Derby Talk

Stan Pope wrote:Darn! I need a whole bunch of "round tuits"!

I've got a spare if you need it!

I'm sure it would be alot of work to document your shimming method.

Maybe you could go on tour and have "underground" workshops to teach the finer points of alignment.

Another alternative is to use scotch tape.

Scotch tape is .002 thick. Wax paper is .001 and compresses to approx .0005 as the wax is displaced when the axel is inserted. The wax paper will give you finer adjustment.

I've heard about the aluminum tape but haven't tried it.

Stan, You had mentioned that you might make a video of your wax paper shimming method. Will you do it?? I found a great tip in another thread to simplify adding multiple shims. if I needed more than one shim in one place, I simply removed the old and triple folded the paper to make a bigger shim ins...

Thanks Stan. You're an inspiration to us all!

More importantly, what does your son plan to do regarding his car? :) Good point, Stan. It's too easy to take control of the car without input from my son. He said he wants it to win. There's not much he can do. I'm going to work on the alignment to keep the rear wheels floating on the axels. As I ...

I plan on re-tuning my car. The pack race was definitely a learning experience. Our packs track is very rough requiring a conservative center of gravity. The district track is very smooth. I tuned the car for a smooth track possibly losing a little time. I also didn't get the alignment as good as I ...

"From this observation alone, we can say that a small change in tread friction will be about ten times more effective in reducing drag than the same change in axle friction." Here's the page: http://www.lastufka.net/lab/cars/why/qfrict.htm At the top of that page it shows theoretical race...

WarpSpeedINC -

Where do you race that you can setup 2 days in advance??

We meet in a school gym. We're lucky to be able to setup a hour early.

We used a scroll saw with good results on our cars, my son is able to use it safely after some instruction and with close supervision. I put my hands on his to guide him, practicing first on some scrap. I bought a band saw this year. I had my kids watch, but I should of put their hands on the wood ...

OT, sorry.

Stephen's Dad: Are you in Pack 177?? My kids are in the same Council. We are going to the Distric (Sleeping Giant) race also. Do you know if there is a Council race or does it stop at the distric level??

How do most folks go about cutting lubrication grooves? I used the 3/16" wide side of a approx 1" wide file, starting 1/16" away from the head. Lay the file flat on the table of your drill press. Push the file into the axel on the side rotating toward you, 2 full strokes was enough t...

Here's another tease. I haven't found anything concrete.

http://www.mississippivalleybsa.org/Tem ... ontest.pdf

The best I've found is that it is May 25-27 (Wed.-Fri) in Grapevine Texas.

They should have mentioned that some Dads have bought power tools JUST to make PWD cars. I had my wife buy me a Ryobi band saw & belt/disc sander for christmas with the intention of making cars. I've used them for other things also. Being a Pinehead, I will be making a few cars in the off season...

If you don't have perfect alignment, polishing and graphiting the wheels might reduce the the amount of speed being "scrubbed off" (the wheels sliding sideways) when the front end is bouncing back and forth. But then the amount of speed being lost when slamming into the center rail is much...

Best time on my home made track (wood) is 2.404. 32ft length with 27ft pin to finish. Very smooth. I built the timer around a board made by Swanberg Technologies.

I had the top 3 cars in our PWD this past weekend, best time 2.612. The track is a bit rough. Approx. 30ft pin to finish.