Search found 151 matches

by Duane
Thu Mar 31, 2011 6:52 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Weight placement
Replies: 37
Views: 26388

Re: Weight placement

Oddzilla's design does not seem to rely on pre-cut slots. If so, of course the slots can be eliminated from Oddzilla's car by turning the block upside down, discarding the slotted surface.: If his pack doesn't care about slots and whose wood is used: yes, the slotted face of the block can be discar...
by Duane
Thu Mar 31, 2011 6:11 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Weight placement
Replies: 37
Views: 26388

Re: Weight placement

Thoughts? Ideas? Good/bad assumption? I think your analysis and plans are good. If your wood blocks have precut slots near the lead ballast holes, I would be concerned about crowding things together too much and having the thin wood split during racing. Putting the ballast holes very close together...
by Duane
Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:46 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Will this Create Drag?
Replies: 20
Views: 14115

Re: Will this Create Drag?

The pin appears like a fold down type and I'm sure it's electronic There's electronic sensors (telling the computer when to start timing), and there's electric (or mechanically-accelerated) pin-release mechanisms. The cheater bar stuff only matters on tracks where the cars are released by a guy cra...
by Duane
Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:37 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Will this Create Drag?
Replies: 20
Views: 14115

Re: Will this Create Drag?

As long as the car maintains a low profile, then the shape of a notch under the nose of the car likely has no discernible influence. :2cents: All front-facing edges of the car body should be either rounded (like a bullet nose), or somewhat pointed without becoming weak. This shaping never hurts, an...
by Duane
Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:13 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Photos
Topic: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera
Replies: 18
Views: 16117

Re: "News Truck" with Mini-Video Camera

mousepad foam.
by Duane
Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:26 pm
Forum: General Car/Truck Racer Topics
Topic: Pinewood Professor videos
Replies: 20
Views: 14654

Re: Pinewood Professor videos

TPWQ wrote:Can someone let me know where you can purchase the pinewood professor videos? Thanks in advance.
http://www.pinewoodprofessor.com/" target="_blank
by Duane
Sun Mar 20, 2011 7:05 pm
Forum: Commercial
Topic: LEDs on Microwizard K3 Timers
Replies: 4
Views: 9577

Re: LEDs on Microwizard K3 Timers

The LED emitters don't create a visible light, so they always look dark.
But their light does get seen by cheap digital cameras that lack good filtering of red versus infra red colors.
Try talking a picture of them with power on, with any available camera, and compare that to when power is off.
by Duane
Fri Mar 18, 2011 1:54 am
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: How to Cut Narrow Body and Install Weight
Replies: 64
Views: 49930

Re: How to Cut Narrow Body and Install Weight

After using Jobe's Virtual Race program, I'm wondering if there are other pwd speed modelling programs available, which show the interim and final speeds in a more visual way, for every time step? How about the energies and losses, for every time step? A modelling program based on simple integration...
by Duane
Thu Mar 17, 2011 6:20 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: How to Cut Narrow Body and Install Weight
Replies: 64
Views: 49930

Re: How to Cut Narrow Body and Install Weight

Dr Jobe's book arrived today (used, 2004 edition). Thanks! I think you'll like it Duane! FWIW, I believe there are no editions per se ; all are copyright 2004, but you might notice a tiny revision and/or printing date in the lower right hand corner of the title page. Okay. My used copy is 'OD 114 -...
by Duane
Thu Mar 17, 2011 6:12 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: How to Cut Narrow Body and Install Weight
Replies: 64
Views: 49930

Re: How to Cut Narrow Body and Install Weight

I would like to add a twist (literally) to Duane's proposed Gedankenexperiment. At the bottom between the ascending and descending ramps, place a small loop similar to this: In this case, as the car traverses the loop, it is rotated once per revolution (not just see-sawed, but completely flipped ov...
by Duane
Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:26 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: How to Cut Narrow Body and Install Weight
Replies: 64
Views: 49930

Re: How to Cut Narrow Body and Install Weight

Dr Jobe's book arrived today (used, 2004 edition). Thanks! In that edition, his formulas predicted that moment of inertia of the car body had negligibly small speed and time effects on tracks with circular or other smooth curves. So his Basic source code in Appendix 6 and the Virtual Racecourse appl...
by Duane
Tue Mar 15, 2011 10:57 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: How to Cut Narrow Body and Install Weight
Replies: 64
Views: 49930

Re: How to Cut Narrow Body and Install Weight

ACC.to Dr Jobe. thanks! My copy of his book is arriving soon, as my birthday present to myself. by the way, I now think my stmt above, that claimed brutality in connecting flat track directly to circular track, was just wrong. The G forces do jump from ~1G to about ~3G at those points, but there's ...
by Duane
Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:29 am
Forum: General Car/Truck Racer Topics
Topic: How to setup for short, really rough tracks.
Replies: 16
Views: 18053

Re: How to setup for short, really rough tracks.

I would hesitate to characterize starting-pin relocation as a "quick" alternative! :) Depending on how the track is built and supported, maybe one section of curve or ramp could be omitted. But probably not. Since there is no timer anyhow, maybe they could use a hand-held ruler across the...
by Duane
Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:34 am
Forum: General Car/Truck Racer Topics
Topic: 1st in District for Wolves!
Replies: 14
Views: 12006

Re: 1st in District for Wolves!

A more specific rule would be good. Even better, would be to have fast-dropping start pins where there was no advantage to this car design. Starts would be more uniform and fair, and the rule could be dropped entirely. Boys who pick a faster-looking low style would not be penalized by the track. Tha...
by Duane
Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:39 pm
Forum: General Car/Truck Racer Topics
Topic: How to setup for short, really rough tracks.
Replies: 16
Views: 18053

Re: How to setup for short, really rough tracks.

As a quick alternative to repairing or replacing the old track, I wonder if it would help to lower the starting pin location?
With lower speeds, more cars would complete the track without getting knocked entirely out of their lanes?