More ebay Fun

[protoge]

We know who Fastcars427 is "hasn't won much since Panzer showed up", but I e-mailed the "Physics teacher" to ask how his cars were BSA legal, when the cub had no part in the construction. He replied with the single mom story ect. trying to justify himself. Also, asked if his cars were so fast, why doesn't he send one into WIRL, so we can see just how fast they are"Fastest stock cars out there". He didn't reply to that part of the question, but I beg to differ!
Man, we LOVE showing those types of people the back end of a car!

Warp Speed Inc.

I guess too fastcars427 aka "derbymaster" hasn't won much since "Panzer" showed up. He hasn't even sent any cars in to the WIRL this year.

[zaytran]

Hi All:

We have a large number of people in our Pack who are tool impaired. So, I set up a Pinewood derby workshop at my machine shop. We set up Bridgeports to cut wedges, bandsaws (Dads only) and table belt sanders, and a paint booth for the bodies. We set up T&C grinders for polishing the nails (we provide little files and a lighted magnifying glass for deburring). We have several drill presses set up to true and polish the wheels. We made a tool for pre-drilling a hole for the nails that is square to the body.

Most of the parents bring their boys if for nothing else a nice lunch (we cook burgers and dogs for everyone). A pair of Doctor parents did not. They showed up at the race with one of the Physics Professor's cars (It took me some time to figure it out, I did not know at the time - only that is was a fancy car compared to their efforts in the past). They beat my son's car (which we made together) by an average of .006 seconds. They ran around the room giving each other high fives.

The good news was that my son was perfectly happy with second and he did win Best of Show. We worked hard on his car and I thought he would be sad not to win again this year. He said he was happy to have a fast car that won all of his races but one.

QUESTION - This is off topic but, the wheels on the Professor's car seem to be polished and were covered in graphite (not legal but we let it pass). I have always left a dull finish on the wheels from the light sanding. I had heard that this gives the wheel better track adherence and made the car more stable. Should I put more of a polish on the wheels?

Cheers,
Ted

[Stan Pope]

QUESTION - This is off topic but, the wheels on the Professor's car seem to be polished and were covered in graphite (not legal but we let it pass). I have always left a dull finish on the wheels from the light sanding. I had heard that this gives the wheel better track adherence and made the car more stable. Should I put more of a polish on the wheels?

I'm responsible for that assertion, so I guess that I should defend it!

I prefer to leave tool marks around the circumference of the wheel, so long as they are "regular" so that the axle doesn't bub up and down as the wheel rolls. Test ... if you rub a fingernail along the tread it should feel smooth; if you rub a fingernail across the tread it may feel slightly rough.

If the wheel passes this test, then it should experience the same rolling friction as a totally smooth tread. It should resist, albeit slightly, a tendency to slide crossways, and, therefore, hold its line slightlly better, and, perhaps, regain its line more quickly if it does deflect off the center rail.

A question to check on is, "Does sanding leave the same orderly tool marks as a lathe?" If you think that the answer is "No", then some smoothing after sanding would be in order.

[zaytran]

Hi Stan:

Thanks!

Cheers,
Ted

[davekelly]

You know . . . I think the physics teacher is on the right track. Too bad we don't know where he teaches. I sure some of his students come from science deprived families and that several of them will feel really bad if they get a cruddy grade. Perhaps we should ask him for a student list. I would happily take the final exam for one of his students (BSE in Mech. Engineering). He should think that is really a good thing for me to do and would undoubtably be happy for his student.

[WarpSpeedINC]

New "one of a kind" car. "Original" design.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... Track=true

That design looks a little familiar.

Warp Speed Inc.

[RACER X]

Oh, he is a real INNOVATOR!!!

Maybe he can call it SNUFFALUFAGUS!



Racer X

[pwdarchitect]

The car is a little familiar but still not exactly. Your's are much better in scale and proportion. Not only that this one doesn't have the tail end below the axle plane as your's does which makes your's look soo much better.
He was innovative in that he was able to try to figure out how to use the internet to get a picture of what someone else has already done.
I guess he feels it has to be good for business.
I have noticed that he hasn't been back at WIRL lately since you and Panzer got things figured out.

J

[Pinewood Daddy]

New "one of a kind" car. "Original" design.

Imitation is the best form of flattery.

[Jungle Jim]

So has anyone ever contacted E-Bay and informed them that Cub Scouts must (as far as I know) build their own car from the kit in the box and as such these people are selling "illegal" merchandise?

[Tomcat14]

Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT defending these guys selling cars on Ebay, but what they are doing does not violate any state or federal law. Unethical, you bet, but I wouldn't use illegal to describe it.

Direct quote from Ebay "As an eBay user, you are ultimately responsible for making sure that buying or selling an item is legal in the eyes of the law."

[Jungle Jim]

Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT defending these guys selling cars on Ebay, but what they are doing does not violate any state or federal law. Unethical, you bet, but I wouldn't use illegal to describe it.

It's not neccesary for an object to violate a fed or state law for E-Bay to refuse it's listing. The word ILLEGAL was in quotation marks for the distinction that E-Bay often pulls many things from it's site that are "Unethical".

[Tomcat14]

I'm sorry I didn't realize that. If that's the case, then maybe Ebay should be consulted about such auctions.

[TurtlePowered]

Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT defending these guys selling cars on Ebay, but what they are doing does not violate any state or federal law. Unethical, you bet, but I wouldn't use illegal to describe it.

It's not neccesary for an object to violate a fed or state law for E-Bay to refuse it's listing. The word ILLEGAL was in quotation marks for the distinction that E-Bay often pulls many things from it's site that are "Unethical".

Don't think Ebay will be caring if they violate the spirit of the rules for a pinewood derby. Think they have more important things to do, like people illegally selling software. Don't get me wrong, I don't approve of people buying premade cars. Think Ebay just won't care about something like this.

[Tomcat14]

That's kind of what I was thinking as well. I feel pressure should be applied on the supply side. If all Scouts and Parents are doing the "right" thing, then there would be no demand for such products.