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gotta change up cars next year

Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2015 1:02 pm
by chobo
Weve been racing in pioneers and have made it to the international race again this year with rail riders, but the Derby Magic track they moved us to causes the cars to jump on lane 1 in same place. Im assuming the lane rib is warped and not perpendicular to track. Time to make all razors and straight run it. We had an odd wheel config the last two years and it served us well with trophies in local and regional :)

Update: after looking at the track after the race, it appears the track both years in that lane was not assembled proper, the lane rail/rib was not aligned. No biggie, we can try again next year.

Re: gotta change up cars next year

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 7:35 am
by ngyoung
A quick solution is to just use the opposite side for your DFW when you build your next car. If you can use razors go for it and you can still rail run. One thing you have to keep in mind for thin wheels is the stop section. If cars are consistently banging into a bumper you run a higher risk of breaking wheels.

chobo wrote:Weve been racing in pioneers and have made it to the international race again this year with rail riders, but the Derby Magic track they moved us to causes the cars to jump on lane 1 in same place. Im assuming the lane rib is warped and not perpendicular to track. Time to make all razors and straight run it. We had an odd wheel config the last two years and it served us well with trophies in local and regional :)

Update: after looking at the track after the race, it appears the track both years in that lane was not assembled proper, the lane rail/rib was not aligned. No biggie, we can try again next year.

Re: gotta change up cars next year

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 3:10 pm
by chobo
We had been running two razor wheels in the back, minimized fourth wheel to accomdate four wheels present, and a full sized shaved dfw. Cars were built in a rush this year, that didn't help lol.

The biggest issue I have been having is the back end can wiggle a bit; not sure how to correct that. I think I could tighten up gap between hub and body also; I have been using a credit card for the spacing. Using pinecar brand wheels per the rules is a bit hard, it is very easy to ruin them while shaping wheels and prepping the hubs.

So, either switch sides for the dfw or four razors. Decisions decisions.

Image

Re: gotta change up cars next year

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 4:12 pm
by Vitamin K
There's something pretty cool about being allowed to do crazy things like make homemade razor wheels and suchlike. I know it can easily get out of hand, but it's also a lot of fun to see what you can come up with.

I'm assuming that you're familiar with this thread on homemade razors? Although the author originally started by grinding down the hubs, later it became the consensus that insetting the hubs into the body was the better way to go.

Also, tell the Int'l race runners to fix their dang track! ;)

Re: gotta change up cars next year

Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2015 5:05 pm
by chobo
I forgot about that video for the homemade razors. Link was broke, but found the one anyways ;)

The boys want to start working on the cars already. We have plenty of extra wheels we can afford to chew up for practice. Unfortunately, we can't inset the hubs, so I think shaving them down will be a good thing to try. We can't cut the axles, but we can skip the end of the caps off and slide them down further to get rid of the excess slop.

I do wish the spoked pinecar brand wheels didn't warp so easy, push just a hair to hard and toast lol

Re: gotta change up cars next year

Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2015 8:23 am
by ngyoung
I guess it really depends on which way the car is coming off but I would leave the DFW a little bigger just to help keep the car on the track if you are having issues with it coming off. If your rear end has wiggle but the front is staying on the rail I would focus on your rear axle hole drilling process. Your alignment may be off.

Your razor wheels aren't really too thin so I would just go with the same wheel front and back. I don't think you are going to have too much issue with wheels breaking. Having the thin wheel on your DFW will also help with bad track sections I believe since only 1 point is touching the track at the inside corner of the lane surface and the rail edge
chobo wrote:We had been running two razor wheels in the back, minimized fourth wheel to accomdate four wheels present, and a full sized shaved dfw. Cars were built in a rush this year, that didn't help lol.

The biggest issue I have been having is the back end can wiggle a bit; not sure how to correct that. I think I could tighten up gap between hub and body also; I have been using a credit card for the spacing. Using pinecar brand wheels per the rules is a bit hard, it is very easy to ruin them while shaping wheels and prepping the hubs.

So, either switch sides for the dfw or four razors. Decisions decisions.

Image

Re: gotta change up cars next year

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 6:35 pm
by chobo
We have to use the pinecar axle rods, but im sure I can find a way to figure out a way for alignment tweaking with those.

Re: gotta change up cars next year

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 6:54 pm
by Stan Pope
chobo wrote:We have to use the pinecar axle rods, but im sure I can find a way to figure out a way for alignment tweaking with those.
Is it permitted to bend the solid axle, e.g. where it would meet the left front of the car body? Next issue is how to turn it. One possibility is to create flat spots about 1/32" wide right where the axle meets the car body. Fashion a "wrench" out of thin, hard metal stock to slide between the wheel and car body and engage the flats on the axle. (I've done this with BSA axles and it works great ... a real plus since we can't deface the axle head.)

Re: gotta change up cars next year

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 7:37 pm
by chobo
I have been scoring the axle with a dremel then laying the axle over two pieces of wood, then dinging it with screwdriver and hammer. Crude, but works, just not very precise for the dfw.

I think putting a flat spot like you mentioned on the axle on the non dfw side would be a good idea for adjustments.

Lots of good ideas for us to work with so far. Kids are eager to get back to work and are optimistic about tweaking things gleaned from this thread!

Re: gotta change up cars next year

Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 10:14 pm
by whodathunkit
chobo wrote:We had been running two razor wheels in the back, minimized fourth wheel to accomdate four wheels present, and a full sized shaved dfw. Cars were built in a rush this year, that didn't help lol.

The biggest issue I have been having is the back end can wiggle a bit; not sure how to correct that. I think I could tighten up gap between hub and body also; I have been using a credit card for the spacing. Using pinecar brand wheels per the rules is a bit hard, it is very easy to ruin them while shaping wheels and prepping the hubs.


Chobo,
Heres a topic that might help you out with the razor wheels and the death rattles.
http://www.derbytalk.com/viewtopic.php? ... +car+brand