MAKING A TOY AUTO TRUCK
THE WHEELS—FOUR WAYS OF MAKING WHEELS OF TIN CANS—MAKING
A WHEEL FROM A CAN WITH SOLDERED ENDS—MAKING WHEELS FROM
ROLLED-RIM CANS—TWO TYPES OF WHEELS MADE FROM CAN LIDS
A very simple and strong toy automobile truck may be made of tin cans. If
the foregoing problems have been carefully worked out, there is no reason
why one should find the truck difficult to make, provided the directions
are carefully followed.
As the construction of a truck is typical of so many wheeled toys, it
was selected as the best type with which to begin. Various fittings may
be added, such as lights, fenders, running boards, handles, tool boxes,
etc., but only after the plain truck chassis, hood, seat and wheels have
been successfully assembled. This first real problem in toy making should
be kept as simple as possible.
Wheels form the most important part of any rolling toy, so these will be
taken up first and each method of making them discussed at length.
=Four Ways of Making Wheels of Tin Cans.=—Both types of tin cans may be
used for making wheels, the rolled rim and the soldered flange can,
but the method of making the wheel is different for each type of can.
The press-in can lids from molasses and syrup cans may also be used for
making wheels.
_Making a Wheel from a Can with Soldered Ends._—Suitable truck wheels may
be made from the smallest size evaporated milk cans. Condensed milk cans
are too large for a small truck, though either of the above mentioned
cans have the soldered flanged ends.
The contents of these evaporated milk cans is usually poured through
one of two holes punched through the cover. This renders the cover
practically useless for making one side of the wheel, unless the holes
are small, so that eight cans will have to be used for making four wheels.
If the cans are opened on the side with a can opener but four cans need
be used, as each end of the can is then intact. These wheels are made
by removing one lid from the can, cutting the can down to the required
wheel width, and then soldering on the lid again. When the ends of the
can are intact, the can is cut in two parts by cutting around the sides
of the can with the can opener. One part of the can is cut down to the
required height as in making a tray; this height represents the width of
the wheel. The end is melted off the other part of the can and this end
is placed over the first part of the can that is cut to the width of the
wheel. It is then soldered in place and the wheel is made.
If plenty of evaporated milk cans are not handy, it is better to buy four
new, filled cans from the grocer, as these small cans cost only eight
cents when filled with milk.
[Illustration: FIG. 43.]
Empty the cans by cutting a slit in the side with a sharp can opener, see
Fig. 43. Hold the cans over a glass or jar until the milk runs out into
the glass, then rinse the cans out with hot water which will also remove
the label. Continue cutting around the can with the can opener until it
is completely cut in half. All four cans should be emptied and cut in
two in this manner. As for the milk, any cook will know what to do with
that.
Open the dividers to ⅜ inch and scribe a line around the bottom of one
of the cans that has been cut in two, using the soldered edge of the rim
against which to rest one point of the dividers, as shown in Fig. 44. Cut
away the surplus tin exactly as if you were making a tray. If the cans
have become dented when they were being cut with the can opener, place
them on a round anvil and remove the dents by hammering gently with a
mallet.
[Illustration: FIG. 44.]
Take up another half can and make a cut from the edge down to the flange
at the bottom as shown in Fig. 45. Take an old pair of flat-nosed pliers
and hold it over an open flame, such as a gas range or the flame of a
soldering copper heater, until the solder shows in a bright line at the
joint of the can and lid, then take the forming mallet and give the lid
at the bottom a sharp tap or two with it which should knock the lid away
from the sides of the can held by the pliers, see Fig. 45. Do not use
your good pliers to hold the can over the flame, as the heat will soon
take the temper out of them and render them useless.
It is not necessary to get the can red hot in order to melt the solder.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.]
[Illustration: FIG. 46.]
When the lid is removed, try to fit it on the other part of the can and
it will be found impossible to force the tin into the lid without denting
the sides of the can. The rim or flange at the edge of the lid must be
enlarged in order to place the lid back on the can. The edge of the sides
of the can to be fitted into the lid should be filed with a small flat
file to remove the tin raised by the metal shears when cutting around the
can.
To enlarge the rim of the lid, place it over a piece of pipe held
in a vise and hammer the rim with a light hammer, turning the lid
slowly around on the anvil as you hammer, see Fig. 46. After hammering
completely around the flange once or twice, try to fit the lid to the can
again. It should fit without much hammering. Squeeze the lid on the can
and hammer it gently into place, the wheel being placed flat on the bench
at the time. Solder the lid in place and the wheel is finished except for
the axle holes.
A small drop of solder will be found on the lid of all evaporated milk
cans. Melt this away with a hot soldering copper and a round hole will be
found exactly in the center of the lid. This hole may be enlarged to fit
the wire used for the axle.
