Pinewood Derby help

[Nole]

My son's Pinewood Derby is coming up. Anyone with any helpful tips? I know to remove the burr under the nail head. I'm putting the nail in a drill and lubing it with graphite until my fingers are about to burn off(buying maintenace gloves tonight). These are tips are got from a friend. Other recommendations were after painting the car, using a very fine steel wool and go over the painted car to get it glossy smooth.

It seems to me that graphiting the axles is the smartest thing to do. I know the shape of the car comes in to play but it appears the main focus is the axles and the paint job(curing after painting).

My son is doing some sanding and of course painting but I'm just looking for some kind of edge. We came in dead freaking last last year because I didn't prepare properly(I gave the car one more coat of paint....the night before!).

Thanks in advance.

nole

 

[hogman14]

When you use weights, put them toward the front. This really depends on the design of the car. If it's a rounder style, fine. If it's really thin in the front, I would go about 2/3 of the way toward the front. Also, don't use the weights that look like a small post, and that you have to cut. Get the really long rectangle, and if you put this on the thinner front style, smooth sailing. Too much weight in the front = Car flips over before it even heads down the ramp. Also....use all the weight you can..for some reason, some people don't do this. You'll need all the weight you can get against some of these people. I wonder how many cub scouts actually build these cars......But hey, you want #1!

GL!

 

[marine]

I used to win my pinewood derby every freakin year when i was a lil guy.

You are on the right track withthe axles and graphite.

I dont know how much help i could be, are they still the same block of wood you need to whittle down and plastic wheels?

get the wheels smooth
get the graphite in the axles and keep spinning them
and get the car shiny smooth... sh*t, if you can get a few coats of wax on the sucker, do it!

 

[pd1]

Graphite on the axles. Make sure the car weighs the max allowable, with the weight to the front, about where the engine would be. We dug out a cavity and melted lead. That helps get the lead at the start. Best of luck to you both.

 

[Nole]

Outstanding info!

I knew about the weights but wasn't sure where the best location to put them. So, it appears toward the front, equivalent to where an engine might be.

Marine, it's just a block of wood with 2 grooves underneath for the axles. Hell, last year, some kids just painted the block and weighted it down. They did well(Helluva lot better than me). That makes me think it's all in graphiting the axles and shining it up the best I can.

After graphiting, just tap the axles in the pre-set grooves and that's it? Seems like something else should be done.

So in review, graphite the crap out of the axles, paint then steel wool and shine that sucker up and put the weights toward the front(making it as heavy as allowed).

Thanks very much hogman14, marine and pd1. I'll keep you posted.

nole

 

[marine]

what i used to do:

after tapping the axles in we would take some epoxy and coat it over the axle to ensure that it stayed in a secured fashion while racing down the track.

 

[Nole]

what i used to do:

after tapping the axles in we would take some epoxy and coat it over the axle to ensure that it stayed in a secured fashion while racing down the track.

You beat me to my next question, is there more to it than just tapping the nail into the groove? Secure with epoxy makes mucho sense.

Thanks very much Marine. I'm getting the car as smooth as a baby's butt! My son will paint later(after we go over his spelling words )

nole

 

[jerbeek]

This is the website my kids used to get some info on design. I think there were some tips there too.

http://maximum-velocity.com/

 

[Nole]

This is the website my kids used to get some info on design. I think there were some tips there too.

http://maximum-velocity.com/

Oh my God! I'll be up all night.

Thanks very much!

nole

 

[hogman14]

:bump:

Nole, how'd that go?

 

[Nole]

Hi Hogman14. The race went great! My son's car finished 3rd in his pack/den(never can remember which way that goes) and then moved on to the main race which consists of the other packs/dens.

I've never been more nervous on that 1st race. Of the 3 cars in that race, my sons car won so we got to wait a while while the others battled. It was double-elimination so it took a while.

Overall, my son's car finished about 7th out of 50 cars. We'll take it! We got a 3rd place ribbon for the den/pack qualifying round. My son was pleased(and Dad).

There is no doubt, graphiting those axles until your blue in the face is the way to go. Putting those axles in a drill, putting gobs of graphite on the tips of workers' gloves and spinning those axles til they're red hot is the formula.

We had it weighted all the way up to 5 oz. The weight was pretty much centrally located only because the shape of the car.

Thanks for asking hogman. I should have updated right after with all the help I got.

nole

 

[hogman14]

:clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[sportsnut13]

A buddy of mine wins every years he told me he uses pledge as his lubricant? Good Luck