Pinewood Derby

[cpa]

My boys took 1st and 2nd in the Pinewood Derby tonight! My older son took 1st last year too. My wife doesn't understand why I spend so much time building there cars. Well their smiles when they are racing each other for 1st and 2nd make it all worth while.

 

[nomasittinright]

I miss the days when my son was in cub scouts building the cars. He went undefeated the last 3 years and only lost 1 heat race his first year. I built an outlaw car for myself that was wicked fast. I couldnt tell you how many hours I sat on the lathe turning axles and sanding and polishing the wheels. Good times

 

[sleddin pete]

Good memories of the Pinewood Derby from when I was a kid.Dad and I worked hard on the car,don't remember how I finished but i do remember the time we spent together.Thank dad, miss you.

 

[mold]

My son's car had a small, aerodynamic body that had been cut in two with a hole drilled down the center to allow mercury to be added to bring the car to max weight. After reattaching the two halves and painting and polishing you couldn't tell that it had been cut. When the car dropped down the ramp, the mercury would shift forward giving it a slingshot affect.

 

[nomasittinright]

Here is our collection from over the years. If you cant tell I paint cars for a living and made my kids do all the painting with a lot of guidance

 

[christopher]

Pinewood Derby is a Blast.
We had a adult competition recently.
Only had about 10 minutes to build the car and then race it.
But it was still loads of fun.

 

[cpa]

nomasittinright good looking cars, which one was the fastest? Did the narrow tires make a difference on the one?

I built myself a car this year using aftermarket graphite coated nails and tires that I was super excited about. I raced against my boys cars after their derby was over and both of there cars smoked mine. All of the cars weighed exactly the same, shape of the car was the same, and had all the other top secret things that I did to them. Lesson learned don't waste $40 on the "high performance" pinewood derby parts.

My kids cubmaster had a $150 completely built kit car that he was going to show everyone what a fast car was after the derby. He put my sons 1st place car on the track with his as a reference. Well his car did win but only by about half an inch. He was in the faster of the 2 lanes also. I wanted to race again and switch lanes but he wouldnt

Can't wait for next year. Hopefully my boys can build something even faster next year.

 

[nomasittinright]

The one with the skinny wheels was by far the fastest it was in the outlaw class where anything goes and can weigh up to 15 oz instead of 5 oz i had a lot of time into that one to meet full weight but still keep the balance point an inch in front of the rear wheels. Out of the normal class the last years car which was the skinny low profile green car was the quickest. That one had all the tricks and pushed the limits of legality. 3 wheels touching, rail riding, h cut wheels, thinned and shaved wheels, notched axles, tungsten weights, dried the block in the oven to remove all moisture for more even weight distribution, every axle and wheel were sanded with 400-600-800-1200-1500-2000 before polishing and graphite coating. I think it was about 4 hours to make 1 axle and matching wheel. Most of the cars had around 20 coats of paint

 

[cpa]

I guess I wasn't aware any of those things pushed the limit of legality. Doesn't every Dad I mean boy do that?

What do you mean by notched axles? Didn't do that.

Just a little tip from a wood guy if you didn't know....a microwave will remove the water much faster than an oven, just don't go longer than 1 minute at a time to begin with and weigh it every time you take it out. Put it back in for shorter periods of time because it will start to to burn quicker with more and more water gone. (I have started things on fire when doing random moisture checks on wood from my suppliers when I went for to long.) When it stops losing weight you know you have it bone dry. Then seal it quick or it will start taking on moisture depending on your humidity. You have to have a really good scale for this to work but I'm sure you have a good mixing scale at the paint shop.

The painting was really the only thing my boys did themselves, but after seeing yours I can see that I might have to help them with that next year.

 

[nomasittinright]

When you put your axles in the drill or lathe to true them take a file and cut notches or grooves in the part that is under the wheel hub. The theory is that there will be less friction as less metal is in contact with the spinning wheel and it also acts as a graphite storage pocket.Good point about the microwave I used the oven at 275 for an hour and a half

 

[nomasittinright]

http://m.youtube.com/results?q=abby painting&search_type=&uploaded=d

I had to dig through the old phone to find this gem. This was my daughter at 5 years old painting her car for the open class. Im not sure how to embed videos if someone else can that wpuld be great

 

[cpa]

Looks like shes a great painter. I need another good painter if she wants to work in a cabinet shop

 

[05900]

http://m.youtube.com/results?q=abby painting&search_type=&uploaded=d

I had to dig through the old phone to find this gem. This was my daughter at 5 years old painting her car for the open class. Im not sure how to embed videos if someone else can that wpuld be great