I got a set of sysmic rims on the way with 20mm bearings. My flexi has 12mm bolts so I am looking for 20mm to 12mm axle adapters. After checking online I found ss adapters but got sticker shock at $20 per each wheel so decided to see if i could turn them on my little sherline lathe.
Well, today i learned that my mini lathe and the hss cutting tools that I have do not stand a chance against 314ss.
Anybody has used either brass or nylon to make axle adapters? If yes how have they worked for you?

Thanks Rich.

Do you use just plastic bushings with a washer installed on the bolt or can you find top hats at Lowes.

I will check lowes out today anyaways.

Thanks

My Black Widow uses 3/4 " bolts ('Murican!), roughly 19 mm, and Van suggested a bit of electric tape to make up the difference. I built up only the areas 'under' the bearings.

You have much further to go.

I'm a fan of PVC pipe - if you used 1/2 " ID, you're 12.7 mm ID, but looks too big in the OD at 21.3 mm.

How would that lathe do at turning some PVC pipe?

That would work out perfect because i could turn the pvc down to 20mm and still have a slight shoulder on it. I was mainly concerned if plastic woukd be OK and it sounds like it is. This gives me many options. Thx.

I had some cut from aluminum.

Thanks Cheezy. I can work with aluminum, brass, plastic, mild steel. Just was not certain if I had to use stainless. Looks like a lot of you guys are using materials other than stainless, so I think i am all set with turning them myself with either pvc, nylon or aluminum.

PL sent out aluminum spacers when they went to 20mm in all the new wheels. Might see if they have more to sell.

Well I can't see it but I guess you did
Im not using any punctuation any more
I can not take this apple product issue as I only have apple products lol
Yes lowes had everything I needed was done in a jiffy and did several wheels for others this way with no issues
They were of the top hat variety in those little fold out drawers in hardware
Not sure I would be a fan of nylon for this application as there is a lot of side load and possibly heat build up for a quick replacement indeed

They are available in SS and nylon for Sysmic rims.

www.buggykiteshop.com/index.php/wheel-spares/wheel-accessori...

Thank you guys. Already made top hats with aluminum stock and the wheels are installed on the buggy. Hopping for some wind tomorrow so I get to try them out.

Thank you guys for the advice. Today got to try the buggy with the aluminum top hats and it worked perfectly. Wind was about 12-14 mph coming directly from the water and I got up to 29.8mph (my best speed to date) with a soulfly buster 4.4. Thought about putting up the 6m Century so I could beat 30mph but at that point I had been strongarming the kite for about 1.5 hours and could barely control the brakes from fatigue.
Awesome day to ride.

The Lowes here doesnt seem to have them. Any pictures of the said items?

Sorry rtz was not clear on the response, Lowes has some brass bushings that I might have been able to make work but instead I choose to turn them out of aluminum so I got very tight tolerances to both the 20mm bearing and also the 12mm bolt.

Ok. I was under the impression something was bought and didnt realize you had to turn down some aluminum stock.

Great job on the new PB!

Trying to get a buggy going for a local a while back; I ordered up some of these to get the 20mm bearings working on his 15mm axle setup. Had to drill them out slightly to enlarge them. Had to chuck them in a drill press and sand/file down the outer diameter to make them fit in the bearings. Worked good and I'd do it again if need be. A low cost option if anyone needs axle adapters:

https://www.mcmaster.com/6659k26