It's Friday!!!!

[Supe]

Is Pine Wood Derby more of an adult competition with the Cub Scout's name on it? Maybe it's just me. My dad helped me make mine, but didn't tell me do this or do that for "must win" performance.

Yes.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

Looking forward to the weekend. Will be spending a bunch of time with mini-Dex as we build a pinewood derby car together for cubscouts. The competition is in a couple weeks and we want to get a head start on things.

"couple of weeks" and you call that a head start. The planning starts moths in advance.

Here are the secrets......

1) make sure the car is a heavy as allowed. I used the official cub scout lead weights, because you break off little pieces. another tactic is to bore out the car and put in lead shot, then epoxy over the shot. Sand/shave car until you measure on a calibrated scale to 5.00g (-0.01)

2) make sure you polish the axles. Put the axles (nails) in a drill and spin them inside fine sand paper (start ~300 and do a couple of finer steps to ~ at least 800-1200+)

3) make sure the wheels are aligned and the car runs straight. Incline a long table and release the car down the slope. Tweak alignment until the car goes straigh without veering to one side. Set the axles so they wont move do to handling/use (expoxy them in)

1) In the process of doing. I have the weights already, but I need some "fine tuning" of the shape before I can put it on a scale.

2) Already done. Started with a 400 grit to get the burrs off, then went to a 600 grit wet-sand to polish. Also picked up a tube of powdered graphite to help fill in the remaining very small imperfections.

3) Planned.

Right now, I'm almost done with the shaping part, and once that is done I will paint then work on maximizing the weight. Once the weight is figured out, I will then attach the wheels and work on alignment. I've found a couple articles that discusses how to utlize bent axles to both get the wheels up on their edges (minimize contact surface) as well as drive straight.

Is Pine Wood Derby more of an adult competition with the Cub Scout's name on it? Maybe it's just me. My dad helped me make mine, but didn't tell me do this or do that for "must win" performance.

2 cars are being built in my house. My son is largely responsible for his own (although I cut it out for him because I don't trust a 7 yr old with a Dremmel), but I'm going all-out on mine. Our pack separates the kids by grade (so my son is only competing against other 2nd graders), and then we have an "open" class that is open for friends, siblings, and parents. ALL cars have to meet the official rules.

 

[Master slacker]

Ok, I like the fact that there are two "classes". I'm just annoyed about parents taking over and doing the kid's projects (any project) for them. Especially when the project will help the kid develop the skills to ask the proper questions and the skills to perform his / her own work.

 

[FLBuff PE]

Hmmm...you seem less than impressed with Dex's explanation.

 

[Wolverine]

Is Pine Wood Derby more of an adult competition with the Cub Scout's name on it? Maybe it's just me. My dad helped me make mine, but didn't tell me do this or do that for "must win" performance.

I got beat, er, I mean My son got beat by 0.001 seconds by a guy that sent his car off to be professionally made. #&%&$#
Funny thing was, at the awards ceremony, the kid totally ratted his dad out with glee: "MY DAD sent my car away to be made! AND I WON!!! HAHAHA!!".

I did make my kids do much of the cutting, but the axle & weight work were mine. I use a flat file to get up in the edge of the nailhead junction. Also, I burned the wheels in using the road bike up on a trainer - big wheel make little wheel go fast and works out any vibrations (I give you all this one for free since my PWD days of glory are over).

I recommend getting the car to balance on 3 wheels too. It's only cheating if everybody else isn't doing it too, says Lance Armstrong.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

^^^ I've read about the 3-wheel balancing thing too. Honestly, I'll be thrilled if I can get the damn thing to go straight.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

An additional secret is to find some of that oil used in turbines. Dad got some of that for mine and it won. The secret is to make sure you put some one right before the car is turned into the authorities because the effect is short lived.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

To weigh my car down, I glued these flat but surprisingly heavy magnets on the bottom of the car. Added weight without adding drag. I also used that liquid graphite stuff to lube up the wheels.

 

[Master slacker]

An additional secret is to find some of that oil used in turbines. Dad got some of that for mine and it won. The secret is to make sure you put some one right before the car is turned into the authorities because the effect is short lived.

Turbine oil isn't anything fancy or exotic. I'd bet graphite would be better.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

An additional secret is to find some of that oil used in turbines. Dad got some of that for mine and it won. The secret is to make sure you put some one right before the car is turned into the authorities because the effect is short lived.

