How to Cut Wooden Wheels with a Drill Press and Hole Saw

January 27, 2015 by  
Filed under featured, Toys, Toys and Games, Woodworking

In this video I go over making wooden wheels with a drill press.

These wheels are the kind I use for the toys in the How to Make Wooden Farm Toys Book.

And for the toys on the downloadable plans page.

How to make wooden wheels
First I use a forstner bit to make an inset for the center. This is cosmetic, the forstner bit should be smaller than the final diamter of the wheel you are cutting.

Forstner_center

I cut out the wheel with a hole saw, the hole saw size should be about 1/4″ bigger than the size of wheel you want to cut out.  This is because the hole saw is sized for its outside diameter and the wheel you cut will be the inside diameter.  Take care to drill safely and slowly and follow all the manufacturer recommendations for your tools and equipment.

hole saw

wheel_after_saw

After the wheel is cut on the hole saw it is very rough.  I run a quarter inch bolt through the wheel so I can chuck the wheel in the drill press for sanding.

bolt_in_wheel

sand_wheel

I finish my toy wheels using a beeswax/oil finish or just a cutting board/mineral oil finish.

finish_wheel

The wheels are attached to the toy using axle pegs I purchase from Amazon or other craft part sources like craftparts.com.

Pound_in_wheel

Comments

5 Comments on "How to Cut Wooden Wheels with a Drill Press and Hole Saw"

  1. Tony Tran on Sat, 4th Apr 2015 12:08 pm 

    That’s all i need. Thanks for sharing

  2. canhphuc on Wed, 10th Jun 2015 1:59 pm 

    This video is great! Tut is Simple and functional. Thank you!

  3. Michael McClelland on Mon, 25th Jul 2016 10:15 pm 

    Excellent project and well done with pictures and words.
    I use a tin spacer when I drive the axels and wheels on and push them in with the spindle of the drill press. when you pull the shim out it is just right for the wheel to spin.

  4. Staurt tim on Sun, 9th Oct 2016 9:37 pm 

    the video is good

  5. Marc on Fri, 13th Jan 2017 12:42 am 

    Good tutorial. Can make loads of stuff for boys if you can make your own wheels!

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