Hub Coning

Hi Everyone,

I had a question regarding wheel prep. In my son's pack, we are not able to do much to the wheels, aside from smoothing out the tread edges and polishing the wheel tread. The rules do say that we can cone the hubs. This is not something that we did last year and I was wondering if it something we need to look into doing. And if so, can anyone recommend a good method/guide for doing so? Thank you reading this post and any advice you may have.

 

Thanks DD4H, that is not something I have access to right now. I'll not worry about coning and focus on polishing it up properly.

 

There are 100 pinewood 'tools' out there for sale, and many of them do not work as advertised. That said, if you go to YouTube and search 'coning pinewood wheels', or any other process, you may find tools advertised to help with that process. I have such a tool and have coned one wheel only. The tool seems to be made out of soft metal and I have no idea as to how long it may stay sharp enough to do the job, or if I will be able to sharpen it when it gets dull. It did, however, cone the wheel.

 

Are the hubs coned on those? Or just trued with no other modifications? Our rules are rather strict on wheels. Thank you.

 

The link posted has a “double step” and they aren’t coned. If you polish a wheel well it will still be competitive and likely enough to win if done well.

https://derbydad4hire.com/The-Dynasty-Rage-set-of-4-wheels-W-R.htm

This is the coned version

 

That coning tool...the best thing you can do is give it to your closest competitor and convince him that he will be faster...

 

Do you feel that there is no advantage to coning the wheels, or just that the tool won't properly cone the wheels?

 

Good concept, but not the tool for the advanced builder.

 

In the past, I actually sharpened mine with a small file, worked better but dulled by the third wheel, soft metal indeed. Not sure how much it helped as i was basically guessing the shape it was taking, but using a jewlers loupe can help to see how it looks after you polish.

 

Using a hub tool and free handing the hub shaping process will probably do more damage than good.
Unless you have a lathe, you would be better off leaving the shape of the hubs as stock and just polishing them.

That being said, a coned hub if done on a lathe is a definite speed advantage.