Electric Axe featherweight - first build of FW

[Roboteernat]

As a result of the wheel fixing problems experienced, i knew i needed to modify how the wheels attach for future comps. Guildford being in 2 weeks time of writing, i needed to work on this quick!

My solution came from some couplings i made at work for another project. Turned out i could modify them over lunch and fit to some wheels.
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In an effort to loose more weight im giving the bike tread and nylon wheel a go too. £2.70 vs £6 for replacements of white nylon to blue rubber so a saving too!
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Edit: have just weighed the wheels, and without the bike tyre fitted, currently the new wheel setup weights 154g less than the blue wheel. With bike tyre this could be a saving of about 80g per wheel...?

Turned down the wheel to a flat, and set to machining the hub, i managed to do one before end of lunch. Nice having access to some tools like this! After borrowing Shock Wills 3/8UNF tap to repair the wheel in Portsmouth, i managed to get some new Dormer ones from eBay and bought a die too.


To make things parallel i used a 1/2 inch shaft and machined the 3/8 UNF thread onto one end to hold the hub square to the flat on the wheel. making the wheel rotate nicely and not wobble/bind on the chassis.
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Final results look nice. I may have to take off some HDPE from the chassis to allow the tyre to fit - these are 125mm diameter wheels too. Thats why i turned down the diameter a bit to accommodate the tread, otherwise i will increase my GC.
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Just need to attach some bike threads now, oh and make a 2nd!

what would you guys use, Road tread? offroad? or slick?