Turbine oil isn't anything fancy or exotic. I'd bet graphite would be better.

Never did a comparison. Used turbine oil twice. Won once, came in second next year (I forgot to oil the axles before I turned the car in).

 

[csb]

I sold, like, 145 boxes of Girl Scout cookies one year.

 

[snickerd3]

^my mom was the cookie mom so the entire delivery always came to our house.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

An additional secret is to find some of that oil used in turbines. Dad got some of that for mine and it won. The secret is to make sure you put some one right before the car is turned into the authorities because the effect is short lived.

Turbine oil isn't anything fancy or exotic. I'd bet graphite would be better.

Never did a comparison. Used turbine oil twice. Won once, came in second next year (I forgot to oil the axles before I turned the car in).

Rules have changed so that you can only apply dry lubricants, so you pretty much limited to powdered graphite. That stuff makes one hell of a mess too.

 

[engineergurl]

I sold, like, 145 boxes of Girl Scout cookies one year.

^my mom was the cookie mom so the entire delivery always came to our house.

I raised donations, organized volunteers and upgraded/re-built a bridge that met the ADA requirements across a creek at camp so that girls with disabilities could hike all the way around the lake.... and sold a bunch of cookies...

This is a who's is bigger game, right?

we did something in middle school technology class that I guess is probably like the pine wood derby... the cars we made had little CO2 cartridges and we got to race them down the hallway at school...

 

[csb]

It was more of a comparison to all of this pinewood derby in Boy Scouts vs. I sold cookies and crafted in Girl Scouts. I dropped out at junior high though, so it may have become more than that.

 

[Supe]

An additional secret is to find some of that oil used in turbines. Dad got some of that for mine and it won. The secret is to make sure you put some one right before the car is turned into the authorities because the effect is short lived.

Turbine oil isn't anything fancy or exotic. I'd bet graphite would be better.

Never did a comparison. Used turbine oil twice. Won once, came in second next year (I forgot to oil the axles before I turned the car in).

Rules have changed so that you can only apply dry lubricants, so you pretty much limited to powdered graphite. That stuff makes one hell of a mess too.

No kidding, they used it on all the door hinges in my house. Which are white. With white trim.

 

[MA_PE]

Is Pine Wood Derby more of an adult competition with the Cub Scout's name on it? Maybe it's just me. My dad helped me make mine, but didn't tell me do this or do that for "must win" performance.

And that's why you didn't win.

Right now, I'm almost done with the shaping part, and once that is done I will paint then work on maximizing the weight. Once the weight is figured out, I will then attach the wheels and work on alignment. I've found a couple articles that discusses how to utlize bent axles to both get the wheels up on their edges (minimize contact surface) as well as drive straight.

My expereince is that "contact area" shape, and all these other tweaks don't have a noticeable or repeatable effect on the car's final performance. Freely spinning wheels that track true will get the fastest time. True alignment is difficult without machine shop quality alignment fixtures. The pine is just too soft to hold it that exact.

2 cars are being built in my house. My son is largely responsible for his own (although I cut it out for him because I don't trust a 7 yr old with a Dremmel), but I'm going all-out on mine. Our pack separates the kids by grade (so my son is only competing against other 2nd graders), and then we have an "open" class that is open for friends, siblings, and parents. ALL cars have to meet the official rules.

sounds like a "everybody gets a trophy" answer. The cob scout with the dad that "cares the most about him" will win.

Ok, I like the fact that there are two "classes". I'm just annoyed about parents taking over and doing the kid's projects (any project) for them. Especially when the project will help the kid develop the skills to ask the proper questions and the skills to perform his / her own work.

that's because you didn't win.

I sold, like, 145 boxes of Girl Scout cookies one year.

did you (or your mom) bake them? did you win? The winning sales kid is usually the one who mom or dad works for a very large corporation and mom or dad cares about them enough to bring the list in and sell cookies to their co-workers.

It was more of a comparison to all of this pinewood derby in Boy Scouts vs. I sold cookies and crafted in Girl Scouts. I dropped out at junior high though, so it may have become more than that.

I understand the after junior high they have the official sleepovers and pillow fights which help prepare for college sororities.

 

[csb]

My dad was in the Air Force and my mom was a stay at home mom. I peddled those cookies to every house I could find in our town of 30,000 people.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

Here's a crappy pic of the two pinewood derby cars.

 

[pbrme]

Where's the gen5 camaro? Cool paint btw.