt tire scuffer/truer.

The one i built actually works as good as my Hudy ,and i was wondering if anybody else had built one,and would like to share.

I spent a couple hours comparing the 2 of them yesterday,and i can actually true a tire faster and easier on the homebuilt one then the Hudy,and i almost swear the homebuilt one does a nicer job

If i'd built this thing before buying my Hudy,i'd never bought the Hudy,and been 250 bucks farther ahead

The one i built uses an old heater motor,if you guys want pic's of it,i'll see about getting it to Todd,it's going to him anyways,whether he wants it or not,lol:wave:


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## slotking

duh

put up the pics:tongue:


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## Hornet

Gonna have to wait a couple days Mike.
Todd and i will have to cordinate schedules.
Hokay,i know i'm backwoods,i don't own a camera,lol

Besides,i'm gonna build another one,got enough parts on hand,i'm gonna build one to keep at home now.
Being the cheap bugger i am,i never throw anything out,and i just happen to have another identical old heater motor laying around:thumbsup:.
This one works so good,i want one for myself,figure the Hudy probably won't get used as much,as it's a royal pain in the rear to actually set-up and use compared to my homebuilt monstrousity,lol.
Rick


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## Bill Hall

I dont care if it's made with stone knives and bear skins.

Hook us up!

Are the pix up yet?


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## slotking

> Hudy probably won't get used as much,


sweet
I get a free hudy! :thumbsup::wave::tongue:

how much speed do you need on the motor


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## Hornet

LOL,don't know if i can throw it that far Mike,arms not what it used to be.

I'm out of town tomorrow Bill,so you'll have to give me a day or so to get into Todd's,sorry.


I'm working on Rick C to post pics of his homebuilt ones,they're alot nicer looking then mine,lol.

He uses his for truing silly foams so he mounts the tire on the motor shaft,where-as i do slip-ons,so i mounted the drum on the motor,and made a mandrel with a 300 diameter hub to hold the slip-on,and then i chuck it in my dremel

But i got his outpowered,the heater motors will pull close to 10 amps before i can stall them,you could probably grind 1:1 tires with them,lol

Built another one tonight for myself.
Rick


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## tossedman

OK guys, after all the hoo hah, finally got together with Rick to see what this tire scrubber really looks like. From his description I thought it might be as big as his old dyno and was thinking I'd have to make room in the garage and leave my poor car out in the -30°C weather for the rest of the winter. 

Thanks Rick. You just saved me buying a Hudy (or more likely, borrowing your's). :thumbsup:

Here are some pics of the tire scrubber from not one, but two Ricks. 

Here's Hornet's. Heavy duty. 









Here's Rick C's. Smaller package. He'll have to chime in as to how well it works.









Here's another motor. Soon to be another tire scrubber? Not sure. Rick? Rick? Either of you know anything about this wayward little motor?















Cheers eh,

Todd


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## bearsox

*I kinda reverse the version for slipons with my unit for grinding em down. Also works for taking down edges a bit. All of these parts are from either the shack or American science and Surplus ! 

Bear :wave:
*


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## Hornet

LOL,your'es is pretty good looking compared to mine Bear.

Speaking of reverse,i reversed the heater motor leads so the heater motor runs backwards.

Mines nothing more then an old import style heater motor.
With a Dremel sanding drum,screwed onto it's shaft,where the nut for holding the cage would normally go.

But it cuts tires faster then my Hudy,and does just as nice a job.

It's easier to use and outpowers the Hudy by lots,lol

Rick C will have to s'plain his,lol.
I got the idea from Rick C,he told me about his Radio Shack scuffer awhile ago,i just adapted it to what i had on hand.
Rick


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## Hornet

One other thing.
I use a keyless chuck in my Dremel instead of collets,and i find it runs much truer then the collets do.
Beast,i never checked my collets till yesterday,and you're right,they don't run all that true,but the keyless chucks don't seem to bad for run-out.

If you look close you can see some narrow front tires mounted on a mandrel in the pic.
I use a (i think) 402 mandrel from Dremel for grinding front tires,and a pair of small washers to line the tires up on the dremel shaft

If you built a tool rest of some sort,it'd be even better,lol

Thanks go out to Todd for the pics.
Thanks Todd
Rick


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## Boosted-Z71

Nice, Rick C's is a clean little package, Is it battery powered? Hornet the original model looks good as well, and I am sure it does a great job, add a tool rest or some kind of stop to get the tires the same size on every grind and that tool would be great.

Boosted


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## Hornet

LOL,i was thinking of sending it to you,figured you'd take it up to the state of the art level:thumbsup::wave:.

After seeing switches in everybody else's,i guess i better put one in mine too,lol.

I was thinking of re-mounting it on a piece of plywood,then it shouldn't be to hard to cabbage something together for at least an arm rest.

