[stickman]

my son (8) has been in boy scouts for three years now


This is his third year building a car (with a little help from dad of course)

well the first year he tied for first within our group but got knocked out the next day against the whole pack.

Last year he tied with the same boy as last year but they both went to the final at the mall where he took 7th place .

well the competition is tough so were looking for and edge.Thats why I'm here thought some of you guy & gals might have a trick or two.

he dose all the common stuff like making sure the weight is right on and slightly sanding the tires (rules say only slightly sanding)

he even sands the axles and uses graphite

any trick out there?

[AlArchie]

Sounds like he has the right ideas, Stickman, just hasn't worked all the details quite enough.

1. Find a machine screw and nut that will just fit the diameter of the axle hole. The screw will need to be about 1 1/4" long. run that through the axle hole, lightly tighten the nut to hold the wheel firm and then chuck that screw into your drill. I used a paint stir stick with fine emery glued on it to sand the wheel as it spins on the little machine screw mandrel. Sand lightly untill all the visible imperfections are gone. You should wind up with almost perfectly round wheels with a smooth tread area. The wheels should also be sanded nearly flat across the contact surface.

2. Take a fine hobby file and remove the press marks on the nails used for axles. These axle nails are stamped out and where the two sides of the press come together, they leave a tiny raised burr. Once that is removed,chuck about half the length of those nails into your drill and use crocus cloth to finish polish the axles...you might have to use an extra fine emery first, but the crocus cloth will put a mirror finish on the contact part of the axle.

3. Use only dry graphite, and work it in well before the race.

4. Get your weight centered as close as you can between the front and rear wheels. You can do this by weighing the front of the car on a very sensitive scale, then doing the same with the rear of the car. Or run a screw eye in halfway between and on the centerline and hang the car from a monofilament line, to get the right balance.

Don't tell anyone I told you this stuff! No one else will ever know.

Al

[Lightningbolt]

Last year I sat out of the adults race since some thought that I was monopolizing the trophy each year since I had won 1st place 4 out of the 5 previous years. I enjoyed using the excuse that I'd have to sit out this year since I was running out of shelf space for all the trophies in my shop. Sort of a joke but kinda true too.

After 26 years in camp I honestly have figured out how to win just about every time that I enter. I openly share all of my "secrets" with anyone and actually print up a two page list of hints but only a very, very few are willing to study them, think about them, or actually take the time to apply them for a winning car.

• Keep your design simple... very simple. Wedges are great if you can't carve out a fancy design.
• Sand the contact part of your wheels with 220 grit sandpaper untill all the polished shiney look is gone.
• Put each axle in the drill press and sand with 220, then steel wool, then apply powder graphite.
• While the axle is in the drill press be sure to file off the little molding burr off near the cap before sanding.
• Don't put your wheels and axles on your car until the day (or night before) race day.
• I've had good luck placing lead weight just behind the front axle as centered as possible until the car is back to 5 ounces.
• Most important: make sure that your wheels are in perfect alignment. I do this by setting up a slightly sloping sheet of plywood then letting the car roll down to see if it's pulling to the right or to the left, then adjusting the axles until it goes perfectly straight. I then glue the axles in permanently.

I think that's about it but I'll report back if I think of something tomorrow. The Batmobile pictured below was my only 2nd place winner during the last 5 years and the ohters are just a few that I built for fun. That's a real turtle shell by the way.

Have a great race!

[Lightningbolt]

Oh yeah, don't forget to raise one of your front wheels so that it doesn't touch the track. There is much less friction with only three wheels on the track and it only needs to be a sixteenth of an inch higher than the other wheel. This along with perfect wheel alignment can take quite a while and cause some frustrating headaches but it's always worth it on race day! Most people by far will not go to all this trouble so my trophy shelf gets bigger and bigger.

[stickman]

Wow, thanks for all the tips !

The last two years I helped him quite a bit but this year I told him that I can't touch the car at all.I will give him verbal advice and such but he has to do as much as he can by himself.


He's pretty excited ,he already filed the barbs off the axles and sanded it with multiples grades of sand paper .

I read about one wheel not touching but have been reluctant to have him try it .after hearing about your success (Dave very impressive) I think its worth a try

al,I think your balance idea is great.between the two of you we learned some good ideas thanks

the race is jan 14 so he has some time to work on it with out being rushed.

I'll keep you guys posted on his progress.

Dave I think it would be fun to be in an adult pinewood derby race.I'll bet the competition is tough.

[BobD]

Pick up our new book, Pinewood Derby Speed Secrets
http://www.foxchapelpublishing.com/c...inewood-derby/
It's FULL of tips!!!

Bob

[stickman]

Bob thanks for the link

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Originally Posted by stickman

my son (8) has been in boy scouts for three years now


This is his third year building a car (with a little help from dad of course)

well the first year he tied for first within our group but got knocked out the next day against the whole pack.

Last year he tied with the same boy as last year but they both went to the final at the mall where he took 7th place .

well the competition is tough so were looking for and edge.Thats why I'm here thought some of you guy & gals might have a trick or two.

he dose all the common stuff like making sure the weight is right on and slightly sanding the tires (rules say only slightly sanding)

he even sands the axles and uses graphite



any trick out there?

Polish the axels where they spin and apply slick 50 to the area a couple of times(polish like you were honing your knife, or scary sharp, very fine paper at the last)..let the slick 50 absorb into the steel......my son walked away with a first in the pinewood derby ..we did that and also took care of wind resistance on the body(we put a little canopy on the cockpit to stop the wind resistance and put a piece of fur in the cockpit with eyes lol ....I miss those days, lots of fun.....for the Dads ha ha ,..................

[Kenny_S]

Also have seen some Pine wood cars that the son never touch except to put it on the track.


Good suggestion and each one works. Wheels and weight placement are the most important element of the car. Course the wedge design does help also.

[JIM QUILICI]

having 16 grand kids this is not my first rodeo. lol .....everything said here I do. plus.....I have noticed (long time ago) these tracks that they use , have a flaw.......at the bottom of the down hill right where it goes to level ,a good many of the cars drag where the tracks meet at the bottom of the hill and slows them down just a little ( enough to lose the race) every track I've seen has this flaw..it efects the cars that have a lot of distance from the wheels to the back of the car, and the front of the car....the fix........place the wheels as far back ...and as far forward as possible. so that there is no place for the car to hang up on the track ....thats about 2 cents worth. .....p.s. look where the wheels are on lightningbolts ( dave's) car way forward and way rearward. his second place winner (batmobile) has the wheels with a overhang....could be the problem for second place????
Jim