Search found 70 matches

by Jeff Piazza
Wed Mar 03, 2010 6:13 am
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Photos
Topic: Roosclan Racing's 2010 lineup
Replies: 14
Views: 12577

Re: Roosclan Racing's 2010 lineup

Very nice. Our cars always look kid-painted, no matter how much Dad "helps." I think we need sanding lessons, among other things. Which stencils were homemade, and how did you make them? We've tried cutting masks from adhesive labels, with mixed results -- OK, but not perfect lines. I'd lo...
by Jeff Piazza
Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:53 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Bore prep
Replies: 130
Views: 210439

Re: Bore prep

OK, just how small of a piece do you use??? Do you cut a thin strip and spiral it around the rod, or what? I'm having a heck of a time figuring out how to get it onto something so small. Here's a thousand words that may help. http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Zw5BRXbPbto/S43ajjhc5KI/AAAAAAAAANQ/4aSfhpMTC78/s80...
by Jeff Piazza
Mon Mar 01, 2010 3:15 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: An Alternative Rail Guiding Alignment Process
Replies: 41
Views: 21495

Re: An Alternative Rail Guiding Alignment Process

I think the easy way to put a YouTube-like image in your web site would be to upload your video to YouTube, and then use the "Embed" URL they offer in the stanpope.net page.
by Jeff Piazza
Mon Mar 01, 2010 5:47 am
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: An Alternative Rail Guiding Alignment Process
Replies: 41
Views: 21495

Re: An Alternative Rail Guiding Alignment Process

A picture of the cantilever jig in use on the car would go a long way here. I had trouble understanding how the jig attached until I watched the video.

I'm excited to try this out as we prepare for our pack race in a couple weeks!

/JEP
by Jeff Piazza
Tue Feb 16, 2010 6:30 am
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: PinePro Axle Alignment Jig
Replies: 31
Views: 31865

Re: PinePro Axle Alignment Jig

Same seller's regular retail site carries it for slightly less at http://www.myatomic.com/catalog/viewsku ... e_axle_jig. Googling on PPR10210 find other sources, too.
by Jeff Piazza
Wed Feb 10, 2010 4:14 pm
Forum: Construction Workshops
Topic: Buying a drill press
Replies: 24
Views: 37542

Re: Buying a drill press

I have the DP300L. It's OK, but not great. I don't know of any that are better without being twice the money or more. I find the table not to be as flat as I'd like; mine has a broad depression about 0.009" deep or more. Perfectly acceptable for many purposes, but if you're thinking of drilling...
by Jeff Piazza
Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:23 am
Forum: Other
Topic: Mini Video Camera
Replies: 44
Views: 56759

Re: Mini Video Camera

It's not much to look at, but the video it produces is great! http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Zw5BRXbPbto/S3FtuGbZCxI/AAAAAAAAAMA/yTNg-vLLfoA/s400/HPIM0427.JPG http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Zw5BRXbPbto/S3Ftu_0mCaI/AAAAAAAAAME/GkDUqvshVc4/s400/HPIM0429.JPG The housing for the camera itself took a lot of careful fittin...
by Jeff Piazza
Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:31 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Bore prep
Replies: 130
Views: 210439

Re: Bore prep

Right on cue: my independent testing consists of bore images under the microscope, at http://www.piazzafamily.org/pinewoodderby/borestudy/. Of the bore prep methods I tested, Sporty's certainly produced the smoothest bores!

/JEP
by Jeff Piazza
Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:17 am
Forum: Other
Topic: Mini Video Camera
Replies: 44
Views: 56759

Re: Mini Video Camera

From scraps and spare wheels, I built a camera car around the "mini spy cam" I recently bought. (I'll add a picture later, although it's not a thing of beauty.) A feature of the car is the ability to pivot the camera right and left, to get a better view of the car in the adjacent lane(s). ...
by Jeff Piazza
Sat Jan 30, 2010 2:32 pm
Forum: Software
Topic: RaceReplay
Replies: 8
Views: 9756

Re: RaceReplay

I'm curious what camera positions/angles people have used successfully with Race Replay. The most sensible set-up I can imagine is to place the camera on a tripod that's straddling the track, about 10-12 feet from the finish line. My camera then catches about the last 8 feet of the race from this po...
by Jeff Piazza
Sat Jan 23, 2010 7:24 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Axles and Microscopes
Replies: 1
Views: 2776

Axles and Microscopes

We've been reasonably happy with our axle preparation process over the years, but that's only because we haven't seen any obvious problems. To satisfy my curiosity, I got out my microscope and tried getting some images from each step of the process. Here's a brief summary. (All images are 60x or 200...
by Jeff Piazza
Sat Jan 23, 2010 7:18 am
Forum: Other
Topic: Mini Video Camera
Replies: 44
Views: 56759

Re: Mini Video Camera

OK, here are a few pictures with the remains of one of last year's test vehicles, along with the receiver.

Image
Image
by Jeff Piazza
Fri Jan 22, 2010 8:35 pm
Forum: Other
Topic: Mini Video Camera
Replies: 44
Views: 56759

Re: Mini Video Camera

Q: Is that an RCA jack sticking out of the camera (and if so, can it be removed easily)? Where / how does the 9V battery plug up? Pictures of the camera mounted onto a car would be appreciated! I've only had it a couple hours, so I don't have it mounted on a car yet. The cable sticking out is the p...
by Jeff Piazza
Fri Jan 22, 2010 7:40 pm
Forum: Other
Topic: Mini Video Camera
Replies: 44
Views: 56759

Re: Mini Video Camera

I recently ordered a camera at the link below, and just received it today. The price was sure right. Initial tests around the house look much better than I expected -- very little interference! I anticipate this being a big hit at our workshop and on derby day! One buying criterion I had was not to ...
by Jeff Piazza
Sun Jan 17, 2010 7:25 am
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Factors that change steering
Replies: 2
Views: 2873

Re: Factors that change steering

Were the rear wheels cambered to start with? Is the difference in the "paper intrusion test" indicative of differential camber? If not, I don't understand the conclusion of differential friction directly from the reported observations. (It clearly shows something's different between the tw...