Die caster for pre war wheels.

I've known these to do small run custom castings and may be worth investigating:

Cattail Foundry in Gordonville, PA

Windy Hill Foundry in Morton, MS

Check with Jim Waterman

Steve

The 2 foundries mentioned only do cast iron or brass.   Thank you.  Harry 

This news is very disheartening!  I wonder why the refusal.

@Harry Henning posted:

We have just received news that our die caster located in Jermayn, Pa. will NOT cast our Lionel, Ives, Dorfan or A. Flyer pre war wheels.

If anyone of you know of a casting co. that might be interested, please let me know.    Harry 

Geez  did they ever figure the dies out?

Jim

Yes,  They have run over 5,000 pcs. already. They said they were not making enough money, as they are all single cavity molds.     3 other casters I found wanted close to $9.00 a wheel , not counting reaming and drill / tapping.   Harry 

Looks like there'll be a price increase on wheels!

Harry, looks like we have had the luxury of inexpensive wheels for some time now.  Sorry to hear these guys are out. Might be worth asking what it will take and pass that cost on. You spent a lot of time and money getting these guys up to speed

Many moons ago, I had some lighthouse finials cast in brass from this company.  They cast in brass and aluminum, but it might be worth contacting them to see they would do them in the metal of your choice.  They were easy to work with.  
https://www.mysticvalleyfoundry.com

As long as we have replacement wheels.

@Harry Henning posted:

We have just received news that our die caster located in Jermayn, Pa. will NOT cast our Lionel, Ives, Dorfan or A. Flyer pre war wheels.

If anyone of you know of a casting co. that might be interested, please let me know.    Harry 

Harry,

Some feedback on 6 sets of American Flyer O gauge steam engine wheels I just received in the mail. 

I noted that the flanges / steel tires that are bent around the flanges, are about 2 times as thick as other wheels I have purchased, possibly from prior to your purchase of MEW.  Looks like a machining issue.

This created an issue on a recent re-wheeling project, as the wheels with these wider flanges barely fit between the rails after the install. 

NWL

@Nation Wide Lines posted:

Harry,

Some feedback on 6 sets of American Flyer O gauge steam engine wheels I just received in the mail.

I noted that the flanges / steel tires that are bent around the flanges, are about 2 times as thick as other wheels I have purchased, possibly from prior to your purchase of MEW.  Looks like a machining issue.

This created an issue on a recent re-wheeling project, as the wheels with these wider flanges barely fit between the rails after the install.

NWL

I had the same problem.  I back cut the wheel hub on my lathe to narrow the gauge.

Sorry folks.  Set up mistake and new worker.  The fold on the wrap a round was adjusted incorrectly on the press.  My fault.  The cracked spokes was do to the worker not aligning the screw boss to the tooling.  There again, our parts business has been so hectic that more training should have been given.  The corrections have been made.  Harry 

Thanks Harry for the explanation .

@Harry Henning posted:

Sorry folks.  Set up mistake and new worker.  The fold on the wrap a round was adjusted incorrectly on the press.  My fault.  The cracked spokes was do to the worker not aligning the screw boss to the tooling.  There again, our parts business has been so hectic that more training should have been given.  The corrections have been made.  Harry 

Harry,

Actually, there appears to be differences in the machining of the MEW wheels prior to your purchase/production of those wheels.  I was installing a set of the MEW wheels that I purchased 10+ years ago and noted the following:

Here are two wheels side by side, the top wheel, with the thicker wrap around flange, is a recent production wheel that I purchased in your shop in January 2020.  The bottom wheel is the wheel that I have had for 10+ years.

The photo below shows the back of the wheel that I have had for 10+ years.  It is difficult to see from the pictures, but the back of the wheel has been machined down so that the wrap around tire sits level with the back of the wheel.  If you look at the "Model" lettering and to the left of the M, you can see the edge of the machining.  Additionally, all of the shadow area between the edge of the wrap around rim and the gray color of the casting, represents machined area.

The photo below shows your recent production of wheels.  No machining on the back, thus the wrap around rim does not sit level with the casting.

I cannot tell if there is any differences in the machining on the front of the wheels as the wrap around rim covers the entire front of the wheel.

NWL