Pinewood Derby needs: Scroll saw, Postal scale
 

Anyone near me have a postal scale? We have to get my son's pinewood derby car built and I need to get it to the 5oz weight spec. T-I-A.

How soon do you need it ?

by next weekend i suppose.

i have one like this http://cgi.ebay.com/TALKING-JSHIP-26...QQcmdZViewItem

That is fancy. Rick are you really in philly?

far NE area

I have one here Scott. Let me know when you want it.

Thanks Rick. Tim is closer. Tim, I'll txt you, but maybe lunch Wed?

Sounds good.

How about a scroll saw or similar to cut the body out nice?

Scott - I have a band saw, scale, dremel, high performance graphite and a bunch of tires and axels that you can modify if you want. Your more than wlecome to pick my brain for ideas.

It's a drive for you but send me a PM if your interested.

Thanks, I'll let you know. This is his 1st one so I'm not looking to go all john force on it. I was planning on polishing the axels and hubs.

I was just going to cut a basic wedge and let him rip but he wants it to 'look like a car'. At least today he does. :)

Here are some tips for you:

Grove the axels as well. Put the axel in a drill, the drill in a vice, and use a file to cut a grove where the wheel sits (reduces some friction on the wheel).

Put as much weight as you can in the rear of the car, without the car doing wheelies. The longer that weight is on the hill the faster the car will go.

Cone the inner hub of the wheel with wet sand paper to reduce the overall contact with the body, polish with graphite afterwords.

Extend the wheelbase (if allowed). Less bumping as it goes down the track.

I have a bunch more tips so let me know how far you want to go.

Lastly, have your son work with you so he understands what the effect of your work is. Maybe I'll see you at the districts.

i remember my pinewood derby, except we could be 8oz.'s lol. i had a model of a blown bbc sticking out the front of the car. and decals from all performance places on it. we made it using a dremel for the most part and had the majority of the weight at the back as others stated. ill see if i can post a pic up

Thanks Chris. There is nothing in the supplied rules about having to use the grooves in the block of wood supplied so I think I can move the wheels. So I plan to spread them out and get the car a hair over the minimum height of 3/8". I have to re-read the rules about wheels & axels to see if I can groove them radius the hub. I do remember it mentioning all I can do to the wheels is removing casting flash.

So the basic wedge > design I want to use is probably better, putting all the wt in the back. Hmm.

I wouldn't get the weight back much past the rear axle line, if not trying to keep the weight directly over it. Once the rear wheels are off the ramp, the weight is no longer pushing the car down hill. If it is hanging off the back it will make the car bounce a lot on any uneven spots or seams in the track.

ahh... i remember doing this way back when... i think my dad did more of it than he let me do haha

I remember when I built my son's car and all the trouble I had just to get the car to go perfectly straight. It's a shame that because the adults get involved with building these things, that unless you can cheat with every trick in the book, your son will look at you and say "why was my car last"? I think a much better idea would be to have ALL the cars kept in one room(maybe a school)and locked up until on certain nights everybody could come and work on their cars. That way NOBODY could polish the shafts, balance the wheels and so forth. About 90% of the cars are built by the fathers and it becomes a contest on who has the most high tech tricks built into the cars for the purpose of winning and the kids are allowed to MAYBE paint the car. Just my:2cents:

I totally agree. My first year I let my son build it with my supervision and he came in 39 out of 40 kids. His only saving grace was the 40th car's wheel kept coming off during the race. You HAVE to do all of these tricks just to keep up with the rest of the field.

**** 10 years ago it was up to the kids when I did it.. there was one kid who had his dad do every trick in the book and he always won but no one cared enough to do half the crap he did

wow this brings back memories... my dad did all the building as i just watched and helped as much as possible, he was very meticulous with it as we won 1st or 2nd every year... we made a hotdog car one year.. batman car the next..wedge car for aerodynamics.... cant remember what else ...

My 8 year old has his 1st cub scout Pinewood Derby tomorrow. Not bad for our 1st time. Lots of lessons learned.

Paint is 77 Z28 red, because I had some. Got a decal kit at AC Moore, sheer luck the colors were a good match. Polished & graphite lubed the axles & hubs. Rolls straight. A tiny bit of neg camber in the back - less rolling resistance I figure. Weight is at 4.9oz in race trim (5oz max). The wt behind the wheels goes straight through the body.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../PD2009c-1.jpg

We find out tomorrow if we are any good at this!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ds/PD2009a.jpg

Kind of like this:
http://www.pontiacserver.com/blackha...3ta-fl800c.jpg

That's right, we badd........

Good Luck!

Decided to add a little more weight underneath?

yup, to get it close to 5