Painted blue and yellow with food coloring makes an attractive toy. The color black was achieved by mixing all the colors together.
The truck body is made up of one 12mm thick piece of wood between two pieces 19mm thick to make up a total thickness of 50mm, or two inches. Of course, it would be so much easier to start with a piece 50mm thick. The tipper is made from 12mm or 1/2" thick timber. I made my own wooden toy wheels using the method outlined here, but you could also buy them from these suppliers. For the axles and the hinge pin for the tipper, I used 6mm dowel.
This toy can be made with a limited number of power tools. Safety is always the first consideration when dealing with such small pieces of timber.
Below is a list of some of the tools that I used to complete the project.
These links will take you to a page on Ebay where you can get an idea of what is available today.
A cordless drill, a jigsaw (sabre saw) and a scroll saw for cutting curves.
A tenon saw (back saw), and a hacksaw to cut wooden dowels.
Can you ever have enough clamps?
A combination square, wood file, sanding block with 120 and 80 grit sandpaper.
Selection of drill bits.
Here is how I made my own wooden wheels using a drill press and a circle cutter.
Nice to have but not essential is a 12 inch disc sander or a linisher.
A hot melt glue gun is useful in many ways, and it certainly helps to speed up the process.
Wood file to round over all the edges.
Sanding block with 120 and 80 grit sandpaper.
A selection of drill bits.
The full version of the building instructions is included in the free download.
The body of the truck is made up of a sandwich of 12mm thick maple in the middle (shown yellow) and 19mm thick pine (shown green.)
To minimize movement under clamping press, I pre-drilled the holes for the axles (shown red.)
The tipper is made of 12mm pine. One end is radiused, and the two parts together to make an L-shape.
Cut the sides to shape, drill the hole for the hinge pin and glue in place.
Fit the tipper to the body and check to see if it can rotate freely.
Click on the link to download the free wooden toy truck plans including step by step instructions.
For this toy dump truck, I made my own wheels using a circle cutter mounted in a drill press.
It may be easier to buy ready made toy wheels.
A selection of from Ebay. Includes wagon wheels, spoked wheels and wheels with treads.Here is an example made by Marshall Townsend.
If you look very carefully, you can see inside the window is tinted green.
Note also the double rear wheels - that's a nice touch.
You can read more about Marshall's wooden toy projects in the gallery where you can also submit photos and stories about your woodworking projects.
Showcase your wooden toy truck project here.
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