Making Beetleweight Wheels

First grab your parts and tools!

• Some automotive silicon hose.
• A sharp knife (don't cut yourself!)
• A 3d printed jig!

I designed the jig myself, it fits on the silicon hose and helps guide the blade round. The width of the tyre is set by the depth of the jig. When designing your own make sure you can get the tyre out once it's cut out!
I've found these to be very simple, cheap and easy to make whilst also being very effective in the arena.

Step 1:
Stick the jig on the end of the silicon hose. Here you can see the holes I added to make it easy to remove the tyre later.

Step 2:
Using the sharp knife cut the tube! You do have to make sure you're pushing the flat of the blade against the jig and pushing the jig against the end of the tube. Otherwise you end up with seriously wonky wheels!

Done! But how to remove it?!

Step 3:
Using a suitably rounded poky stick, poke the tyre out. It may be best to poke on alternate sides so as not to jam the tyre.

Finished!
I've been stretching my 28mm hose over 35mm dia 3D printed wheels for a very secure wheel.
I've uploaded a step file of my wheel design with a 21t pulley for HTD 3M belt here.