I decided to try to make my own wheels, so I taped the bottom of a straw and poured some urethane into it. When it dries, I'm hoping that I'll have a tube of urethane that I can cut and shape into a set of wheels. I dont have a lathe, so I'm going to try using sharp knives, drill bits, and sandpaper, and the rod will be placed into a drill. Does anyone think it'll work?
Also, I'm hoping to make them single bearing wheels. Any help will be greatly appreciated., especially from people who make wheels themselves.

I've never heard of the technique using a straw, but i don't see why it wouldn't work. For me, whenever i try experiments like this they work to a point. I usually don't have the patience to keep on working at it until i can perfect it. So my advice to you is to keep at it. Try to perfect your own technique of both creating and crafting your wheels. I think this will make your wheels and unique and different than anything on the market.

This is probably the only tutorial on how to make wheels.

you probably should cut the straw with the urethane in it, because urethane might be a little hard to cut when it's dried. i wouldn't know, but that sounds like it could work. maybe i'll try this someday soon

if I had a lathe id be making my own wheels (I did 3 and a half years of machining at my school)

skatemaster231 wrote:

*video*
This is probably the only tutorial on how to make wheels.

I saw this before, and that's how I got the idea of making a rod out of urethane. Thanks anyway

Tyler wrote:

urethane might be a little hard to cut when it's dried.

Yeah, that stuff gets hard. Makes a good finish for wood too.

Very interesting idea with the straw. Can you keep us updated with pictures if you haven't already tried? Another way to do it is get a metal mold 3d printed and pour in your material like you've done with the straw.

I'm going to use a straw as a mold for now. I'll post pictures when I can.

I'm curious here. Would a bondo mold work? Say I have a set of wheel with the bearings popped out. Could I possibly make a mold out of that pour urethane into it, and then place the bearing in?

I honestly have no idea, but it would probably be harder to shape them. Though a mold without a hole in the bottom would be easier to use and you wouldn't have a long strand of urethane hanging at the bottom. Seriously, I can make urethane spaghetti.
But it would also be harder to remove the urethane. With a straw, I can just cut it out when it dries. Unfortunately, it takes a long time for it to dry like that, whereas if I were to spread a thin layer on a piece of wood, it would dry in a few hours.

*update*
Unfortunately, I dont think the straw thing is going to work for casting urethane, but I may be able to do it with silicone and make bushings. I might be able to buy a rod of urethane and try to make some wheels out of that. Anyone know if I can get them at a hardware store like Lowe's?

Sorry for the double post, but the previous one is really long and I'd like to get some more advice :3

What other materials can I use for wheels? I know that some wheels are made from delrin, construction plastic, and I think some are nylon, but what other materials can I use? I'd like it if they made a squeak during powerslides and such. I just love that sound.

I know you can use Teflon for wheels.

Put up some pictures of the wheels when you're done. Will be very interesting to see how they turn out!

Dude this post is from July, why bump ?