Combination roller coaster wheel

A method of making a combination roller coaster wheel including:

• selecting a one piece aluminum alloy wheel body;
• machining the outside of the wheel body to, at atmospheric temperatures, provide a predetermined diameter and an annular stop notch forming a single stop shoulder facing in one axial direction and even further machining an axial clearance groove in the major diameter for clearance of saw teeth;
• selecting a tread ring of a material having a positive coefficient of thermal expansion and harder than the aluminum body;
• machining the inside surface of the tread ring to provide, at atmospheric temperatures, a machined inside diameter defining an annular rim having an inside diameter sufficiently smaller than the predetermined diameter to, at atmospheric temperature lock on the predetermined diameter and further forming an annular surface to, when the ring is mounted to the wheel body, abut the stop shoulder,
• applying sufficient heat to the ring to expand the ring and removing sufficient heat from the wheel body to shrink the wheel body sufficiently to render the inside diameter of the ring larger than the predetermined diameter of the wheel body to establish an annular clearance between the wheel body and ring;
• while maintaining the clearance, fitting the tread ring axially onto the wheel body to abut the flange against the stop shoulder;
• and
• returning the wheel body and ring to atmospheric temperature to shrink fit the tread ring onto the wheel body to lock the ring to the wheel body.

A method of making a combination roller coaster wheel including:

• selecting a one piece aluminum alloy wheel body;
• machining the outside of the wheel body to, at atmospheric temperatures, provide predetermined major and minor diameters forming a support disk of the predetermined major diameter and forming along one axial edge of the support disk an annular stop notch of the predetermined minor diameter and further forming a single stop shoulder facing in one axial direction;
• selecting a tread ring having a positive coefficient of thermal expansion and of a material harder than aluminum;
• machining the inside surface of the tread ring to provide, at atmospheric temperatures, a machined inside diameter defining an annular rim having an inside major diameter smaller than the predetermined major diameter and a reduced-in-diameter stop flange of a diameter smaller than the predetermined minor diameter and to form an annular surface to, when the ring is mounted to the wheel body, abut the stop shoulder, the inside diameters being sufficiently smaller than the respective major and minor diameters to cause the rim to, when contacted on the respective major and minor diameters at atmospheric pressure, lock the ring to the wheel body;
• applying sufficient heat to the ring or removing sufficient heat from the wheel body to render the inside major and minor diameters of the ring larger than the major and minor outside diameters of the wheel to establish an annular clearance between the wheel body and ring;
• while maintaining the clearance, fitting the tread ring axially onto the wheel body to abut the flange against the stop shoulder;
• and
• returning the wheel body and ring to atmospheric temperature to lock the tread ring onto the wheel body to mechanically lock the ring or the wheel body.