Drilling Axels for Wheels

Drilling Axel Holes In Wooden Nickel Wheels (Updated 10/28/12)

If you use wooden nickels, wooden disks, or dowels to make your wheels you will need to drill a hole through the center. The only way to get a centered hole is to use a drill press. First I make a jig by drilling a 3/4" hole using a spade bit into which the wheel fits snuggly. The depth of the hole is not very important.

What is important, however, is to perform all these steps without repositioning the jig to ensure that the axels holes will be drilled in the center of the wood disk consistently. I switch to a 7/64" bit which is the best size if you are using 3/32" brass tube axels. 5/32" is a good diamater if you are using #6 wood screws.

After a couple dozen wheels you may find that that the 3/4" "holder" hole starts to get a little play in it and it will be time to reposition your jig and drill a new holder hold. Obviously this jig has been used twice. Despite all the care that goes into this I still find that not every axel is perfectly centered. In fact, I might toss out one out of every four or five because the centering is visibly off. I'm not sure what causes the problems. Could be imperfections in the wood disks or the fact that I have a low quality drill press. I'm not certain.