Viceroy TDS 1/1 G.B. Kart Wheel Balancer

[dazz]

Hi

Just a small very basic project. I made a wheel balancer for racing kart wheels. It's a short axle with bearings on each end.

As a balancer it is easy to use. An out-of-balance wheel just settles with the heavy side down. I just have to keep adding weight to the high side until it stays still and any point of rotation.

I recycled an old kart axle and turned up a couple of bushings with a spigot on each. The spigots hold precision ball bearings that were salvaged from the internals of an old hard disk drive. These are very good quality and much cheaper than trying to buy new bearings.

The use of ball bearings means I just have to support the weight of the balancer and wheel. No need for any fancy engineering. In the photos, I just used a couple of scrap pieces of wood. Very low tech but effective.

The busings were roughed out and then fitted to the shaft ends. The bushings are shouldered to match the internal diameter of the shaft tube. The 3-point steady was used to finish the spigots. I found it relatively easy to turn both spigots so the bearings were a push fit. Once I found the right diameter for one end, I just turned down to the same setting on the other end. Both bearings went on with the same push fit.

[dazz]

I have a new kart with a 40mm rear axle, so to balance wheels required me to swap the 40mm hubs for 35mm each time.

Although the hubs will take 40mm, the wheels will only allow a 35mm axle to pass right through. This means a 40mm axle cannot be used to make a balancer. A 35mm (or less) axle is required with a 40mm section to suit the hubs.

I modified the balancer by sleeving it with a piece of 40mm axle. The sleeve was bored to a couple of thou inch under 35mm. I froze the balancer in the freezer, and heated the sleeve over the gas hob. The sleeve just dropped over the balancer and shrank tight when cooled. I intentionally left a burr on one end of the sleeve bore to stop the sleeve in the right place.

[dazz]

Kart hub standard sizes are 35mm, 40mm and 50mm.
I made a 40mm to 50mm sleeve adapter so this balancer will do all sizes.