It was more an experiment Jeff,and the darned things work so good,now i gotta go back and actually put some effort into it,lol.

Todd's always good for ideas,i was gonna let him ponder on it for a bit,see what he comes up with for his:wave:.

Any mods or ideas you guys got,throw them out,i'm wide open to ideas,as it's easy enough to change,lol:wave:

Todd got the one with the used motor,and his has a bit more shaft run-out then mine with the newer motor.
The one on mine is really good on shaft run-out,but it doesn't seem to make much differance on the cut.
They both cut a pretty nice tire,with no lumps by my tests,so shaft run-out might not be as big a deal with 2 entities rotating opposite each other at differant speeds,that would s'plain how the hudy with it's run-out factor still cuts a pretty decent tire
Rick


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## Rick Carter

Rick,

You sure love power kid -LOL!

Boosted,

Yes, mines is battery operated but you can still hook up alligator clips to it to power it if the battery dies. The tire slips onto the stem as pictured and I use that dremel attachment to scuff the tire.

The 2nd picture is actually a Train motor that I found at a Hobby Store. I had to shave the stem down a bit in order for the tire to fit. For this one, I just hook my Wrightway mini up to it to power it -although the Radio Shack battery box that Bear uses can be affixed to it.


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## tossedman

hornet said:


> todd got the one with the used motor,and his has a bit more shaft run-out then mine with the newer motor.
> Rick


What!!?! :tongue:


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## jobobvideo

how about hinging another piece of wood with a mount for dremel, another motor or even sand paper to the existing wood...just a thought???


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## Hornet

LOL,some things ya gotta keep for yourself:wave:

Rick:More Power :thumbsup:
It's definitely not under powered,he he he.

Todd,i have an old piece of arborite from some project,gonna glue it to a piece of plywood,and mount the motor assembly on it.
Then wire it up with an on/off switch

Have you got any ideas for an arm / tool rest,i haven't come up with anything there yet.
I haven't cut or glued anything to anything yet,as i'm hoping to get a few ideas first:thumbsup:

Mike:i'm not sure what it turns for speed, i just plug it into a 12volt supply,either a battery charger or my little Pryamid power supply.
It does cut faster the more juice you throw at it.
I tried it on one of my Trackmate power supplies set at 16 volts,and it would carve a tire up PDQ, they're slightly inconvenient to use sitting under my track,so i use my bench top 12V battery charger,but even on 12 volts they seem to be lots fast enough for the job.
I took 0.010" off the first tire i ground with it,in less then a minute,oops ,so it's relatively fast as tire grinders go


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## tossedman

jobobvideo said:


> how about hinging another piece of wood with a mount for dremel, another motor or even sand paper to the existing wood...just a thought???


I'm thinking the same kind of thing. Just gotta work out the details.



Hornet said:


> LOL,some things ya gotta keep for yourself:wave:


 Don't I know it.



> Todd,i have an old piece of arborite from some project,gonna glue it to a piece of plywood,and mount the motor assembly on it.
> Then wire it up with an on/off switch
> 
> Have you got any ideas for an arm / tool rest,i haven't come up with anything there yet. I haven't cut or glued anything to anything yet,as i'm hoping to get a few ideas first:thumbsup:


Billet aluminum is the way to go Rick. How are your machining skills? We could make this thing cost twice as much as your Hudy!

Cheers eh,

Todd


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## Hornet

I missed JV's idea,hey i like the hinge mount idea,thanks JV.:thumbsup:
I'm thinking,build some sort of hinged wooden style saddle for the dremel to sit in.
Rick


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## jobobvideo

had another idea...a triangle piece mounted to the side of the existing wood. Attach the dremel to peice that would slide on top of the triangle piece. Make marks for the different sizes of tire....slide down to mark???


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## tossedman

Or how about something like this? Needs more support for the Dremel. Could maybe somehow put a scale on the side? Problem is two screws to adjust height. What else needs to be done? Or is it easier to just hand hold it? 










Todd


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## slotking

from my experience I would have to buy 10 dremels to find 1 with no bit oscillation! :freak:

I also angle my dremel or car a bit so the sanding bit is not acting like a straight road. save a lot of time sanding down tires

but I like the idea


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## Hornet

LOL,good ideas guys,they're very much appreciated,keep them coming,thanks.

Nothings wrote in stone or cut yet,so i'm still wide open for ideas:thumbsup:

Todd i like your idea,but i think that idea takes it out of the cheap realm

Mike bit oscillation doesn't seem to be that big a deal.

By no means does a Hudy run true,and it cuts pretty decent tires,and these don't seem to be all that differant.

