Derby Talk

Most league racers bend about 5 degrees.

I'll pick up some CA glue and do that, thanks! Any tips on putting it on without getting any in the axel slot? Sure. I'd just put a junk axle in the slot then "paint" the glue around it. Use a small paint brush that you aren't afraid to toss (or soak in acetone later to remove the crusted...

If allowed use some type of slide guide made of teflon or delrin.

If that's not allowed, then coat the area with CA glue and after it dries sand it very very smooth.

Here's a short video I took at the Minneapolis Science Museum. This exhibit was one of the inspirations for the X3 fender design, a design which is now dominating all the wide wheel league races (where fenders are allowed). Although I haven't tried it to be sure, this does suggest that just a traili...

Cool story. Glad to hear the jig is working out.

Vitamin K wrote:I still want my own bandsaw someday, but it won't replace my scrollsaw.

For sure. If I could only have one saw tool for PWD it would either be scroll saw or a Rockwell Bladerunner. I still don't own a band saw.

VK, I had the same exact challenge. I did two things ... 1. I bought the coarsest cutting scroll blade I could find. Olsen has a 7 tpi that worked okay. 2. I built this really crude jig out of spare wood. The basic idea was to have something a little more substantial to press down against. Here I'v...

VK, I had the same exact challenge. I did two things ... 1. I bought the coarsest cutting scroll blade I could find. Olsen has a 7 tpi that worked okay. 2. I built this really crude jig out of spare wood. The basic idea was to have something a little more substantial to press down against. Here I've...

Just figure out a way to reuse it (without destroying the car). I'm not saying it can't be done, but the times I've used tungsten, my designs have been such that removing the tungsten would destroy the car's design. Granted, there may be certain designs where that is true. But there's no reason it ...

Here's my perspective on this and I'm sharing only to throw this out for consideration. Reasonable people can disagree. Tungsten is basically free. Just figure out a way to reuse it (without destroying the car). You can use the tungsten for several years then sell it. You'll get most of your money b...

Hello Derbians, So after some discussion with the organizers at our District, I was able to make a successful case for adopting the Northern Star Council's rules on wheels and axles. Specifically, this means that the axles need to be metal, with a nail-type head (we can't inspect for anything more ...

I think what's got me curious is determining how toe-in or toe-out for a forward rolling wheel on a negatively canted axle either influence the movement of the wheel away from or towards the body of the car. Conventional Pinewood Wisdom tells us that if the wheel has neither toe-in, nor toe-out, it...

Now if those aren't four terrifying words, coming from LB... :O For sure!. I don't think we face LB's boy though. :sweating: LB, I heard your car was fast last weekend. Yeah, they did alright. :D If that's true about the Webelo 1 and 2s racing together then that really stinks for the webelo 1s. The...

Thanks guys. After his first 3 heats were each a track record the MC called my boy up for his last heat. He told my boy that he would call the start of the race however he wanted to and if he set a 4th track record he owed the MC $20.00. The crowd laughed and my boy turned red but couldn't hold in ...

One thing about the Nellie Faye design, is that the 'wrap around' in the rear of the fender necessitates that the rear axle come forward, about a quarter inch. Would you say that this hurts performance? Absolutely. You should only consider this if you are forced to use the stock wheel locations. Ed...

What is Sailkote? I'm guessing that it serves the same role that lemon pledge (or jig-a-loo) does for other folks? Yes. Back in our graphite days, we used it on axles with great success. I never tried pledge with graphite. I tried Sailkote with oil, but it didn't worked as well as jig-a-loo and oth...