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Use this Wheel Shaver to make your wheels round. It's as easy as ABC! 

Example of pinewood car
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How to use the Wheel Shaver on Your Pinewood Derby Car

Pinewood Derby Car Wheel Shaver

Shave time off of your pinewood derby runs

Out of round wheels cause improper alignment at speed causing the axle to raise and drop. This vibration will slow your car and cause it to pull to one side.

The Pro Wheel Shaver XT is designed to create round and true Pinewood Derby wheels by removing tread material. It is intended for use on wheels made of relatively hard plastic such as those offered by BSA, PineCar, Royal Rangers, S&W and Royal Ambassadors. It is not intended for wheels offered by Awana and PinePro.

 

Not all wheels are created equal, but with a
Pro Wheel Shaver, they can be made Hi-Performance!

Truing the Wheel Edge


Slide the Pro Wheel Shaver into the Pro Hub tool until 1 3/16" of the Hub tool is exposed.

Use the included hex key to firmly tighten the Shaver to the Hub tool.

Loosen the screw holding the cutting blade. Turn the black adjustment knob at the top until the blade is down towards the Hub tool as far as possible. Tighten the cutting blade.

Mount a wheel with the inside wheel hub facing the Hub tool. While pressing the wheel against the blade, rotate the wheel five complete revolutions counter clockwise.

Truing the Tread Surface


Loosen the screw holding the Hub tool. Slide the wheel shaver onto the Hub tool until 5/8" of the Hub tool is exposed.

Firmly tighten the Hub tool.

Loosen the screw holding the cutting blade. Move the blade up by turning the black adjustment knob. Slide a wheel onto the Hub tool. Rotate the wheel and move the blade to identify the highest spot on the wheel. Rotate the wheel 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn and turn the black adjustment knob until the blade is gently pressing against the wheel.

Turn the wheel counterclockwise and make five complete wheel rotations. While turning, pull the wheel away from the blade; don't push it towards the blade.

Find a low spot on the wheel and adjust the blade to the new depth. Turn the wheel for five additional rotations. Repeat until all low spots are gone.

Tips:

  1. To adjust the friction on the blade:

    • Firmly tighten the cross bolt with the square nut.
    • Back the bolt off 1/3 of a turn.
    • Place the tool on its side on a firm work surface and gently strike the head of the bolt with a hammer. This will slightly loosen the blade to allow it to move smoothly.

  2. The cutting edge has a 5 degree back angle with the low point being the leading edge that contacts the wheel. The steep angle on the blade is just to narrow the cutting edge and make it look like a blade; it has nothing to do with the performance of the blade, and might have a slightly rough look. Don't confuse it with the cutting edge.

  3. Make sure that the high spot on the wheel is identified before shaving. Then start with very fine shaving cuts on the high spot. If you try to take too much material off at a time, the blade will bite into the wheel.

  4. Make sure to turn the wheel in the counter-clockwise direction (as viewed with the pin of the Pro-Hub Tool pointing towards you).

  5. To maintain smoothness in the wheel bore, and to reduce the effort in shaving, polish the pin of the Pro Hub Tool with 600-800-1000 grit sand paper, then apply 2 drops of Krytox 100 to the shaft before shaving. After shaving, clean the bore with rubbing (Isopropyl) alcohol, flush with water, and dry.

 

Important Notes:

  1. The Pro Wheel Shaver is a hand-powered lathe. It removes tread material such that the resulting Pinewood Derby car wheel is round. With a little practice, wheels can be machined to within 1 thousandths of an inch. Check your local rules to make sure that lathed wheels are allowed in your race.
  2. The Pro Wheel Shaver is intended for adult use as it requires adult hand strength to loosen and tighten the adjustment bolts and to turn the wheels.
  3. Although the blade does not have a knife like edge, use care to minimize the risk of an injury. If the blade ceases to shave the wheel, the cutting edge can be restored with a fine honing stone or a fine-toothed file.
  4. For best results practice with a spare set of wheels before truing the target wheels.
  5. Fine cross cuts may be  created on the wheel tread surface which cannot be completely removed by polishing. These cuts should not affect the performance of the wheel.

Wheel Shaver Video

Watch this video on how to use the Pro Wheel Shaver to
make your pinewood derby car faster.

Wheel Shaver Transcript

The Pro Wheel Shaver XT2 is a hand operated mini lathe designed for precisely truing Pinewood Derby car wheels. It is used in combination with the Pro Hub Tool. First use the Pro Hub Tool and correctly size your wheels to make sure that they are going to work free and not bind as you turn them on the Pro Wheel Shaver XT2. If there is a fitment problem use the Pro Hub Tool as designed in it's instructions and video to correctly square and true the hubs and flanges before you start this operation.

