Dad/daughter build - Process and Tools Used

[VADAD]

Here's the car you guys gave me advice on. I've included some pics of the steps I went through and including a picture of every tool used (other than the drill press). I'm curious what you guys go through tool wise when building these cars. I'm kinda shocked at how many tools I went through.

(Note, this isn't typical of a cub/Boy Scout derby car build as they should a little more on the simple side).

Thoughts welcome.


This is the general idea my daughter and I came up with.

First we cut a wedge and then started carving with a diamond cutting wheel.

A digital caliper was used to draw the design and mark/measure the wood. Absolute lifesaver. Get a knockoff on Amazon for cheap.

Weight compartment.

Weight lid completed. A screw holds it all together.

Added a couple more holes, rounded edges, sanded smooth, and ready to paint.

I made a painting stand by drilling a bolt through a block of wood. I then drilled a small hole under my car and screwed the bolt into the car. Worked perfectly! Ended up using enamel Testor's spray paint, Testor's enamel model paint, and clear coat.

My home made vice for polishing axles and wheels.

Our completed car.

Every tool I used except the drill press. That's a bit more than I realized I'd ever use!

[Vitamin K]

Very nice! I love seeing folks' build processes. I might have to "steal" your axle polishing setup.

I see you have one of those vibrating tool thingies. Do you get a lot of utility out of it? I see them go on sale on Woot.com now and again, but have resisted thus far.

[FatSebastian]

I see you have one of those vibrating tool thingies. Do you get a lot of utility out of it? I see them go on sale on Woot.com now and again, but have resisted thus far.

FWIW, I posted some opinions over here. We don't use it much. It seems most useful for sanding, but we have other options in that department and we don't get too fancy with shaping anyway.

[VADAD]

In my opinion, my vibrating Dremel (oh man I can't think of its name...) has one massive failure point. The blades are insanely expensive. Knockoff blades can be found but even those are very expensive. I don't get it.

It performs a few functions well. Note I said a few. Flush cuts are amazing. Sanding is pretty good. Cutting grout is good. Cutting drywall is nice. Cutting small cuts in wood is ok. I haven't tried the mini coping saw attachment, but it looks promising.

It's one of my tools that make me the most angry. It was costly, and the blades are overpriced. I'd love to get more use out of it but I can't really afford it.

If anyone knows a good cheap blade source, let me know. Knockoff rotary Dremel bits can be had for dirt cheap, but not these. Kind of a shame.

[FatSebastian]

If anyone knows a good cheap blade source, let me know.

As a "blade source", Harbor Freight multi-tool blades have a universal arbor that reportedly fits Bosch, Craftsman, Dremel, Fein, Rockwell, Black & Decker and Porter Cable brands. Whether they are "good" enough or "cheap" enough may be a matter of opinion, although 20%- to 25%-off coupons for HF abound.

[whodathunkit]

I hear you guys on the Dremel Multi-max blades and sanding pads!

I have a multi-max also.
But I really like useing Dremel's contour sander 600 for sanding the harder to get into smaller shapes.
Like the multi-max.. The attachments and sanding pads for the contour sander can be hard to find
in hardware stores also.

VADAD & Daughter,
That is one very cool looking car design!
And I like how the plate for the weights looks & how it is used to hold the weights down.
That's a neat

Whoda.

[VADAD]

I just looked up that contour sander and wow that could come in handy.

Can you attach regular sandpaper or are you stuck with pads?

What I really want is a vibrating probe like tool with a sand paper width between 1/8th of an inch to 1/3 of an inch. .........

Hmmm. How hard would it be to make an attachment to the multimax to achieve this purpose?

If anyone makes any money, you owe me half :0.

[whodathunkit]

What I really want is a vibrating probe like tool with a sand paper width between 1/8th of an inch to 1/3 of an inch. .........

Hmmm. How hard would it be to make an attachment to the multimax to achieve this purpose?

VADAD,
Look's like you might be looking for the MM723 multi-flex carbide blade attachment..
for your multimax & for getting down into the tight spots.

For the dremel contour sander 600..

It use's the large black pad attachment with hook and loop type sandpaper.
For the contour sanding pad attachments .. sanding tubes are used.

[Noskills]

Whoda can you use that dremel countour sander over the whole surface of a 7 in block? I have wanted a belt sander but I dont have the room. I often cut my 1/4 in cars at 5/16 and sand down to 1//4 so I have precision yet block sanding is tiresome. Would the dremel sander work for this?
Noskills

[gpraceman]

VADAD,

Some of your photos are gigantic. That slows down the display of this page. If you could resize the images to fit 640 max width and 640 max height, the page would load faster for everyone.

[whodathunkit]

Whoda can you use that dremel countour sander over the whole surface of a 7 in block?

Seth,
Sorry the large sanding pad is not 7'' long..
so it will not cover the whole surface of the block at one time for sanding.

However the sanding pad will span across the 1 3/4 wide body,
it works ok for the flat body cars that only need a little bit of sanding detail work done.
Even with useing the higher grits on this detail sander..
it might take you a while to really thin the car body down to your likeing.

You know that topic: about the Ridgid oscillating belt and spindel sander?
After seeing that topic I had to get one for the shop and I like it for the reason your asking about.