Try a keyless chuck in your Dremel,my keyless chuck runs way truer then my collet equipped Dremels do.
Rick


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## slotking

> Mike bit oscillation doesn't seem to be that big a deal.


tell that to my oblong tires:thumbsup::thumbsup::tongue:


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## Hornet

Your sanding them on a flat piece of sandpaper aren't you Mike.
I never could get a round tire doing them that way,that's why i used a drill press and dremel for years.
Two spinning entities that spin at differant rpms seems to offset that problem a bit Mike.
You should of seen the run-out i had with a 1/2" drill press and a flat grinding stone chucked into it's Jacob's chuck,and i cranked out decent tires for years that way.Wobble was the understatement,lol
Ya just gotta be a little careful and pay attention to what you're doing to get a good tire,patience is a virtue when grinding tires,


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## slotking

1>if use the car motor to sand (tires sitting on the file) I get true tires

If I use my dremel on the tire while still on the car, i get oblong
if it not to bad, i go up to step 1 

so this year sent them to a guy with a lathe to see it works


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## Hornet

Todd was busy with the camera,lol
Here's my revised version.
Hope it passes inspection Jeff,lol
I left it freehand,as the table makes a good hand/tool rest,and it keeps it easy/convenient to use


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## slotking

wow
and wow again because 1 wow is to short to post it seems


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## Boosted-Z71

Patiently awaiting the 9001 version to come out soon

Looks great

Boosted


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## slotking

I also hope you have your Six Sigma black belt!:wave:


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## tossedman

Boosted-Z71 said:


> Patiently awaiting the 9001 version to come out soon
> 
> Looks great
> 
> Boosted


The 9001 is the right handed version. The 9000 is the left handed version as Rick is a southpaw.

Todd


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## Hornet

LOL:wave:

Thanks guys.

For being nothing but scraps i had laying around,and a couple afternoons of work i'm sure pleased with it.

The adjustable stand is an old oscillating fan stand outta my scrap pile,that i installed a 110 volt plug outlet on,and slightly modified.
An hour with the welder and grinder,welded up the steel plate on the bottom of the little table.
Then i got fancy,lol,and plug welded a 3/4" X 1/2" black pipe reducer into the tube on the stand,and welded a 3/4" pipe nipple onto the plate.
This way i can spin the table off the stand,and use the stand for some other light duty project 

I cut tires with it for my spec brass cars,and the tires off it work as good as the tires cut by the Hudy.

It's simplicity to use,lol
I set it up as a seperate stand,with it's own Dremel,all i do is pull it over to my work bench stool and grind,can't get any more lazy then that i figure
That's why i like it

Good thing Hudy sends lots of decals with their tire truer.
Thanks go out to Gerome for the Comp sticker:wave:

Rick


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## [email protected]

Ok I see the ways of sanding a tire down. Now here's my question.

How do you know that your getting your tires trued to the same size diameter?

I'm looking at doing one myself but like what was stated before was a tool rest would be nice. I'm getting a free dental lathe. I was looking at doing one from that, but was trying to make sure I scuffed or trimmed my tires down to the same diameter. 

The Mattel chassis' have craptastic tires again and it would be nice to trim them down for my Daughter and her friends to run without buying tires all the time. I swear I buy $20 of tires every other month 15 pairs, and can't keep doing that.


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## Hornet

For me,i usually never do 2 identical sized tires on most of my cars,so true'ing them to identical sizes for me usually isn't applicable.

Except,there's always an except,lol,I have 6 spec cars that do run identical tires,and i used my Hudy with it's tool stop for grinding their tires.

I left this one freehand for the convience factor.
But i'm in a little differant situation then most,as i have my Hudy for grinding spec tires when needed,so i wasn't in a real bind to fab up a tool stop

I played around with JV's idea of a hinged mount for the dremel,and i think you could make it work,but the biggest thing i ran into was trying to make it accurate to use.
The normal hardware store hinge isn't a very precise unit,but i thought if you ran 2 small hinges,and put them in a slight bind to each other,you might take some of the slop out of them.



A free dental lathe,man where do you guys come up with these drool over tool freebee's,lol:thumbsup:.

Between you and Boosted,i'm starting to get jealous,lol

You're freebee lathe should be quite superior to this set-up

If you can post a picture of the lathe,there's some pretty crafty home fabricators kicking around here,and you might get some ideas.
The more eyes looking,usually more ideas show up:thumbsup:
Rick


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## slotking

> The Mattel chassis' have craptastic tires again and it would be nice to trim them down for my Daughter and her friends to run without buying tires all the time. I swear I buy $20 of tires every other month 15 pairs, and can't keep doing that.


even if you true the tires, i really suggest you look up super tires and get the sets you want!

the cars will drive better! I think they are $2 a pair??

they last forever


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## [email protected]

Here is the picture of the lathe. In essence it is similar to a bench grinder with a truer bearing and chuck system. I have buffing wheels on one end that are quick change, and on the other end is a chuck that is similar to a drill. I have drum sander, grinders, end mills, diamond stones and tons of other attachments. Just thinking how I'd chuck a tire to true out or cut.

http://www.pattersondental.com/Supplies/ProductFamilyDetails/6016

This is the company I work for repairing and installing everything they sell. The bosses recently cleaned out my stash of good used equipment. I had dental pics, air compressors, dental units with drills, ultrasonic cleaners, and even autoclaves that we would normally recycle. I used the stuff for personal use. Sterilizers are great for setting up my bottles for my home brewing. I only have what is at my house now and about 4 doz diamond burrs I was told to throw 
away.


