RC model plane wheel centre

thingiverse

I wanted bigger wheels for my RC plane because smaller ones kept getting stuck. So I designed these. The outer diameter of each rim is 40mm and the inner diameter is 32mm. The foam tire is 14mm wide. It comes in three parts: a wheel center that the two wheel rims attach to, a first rim that you glue onto the center, and a second rim that you glue on top once your tire is in place. By adjusting how far apart the rims are, you can achieve different offset settings. The assembled weight of this design using 100% infill PLA is 8 grams. In the photo, you'll see a piece of foam from a blue packing material used for washing machines. This type of foam has the same consistency as commercial tires and is 15mm wide. When printing a new tire, it's a tight fit on the rims. If you want to add extra durability, you can glue your tire in place once assembled. If it gets damaged or worn out, it's not too hard to replace with a new one. I based my design on car wheels, where it's easy to swap out tires if needed. I've included Freecad files so others can modify this design as they see fit. To change the size of your wheel, you can simply adjust the settings in your slicer software. For example, making the height (Z axis) taller will make the wheel wider. If you want to make it larger overall, just increase all parts by a percentage and consider using lower infill for the center to save weight.