Skate board wheel material

[Teunis]

Does anybody know what material skateboard wheels are made of ?.

I want to design some sliding gear for heavy doors, and the material skate board wheels are made of are of interest to me. If only I knew what material was used....

 

[CoryPad]

Polyurethanes are used for these applications. Try BASF:

http://www.basf-polyurethane.com/basic.htm

Regards,

Cory

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[Pud]

Also note that injection moulded polyurethanes are not as tough as the cast types - if you only need a few, polyurethane can be water-jet cut quite well from cast sheet.

Rgds


Harry

 

[Teunis]

thanks for your replies.

Would a skateboard wheel be injection moulded or would it be turned from rod?

(I 'd guess they would be made by turning, looking at the grooves on the outer surface)

 

[patprimmer]

Some are injection moulded. I have seen them being moulded.

Regards

eng-tips, by professional engineers for professional engineers
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[dwightdixon]

The highest performance wheels are cast from thermal set urethane. Molds are cheap and process easy. Look up shops in your part of the world that do that kind of thing and they will guide you thru the process.

 

[Chris1001]

I'd agree with the previous comments regarding TPU materials. Look to choose a high hardness grade eg shore D50.

However, consider other materials such as acetal or nylon 6 if you would like to avoid permanent deformation. A heavy sliding door might cause creep to occur in materials such as TPU.

 

[patprimmer]

Cast PU will have better performance and lower initial cost, but injection moulded will be cheaper once initial costs are amortised.

Nylon and acetal are very commonly used in sliding door rollers.

Acetal is the hardest with the most creep resistance, and therefore will tend to hold its shape better under constant load. Injection moulded PU will be the worst from the point of view of retaining shape, with nylon somewhere in between.

PU will run quiet where the acetal might be noisy, once again with the nylon somewhere in between.

The cast PU will distort under load, but will recover better over time vs the thermoplastic materials.

Regards

eng-tips, by professional engineers for professional engineers
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[Teunis]

thanks all for your input !

 

[dwightdixon]

The urethane wheels will make a bumping sound as they are rolled after they take a set. We had a problem with this for hospital cart wheels. If you just use sliders it is not a problem but rolling is easier than sliding if the doors are heavy.

 

[ornerynorsk]

They are either RIM molded or transfer molded, ideally. Back in the heyday of skateboards and roller blades, I did a good deal of mold making for a local producer. And yes, urethane is the material of choice.