Find the center of the side of the wheel with the dividers as described
on page 37, Chapter II.
Use an ice pick to punch a tiny hole exactly in the center of the wheel.
If ⅛-inch galvanized wire is to be used for an axle, push the ice pick
further into the hole, turning the pick while doing so, until the hole is
just large enough to fit the axle wire. Repeat the process on the other
side of the wheel until the hole there is enlarged to fit the axle wire,
Fig. 47.
If the axle holes are not exactly in the center of the wheel, it will not
run true. A little care used in punching the holes will cause it to run
true enough for any toy.
[Illustration: FIG. 47.]
If you possess a hand drill and a drill the same size of the wire used
for an axle, you may drill the hole in the center of the wheel instead of
punching it through. To do this, first find the center of the wheel and
then make a slight dent exactly in the center of the wheel with the ice
pick or a small center punch. The point of the drill is placed in this
dent when starting to drill the hole. I find it better to use a ⅟₁₆-inch
drill and drill a hole through the center of the wheel with this first,
then use a drill the same size as the axle wire and enlarge the ⅟₁₆-inch
hole with this.
In any case, the wheel should be soldered together before the holes are
put through the centers. Finish up the four wheels and lay them aside
until the truck is nearly completed, as the wheels are the last things to
be added.
Galvanized wire of ⅛ or ³⁄₁₆ inch diameter is usually used for axles.
This wire is usually carried in stock at hardware stores. It is usually
furnished in coiled form and must be straightened out before being used.
A piece is cut from the coil of wire long enough to make the two axles.
It should then be placed on a flat metal surface and hammered straight.
_Making Wheels from Rolled-Rim Cans._—A very strong wheel may be used
from rolled-rim cans. This process is slightly different from that used
with the soldered flange cans. Wheels from 2½ to 6 inches in diameter may
be made by this second method, but unless this type of wheel is made from
very small cans it is not so suitable for the truck as the wheels made
from small evaporated milk cans.
Eight rolled-rim cans will have to be used to make four wheels unless
the cans are opened at the side when first emptied. Both types of wheels
should be made so as to become familiar with the making of each type, as
both types are used in making the models shown in this book.
This second type of wheel is rather easier to make than the first, but
you should know how to make either type, as then many different sizes of
wheels may be made with whatever cans you may have. The rolled rim is
more often employed in making large cans than in the smaller ones.
To make wheels suitable for a truck of the size described here, small
soup cans may be used; these are usually rolled-rim cans.
[Illustration: FIG. 48.]
To make a wheel from two rolled-rim cans, a line should be scribed about
the base of the can, ⅜ inch from the bottom, and the can cut down to this
line, see Fig. 48, _A_. Scribe a line ¼ inch from the base of the second
can and cut this can down to this line. Make a cut every ¼ inch around
the tin at the side of this second can, each cut to reach the base or
rim of the can, see Fig. 49, _B_.
Place this part of the wheel on the wooden block and use the riveting
hammer (_C_) to drive the cut side of the can inward as shown in Fig. 49,
_B_.
[Illustration: FIG. 49.]
[Illustration: FIG. 50.]
Now take up the can cut down to ⅜ inch and place it over a pipe anvil
which is held in the vise. Use a metal hammer and hammer around the edge
of this can two or three times to enlarge it. Turn the can around the
anvil when hammering it. Then try to push it down over the second or
turned part of the second can as shown in Fig. 49, _D_. If it does not
fit, continue the hammering until the two parts of the wheel fit together
and then solder them in place and the wheel is completed, except for the
axle holes, which may be put in exactly the same way as they are put in
the first type of wheel.
[Illustration: PLATE IX
Steam roller made by author
Steam roller made by a boy of ten years of age in a grade school under
the direction of Mr. Arthur Campbell]
The large roller of the toy steam roller shown in Plate IX is made of
rolled-rim cans as are the large wheels of the toy traction engine shown
in Plate XVIII.
Be sure to try both methods until you understand them thoroughly, as a
great deal depends on the ability to make good wheels for a toy model.
_Two Types of Wheels Made from Can Lids._—A third method of making wheels
is to use two can lids soldered together, but as it takes quite a while
to collect eight can lids of the same diameter, it is better to employ
this method only occasionally, as for flanged car wheels made to run on a
track, etc. A glance at Fig. 50, _A_, should be enough to show how these
wheels are made up of two pushed-in can lids soldered together at their
largest diameter.
The first two methods described result in wheels that look like the heavy
truck wheels employed on actual trucks.
Another type of wheel may be built of the flanged pushed-in lids. In this
type the lids are soldered together in just the opposite way as that
described in the third method, so that the flanges are on the outside
of the wheels. These wheels are generally used for belt wheels on the
mechanical models, Fig. 50, _B_.