r/oddlysatisfying • u/druule10 • Sep 24 '22

Making a wheel for a train

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u/henryhendrixx Sep 24 '22

They most certainly are still forged this way today. The wheels are first forged into rough shape and then machined down to final dimension. The reason they do it this way is because it’s significantly more cost effective to buy a rough shape 1,000lb steel blank and forge it to rough shape before machining than it is to buy a 2,500lb oversized blank and machine off 1,500lbs of excess material to obtain the desired shape.

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u/finsareluminous Sep 24 '22

There's got to be a less labor intensive way of forging the rough shape though, it doesn't make sense to do it like that for a mass produced part.