First we want to install the Pro Wheel Shaver onto the Pro Hub Tool and set the depth of the tool to 1/2 of an inch and then lock it with the provided Allen wrench. Next go through each wheel and try to identify the wheel with the largest amount of runout or the largest high spot on the wheel. This is the wheel we are going to start with. Once we have identified the wheel with the highest spot, gradually add depth by using the knob to bring the blade in until we are able to lightly touch the wheel with the blade and start to shave that high point off the wheel. You will notice that the blade will hit then miss. This is our starting point in our cut. Add a small amount and repeat. Hit and miss. This is the runout in the wheel that we are correcting making this a precise wheel. We want to start by doing all four wheels. Small amounts are what we're looking for as we use the tool. This prevents digging and helps the tool maintain a high accuracy level. After we have worked our way through the first four wheels, back to your first wheel again, add a small amount and continue the cut. You'll notice as the cut is made our first step is to achieve roundness. In some spots the cut is all the way across. In some spots the cut is only on the edges. And in some spots the tool doesn't even cut yet. This is identifying the lack of concentricity in the wheel. Again after a setting is made, move to the next wheel. We're trying to work these wheels in stages so we can maintain all four wheels an identical size.

Once we begin to establish roundness with the tool, move in brisk short strokes around the wheel. Once we've established that the wheel is round, the cuts will get lighter and fluffier as we close in on the final cuts. The goal is to still keep our outside diameter as large as possible of all four wheels yet maintain a high accuracy and concentricity to the hub center of the wheel. Once you've reached your final setting and your final cut, the tool will stop cutting. Gently remove that wheel and move to the next. Again you will do these in stages, four to five times sometimes depending on how far out of round your wheels are, until you get the wheels perfectly round and smooth. Once you are completed, the wheels should have a nice smooth straight cut all the way around and be ready to be put on the mandrel for finish polishing.

Once we've completed the tread surface of all four wheels, we now want to loosen the tool and readjust so we can use the edge of the blade to true the inner edge of the wheel where it will contact the guide strip on the track. This will ensure a smooth straight running wheel especially when used with a rail rider alignment configuration. At this point we want to take our ruler and we want to move this setting to 1 inch 1/16th and re-lock the tool. Reinsert a fresh wheel, bring our blade down so the edge of the blade which has a machine cutting edge on it is past the inner edge of the wheel and we true the inner edge of the wheel square to the tread face and perpendicular to our hub bore.

Once this setting is established, we can easily move wheel to wheel without making an additional adjustment. Once complete, Derby Works recommends use of the Pro Wheel Mandrel for holding the wheel that you just completed, use the mounting cone toward the face side of the wheel, mount it in a drill and turn it at a slow speed using a fine sandpaper and a polishing compound to your liking to finish your tread face and inner edge of your wheel to prepare.

 

Sharpen Wheel Shaver Blade Video

This video demonstrates the proper technique for
sharpening the blade on the Pro Wheel Shaver.

Sharpen Wheel Shaver BladeTranscript

One performance tip with the Pro Wheel Shaver XT2 is in the blade area. Some people change their blades, sharpen or modify or sometimes it just works out that way in manufacturing we end up with a loose blade.

One simple tip to fix the blade is loosen the tool halves and remove the blade. Take two pairs of pliers that you can oppose the nose with and hold the base or top of the blade securely with and slightly bend them putting a slight bow in the blade. Reinsert the blade as it was in the tool, tighten the screws for the halves and all the play has been removed from the blade and you will notice a slightly increased load on the handle caused by the drag of the blade in the slot. This will keep the blade from backing off or moving when making your cut.

Also a tip for the Pro Wheel Shaver XT2 is to add a small amount of oil at the base and the head of the spring along with a small amount on the screw. Run it back and forth to work it in and this will assure a smooth action, a good set and a long life of the tool.

The blade from the Pro Wheel Shaver XT2 can be redressed or resharpened. Over time from cutting plastics it will tend to dull and the edge will wear. As you look at the blade you will notice one side is flat. This is the cutting side. The other side has a taper to it. This is the back or the trailing side. The tip of the blade has a very small edge that is at a 15 degree angle. The best way we've found to redress this is to use a honing stone. This is a two sided honing stone. We use the fine side of the stone. We apply a little bit of lubricant. Spread it around evenly. And with the tip of the blade held at a 15 degree angle, straight firm strokes will redress that edge and bring the flat rear trailing edge to a good sharp cutting performance again.