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## Hornet

That's a nice unit:thumbsup:

Does it have any specs on it,like amps and rpm.

The beauty of the heater motor is it's relatively low rpm high torque output 

You could try making a mandrel out of a hub and drillblank .
I always shove the axle through till it's even with the outer lip of the hub,then i invert the hub and fill it with JB Weld,just to stabilize it and make it a little more bulletproof.
That takes care of a tire mandrel,and you say it comes with it's own sanding drum and diamond stones,either one of them should suffice for tire cutting

Are you planning on having 2 rotating entities or using it as an actual lathe,and only the tire is spinning

Building a stable tool rest that is accurate to a 0.001" is gonna take some fabbing,but i think it's do able,as you got a great tool to start with.

I was wondering if an old cheap used wood working lathe,might be something to look at for tool rests.
They might have something borrowable and adaptable to your needs:thumbsup:


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## [email protected]

Oh great idea on the wood lathe. I have an older Delta lathe. Someone put it out on the curb and it had a sign that read FREE. I bought a set of brushes and cleaned the motor out. Looks like he had been using metal grinding tools near it. Smoothest lathe I've ever run. My Dad put a 14"x4' log in there and with low RPM turned it down.


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## Hornet

Son of a gun,i gotta move south of the border,freebee lathe's at the curb,freebee dental tools,man i live in the wrong area,lol

Canucks are too cheap ,nobody throws anything out up here,lol

Roughly how big and heavy is the lathe,by the pic's it looks very similiar to a standard sized 6" grinder.

Could you build anything that pivots off the lathe itself,kinda like a grinders tool rest.
I'm just throwing ideas out that you've probably already thought of ,i'm hoping you get some more input from a few other guys too,lol:wave:

Rick


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## Boosted-Z71

Hornet said:


> Canucks are too cheap ,nobody throws anything out up here,


Uh if they did throw it out it would just get snowed on immediately and then no one would know it was out for salvage, Ha Ha

Rick I know what you mean, Sometimes I feel like I dont get many breaks either.

Good thread guys, I like to read and follow what your doing 

Boosted


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## Hornet

LOL,you're one of the guys i was hoping who had a few more ideas to add to the pot:wave:.

Snow,this year we've been lucky,haven't had to much to deal with yet,knock on wood.
Been in the low 50's for the last few days now,and we've had it pretty easy this winter.
Nice enough i did a bunch of mig welding outside today,with only a low gas setting,no wind even,lol.

Should of known it'd be an easy winter,bought a snowblower,lol.

Even seen a couple guys on streetbikes today,lol:thumbsup:

But normally you're right,by the time the snow usually melts,anything free is rusted beyond use,lol
Rick


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## Hornet

In case anybody missed this today,here's Sawtell's way of rounding 1/32 Supertires.
The thing that intrigued me was his use of the Dremel hobby vice,that might be something to look at.
Rick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_0GR72ZLTMA#!


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## tossedman

Rick a buddy of mine found a Dewalt mitre saw on the Deerfoot a while back. Brand new in the box. The box was a bit beat up where it fell off someone's vehicle but the saw's in perfect shape.

Thanks for sharing that video. Never seen one of those Dremel vices before. Might have to investigate one.


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## Hornet

I knew about the Dremel hobby vices,but they never crossed my mind to look at for use here.
Crappy Tire usually has them in stock,but they never go on sale,and i'm so cheap,i don't buy from Crappy Tire till they have things on sale for at least 70% off

LOL,somebody was probably looking for that saw
But that's a find:thumbsup:

Rick


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## Ogre

Hornet, thanks for the link. After watching, it took me 5 min. to order one off the bay. if anybody goes that way be carefull I seen them from $27.00 to $72.00.


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## Hornet

Awright thanks for the heads up Ogre.
Todd if i know you,you've probably already found them,if your ordering one,get 2,lol:thumbsup:

Ogre:When it arrives,could you let us know,if it would work as a tool rest,i figure you know what's going on,and whether it'd work in other tire grinding situations,ie: for Jeepman:thumbsup:

Rick


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