Years and years . . .
of trial and error in makeing EVERY style of millitary wheel and a lot of civilian styles and I figured it out. All done on the drill press. Cut your stock to thickness and width ( height of tire / wheel ). Run this in lenghts enough for eight or ten wheels ( VERY inportant ! ). Mark center of wheel along the length with spare space between wheels. Off to the drill press. Cut your " rims " with an apropriate spade bit. BUT only use the outside points of the bit. NOT the cutting edges between the points. Do this before you cut out the hubs. Go ahead and do this to the whole run. Now change to whatever size Forstner bit looks right, use the nice center you just made, and bore out the inside of the rim to whatever depth you want. Change Forstners again for the inside of the wheel, and so on. Once you've got all your shapeing done install the trusty hole saw and cut 'em loose ! Your useing the INSIDE of the hole saw for the wheel. Now you just run the " tread surface " over the belt sander ( watch the fingers ) and bevel the edges while your there. The greatest " Ah-ha " moment was the spade bits for the rims. I've even gone to the length of getting the sizes I want and grinding / filiing down the " blade " or cutting edge of the bit so the outside points are longer to give me a deeper rim line. I don't explain things well ( OLD GI ! ) but maybe this'll help or, at least, give you some ideas.