pine wood derby help

[Guest mosinon]

I know one of you guys can help out. Got a cub scout and we're building a car for the pine wood derby. Not interested in winning or anything but he'd like to make something decent. We got the painting down okay but when we try to put the wheels on the end up canted.

We've already ruined one car, and by we I mean me. Is there some trick to get the wheels on straight?

[Chris]

Try this: How to align your wheels | Pinewood Freak … Winning tips, tricks, and tools for Pinewood Derby

[kesava]

You can always grab another from the hobby shop and start again... that's what we did. i jacked our up, somethin serious.

[Guest Bronker]

Keep in mind that you are not obligated to use the pre-drilled axle chutes. We drilled our own on a press. A secret is to drill them all straight of course, but drill one that is 1mm high up on the body. That will put one wheel not touching the ground. Considering the coefficient of friction, that's roughly 25% less drag. Trust me it works.

I have a few other secrets as well. For the record, my son won 1st place in his grade division last weekend at a church race, and lost by 1/2" to the Grand Champion.

[gregintenn]

YOu can also hide the weights by drilling holes in the underside of the body, and filling them with lead pistol bullets. Spread filler over them, sand, ant they're gone. The best place I found for the is in front of the rear axles. My youngest boy wasn't old enough to be in cub scouts the last time my oldest competed. He still wanted to build a car. They let him race it in the adults unlimited division. He ended up taking second place. There were several visibly upset grown men there that day.

[56FordGuy]

Bronker, the drill press is a great idea. I wonder if drilling the axle holes on a vertical angle would help. That way, the wheels are riding on more of an edge and less on a flat surface.

[Guest Jcochran88]

Back when I was in scouts I always wanted to win the design more than the speed. I made a diesel truck and then the next year I made a boat.

[Guest Bronker]

Back when I was in scouts I always wanted to win the design more than the speed. I made a diesel truck and then the next year I made a boat.

And here you were when your 'clever and cute' design tanked in the area of rapidity.

Poor McFlurry...

[Glenn]

Bronker, the drill press is a great idea. I wonder if drilling the axle holes on a vertical angle would help. That way, the wheels are riding on more of an edge and less on a flat surface.

Before you put the axles on the car, chuck the point in a drill, take a small file and get the flash off the back of the head. I like to shape them so there is minimal surface touching the wheel. then take progessivly finer sand paper and polish the axles. You don't want to take off much metal you just want them very, very smooth and shiny. Then mount at a slight angle so that the wheels ride on the inside edge which also keeps them from rubbing against the body. Lubricate with graphite. I liked to put the weights as far back as possible to keep most of the weight on the 2 back wheels. My boys and I built some pretty fast cars.

Glenn

[hardknox00001]

Back in the day, my dad the mechanical engineer, used a milling machine and basically routed out the axle slot in the block and then we found a wooden rod to fit and drilled a hole all the way through. The wooden rod was then layed into the routed out area and epoxied in, then finished flush with wood putty to make it disappear. He also turned the wheels in a lathe to make them true and smooth. Car ran great.

[Guest Bronker]

Before you put the axles on the car, chuck the point in a drill, take a small file and get the flash off the back of the head. I like to shape them so there is minimal surface touching the wheel. then take progessivly finer sand paper and polish the axles. You don't want to take off much metal you just want them very, very smooth and shiny. Then mount at a slight angle so that the wheels ride on the inside edge which also keeps them from rubbing against the body. Lubricate with graphite. I liked to put the weights as far back as possible to keep most of the weight on the 2 back wheels. My boys and I built some pretty fast cars.

Glenn

Back in the day, my dad the mechanical engineer, used a milling machine and basically routed out the axle slot in the block and then we found a wooden rod to fit and drilled a hole all the way through. The wooden rod was then layed into the routed out area and epoxied in, then finished flush with wood putty to make it disappear. He also turned the wheels in a lathe to make them true and smooth. Car ran great.

These are awesome ideas. Do these, OP!

I incorporated both of these in our cars.

[tnsyty]

I always did well with the smoothest, flattest, no design car that was hollow underneath with lead poured in. Go heavier than allowed by a little, that way you can always drill a little out if it shows up too heavy on their scales. Graphite the wheels. Dad and I are no engineers, but we did have a pretty fast car.

[Bassoneer]

Before you put the axles on the car, chuck the point in a drill, take a small file and get the flash off the back of the head. I like to shape them so there is minimal surface touching the wheel. then take progessivly finer sand paper and polish the axles. You don't want to take off much metal you just want them very, very smooth and shiny. Then mount at a slight angle so that the wheels ride on the inside edge which also keeps them from rubbing against the body. Lubricate with graphite. I liked to put the weights as far back as possible to keep most of the weight on the 2 back wheels. My boys and I built some pretty fast cars.

Glenn

+1 - we won using this technique. Work on those axles! Good luck, B

[Mike.357]

There will be instructions with the car kit that explain how to fix the axle slots. The car we built was the same way. I ended up not using their front slot but rather drilled two holes, one on each side for the front ( which was the crooked one). I drilled one hole higher so the car would run on three wheels.

There are 3 keys to speed in these things. Graphite powder on the axles, get the weight right to 5 ounces, and make sure the car rolls straight.

What really matters is that the kid has fun and is involved in building the racecar. When our pack did the derby last month every kid had a ball, it didn't mattered who won ( accept to some adults) The kids for the most part don't even know.

Edited February 19, 2011 by Mike.357

[Guest Jcochran88]

And here you were when your 'clever and cute' design tanked in the area of rapidity.

Poor McFlurry...

Hey now , actually the diesel was so top heavy that I had to run it down the track backwards, like a big mac truck cutting the wind very slow, but the boat was sleek and ended up finishing 3rd out of around 250 entries.

[kieefer]

More Info

[R1100R]

This is great fun to do with your Son. + 1 on the graphite powder and the sanding/ filing of the flash on the axle heads.

Some of these cars were unreal. You could see the expression on the dad's face when they lost.

Another one is the pine wood rocket. My scout pack had big fun with it.

Edited February 19, 2011 by R1100R

[vontar]

Now, 25 years later, I know why my car always finished last.

[Guest yardmaster]

Ever seen the movie about the guy who breaks into the neighbors house to steal the car's design so he can win...I forget the name of the movie but it's pretty good..

[graydw1]

Down and Derby, great movie

[Guest mosinon]

Thanks for all the advice folks!

[Guest Tygarys]

Don't forget to add a magnet from the large hadron collider!

[Guest mosinon]

reporting back, we tried to incorporate all the suggestions and the kid won second place! I chalk that up to tngunowners, though I can;t slice the trophy up small enough to send each on of you guys a piece,