GERALD
I WANT TO MAKE THIS V WHEELS WHERE DO I BUT THE TYRES AND BEARING CAN YOU GIVE ME THE SITES AND ALL THE SPEC
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Slink , get the laser company to cut some steel for the wheels 1.5 mm over size and use the std bearings as per the spec`s that Gerald gave in his drawings.Bearings you can get from any bearing supplier.Get some extra wheels to play with.

. . . . . . I am using Ertalite wheels. They are a bit softer that the steel. . . . .

Curious about the life of those Ertalyte wheels - sometimes I wonder if we can dump the wheels and replace them with solid plastic slide blocks, still on the v-rail, (like a lathe bed) . . . . .

Gerald, So you picked up on the spelling. I sometimes do that:). Personally I would not give up on the wheels. The added friction that the slide block give will not be practical especially on larger machines. What I would look at is to increase the contact area. I am looking at designing an extrustion that will give about 10mm contact area on each side.
I am monitoring the Ertalyte wheels closely to see how they hold up. So far not a sign of wear. Also the machine runs very quite so it will be a bonus if they last.

Ertalyte wheels
 

Gerald,
The machine has been working non-stop for many weeks now and the ertalyte wheels dont show any signs of decay yet. They have not yet bedded and I think it might be a good alternative. The machine noise is also very low. Kobus came round the other day and commented on the low noise level so I take it must be a lot better than the metal wheels.

Marius, that is great news on the Ertalyte wheels.

Kobus's machine has direct drive motors, which makes a machine sound quite rough. I guess his comment was based on this aspect. I don't think that steel/plastic wheels will make a big difference on noise, but I may still be proved wrong. :-)

Gerald has anyone tried using brass for the wheels? Think it would work?

Brass (or bronze) will also work.

Then that is what I will be using... I have a nice bar just the right size for this :)

Gerald,
I cant believe a years has gone already since we started our build. Just to give feedback - the ertalyte wheels still look the same as when installed. The machine has worked hard almost every day of the year. So I think any of the synthetic stuff that has similar properties might work well.

Regards
Marius

Thanks for the update Marius.

Gerald, is the bronze suggestion still valid? I want to try my luck at doing the V wheels with my small cnc lathe.

Yes, it is still valid

I don't know if anyone is still around to read this but the Ertalyte wheels are still going strong on the machine. Almost 15 years later.

Hi Marius

That is good to know, thank you for the feedback. Where did you source the Ertalyte?

Hi Allan
From our local supplier called Maizey Plastics.
I am building myself another machine now so I will go the same route with the wheels.

It's likely to wear out soon and has poor load-bearing capacity.

You obviously didn't read the whole thread. That first machine is running almost twenty (20) years on those rollers and they are as good as the day they where made.