Spool Wheels - Card Spool Car Kit

Introducing Spool Wheels, a fun way to reuse your cardboard spools rather than simply just throwing them in the recycling. With the Spool Wheels parts system, you can attach any cardboard spool of 70mm width or less to cardboard boxes, turning them into whatever you can imagine. Waggons, trikes, bikes, prams, trains, or tanks, it’s all possible with Spool Wheels.

Components

The Spool Wheels system requires no external parts and can be printed almost entirely in PLA, with the only exception being the optional Hole Tool. The system consists of the following parts:

• A car style Side Axle for mounting spools to the sides of boxes
• A bike style Front Axle for mounting spools to the front and rear of boxes
• Single width brackets for Side Axles
• Double width brackets for Front Axles
• Bolts in short, medium, long, and very long lengths
• Slip plates to reduce friction between the spool, axles and hubs
• Hubs to secure the spools to the axles
• Guides for marking hole positions
• A hole tool for quickly punching bolt holes

Installation

When installing Spool Wheels, it’s recommended to use the included guides for marking the exterior hole locations. Once you’ve marked the locations, you can use the included hole tool or another tool to punch a hole for the bolt. The included brackets means the hole can be larger than the bolt if needed.

Once you’ve made your hole, it’s recommended you clear up the surrounding area to remove excess material. A version of the hole tool is included with scrapers either side of the base of the punch to help with this.

The next step is to insert the bracket aligned with the holes, and then push through the bolts. You will need to pick the bolt with the right length for the thickness of card. Spool Wheels works with card from thicknesses 2mm to approximately 10mm, assuming corrugated card with a degree of give.

With the brackets in place and the bolts inserted, align the axle and use the thumb grips to rotate the bolts into place. You can also use a large, flat-head screwdriver, but do so with caution as this can damage softer materials such as PLA. When fastening the screws down, it’s recommended to rotate them so the thumb grips are parallel to the box sides to make it easier to fix in adjacent bolts. However, there is a lot of give with the bolts so feel free to under-tighten them a bit.

With the axles fitted, place a slip ring on the axle, then the spool, then another slip ring. Finally lock the wheel in place with the hub.

Please share what creations you and your little makers come up with! I’m hoping to expand the system in future, and would love to see any remixes or add-ons people invent!

Check out my model collections:

• Miniature painting
• RPG Accessories
• Wargaming Accessories
• Pansartax DM System
• My Makerworld Contest Entries

Alternatively, buy me a Kofi