Cutting big wheels for the dragster cars

On April 7th, Anderson Mora cut out 28 two-inch diameter wheels for the dragster version of the wooden cars we are preparing to take with us on a two-week work team trip to Haiti.

 Anderson holding the remnant of the scrap hardwood board he used to cut out the wheels, shown in the foreground..

Anderson is only 11-years old, but he did a very careful and precise job making the wheels.  At the moment, he is the most eager student in the workshop at Granja Peniel.  He is anxious to learn and is happy getting experience in the workshop.

During the two hours he was working, Anderson learned how to use the hole saw on the drill press.  We found that it works best to first cut all the holes about 2/3 of the depth of the board (enough that the pilot bit goes all the way through), then make a pass with the spade bit to form the "hubcap", and finally turn the board over and finish cutting the wheel using the hole saw.  Alignment using the pilot bit hole on the last cut is particularly critical to the wheel being true.

After cutting all the wheels out, Anderson spent a half an hour trueing them up using the disk sander attachment on the lathe:

We still lack cutting out 80 of the smaller wheels to equip the full fleet of 50 cars that we plan to take to Haiti.  The boards are prepared and sanded.  Next week, Lord willing...