Building A Better Pinewood Derby Car Making It Fun for All (It Is No Fun To Be Embarrassed)

Building A Better Pinewood Derby Car

Making It Fun for All(It Is No Fun To Be Embarrassed)

Official BSA Pinewood Derby Kit and Parts

Fast Cars Have A Thin Shape

Heavier Cars Go Faster

Long Wheelbase Cars Go Faster

Rear Weighted Cars Go Faster

Three Wheelers Go Faster

Well Lubricated Cars Go Faster

Friction Is the Enemy of Speed

Isaac Newton Was a Wise Man

Tools & Materials Needed

Official Pinewood Derby Kit bondo

bandsaw graphite

drill or drill press safety goggles and dust mask

sandpaper - several grits small fine cut file

cyanoacrylate glue gloves

drill bits - 3/8” and #44 wire cutters

lead wire pipe cleaners - stiff ones

small digital scalehoning paste or abrasive toothpaste

Creating Fast Axles

Friction Is the Enemy of

Speed

Stock Pinewood Derby Axles Have Problems

Chuck the Axles In a Drill and Use A Fine Cut File to Begin To Resolve the Problems

Use Sandpaper to Make the Axles Really FastWet Sand All Grits 600 and Finer

2400 grit400 grit

8000 grit12000 grit + honing

paste

Finer Polishing Makes For Less Friction

Lube Axles With Graphite In Drill Chuck

Well Lubricated CarsGo Faster

Fast Axles CreatedFriction is the Enemy of Speed

Fine Tuning Stock Pinewood Derby Wheels

Stock Pinewood Derby Wheels Have Problems

Wheel Chucked Up In Drill

or Drill Press

Sand Sides Flat With 220, 400, then 600 grit sandpaper

Lube Outside of Wheels with

Pencil or Powdered Graphite


Use an Axle to Chuck Up Wheels for Sanding the Inside Edge of the Wheel

File and Sand the Inside of the Hub Round and Smooth - Sand to 600 grit

Use Honing Compound and Pipe Cleaners to Polish the Inside of the Hubs

Clean Hub with Pipe Cleaners, Soap, and water Lube Inside of Wheel Up With

Graphite


Tuned Wheels vs Raw Wheels


In My Opinion - Don’t Allow lathe turned Wheels

Cub Scouts Can’t Use a Lathe

Creating the Body(or Bodies, make 2 for each boy)

One Blank Contains Enough Wood for 2 CarsAll That Is Needed is an Extra set of Wheels

Mark and Drill all Holes Before Shaping the Body

Drilling Template

Fast Cars Have A Thin Shape


Long Wheelbase Cars Go FasterThree Wheelers Go Faster


Drill Axle Holes With a #44 Bit 5/8 inch from each end of the car and 1/8 inch from the bottom of the car. Drill hole for 1 of the front axles 3/16 inch from the bottom of the car. Drill the Holes for the rear axles all at once -

through and through from one side.

Mark location for 3/8” holes for weights.

Drill only to 1 5/8”depth so as not to drillcompletely through the body.

Best to drill a small pilot hole beforedrilling a hole a large as 3/8”.

Drill holes into the axle holes from the bottom of the car. This makes it easy to glue in axles

without gluing the wheels to the axle.

Body Completely Drilled

Cut the body on the bandsaw.

Create 2 bodies.

The first step in assembly - weigh the car and wheels. Add enough weight to bring the total

weight to 4.8 oz. The finished car must weigh 5 oz or less.

Types of weights


Most convenient is 3/8” lead wire. Best source is RotoMetals through Amazon.com.

Enough lead wire for 8 cars

- $19.28 delivered

Car With 3 Inches of Lead Wire

Bring Car to 4.8 Ounces

Place weights into holes so that car balances at a point between 3/8” and 1.25” in front of rear

axle

Glue the weights in with cyanoacrylate glue - especially if they are loose weights such as lead shot


Distribute weights so that the carwill balance end to end at a point

between 0.75 inch and 1.25 inchesin front of the rear axle.

Glue the weights in with cyanoacrylate glue.

Fill holes with bondo.

Sand and paint the car.

Apply graphite to body where wheels make contact.

Friction Is the Enemy of Speed

Attach wheels. press them in using a 1/32” spacer placed between the wheel and the car.

Glue in axles through the holes in the

bottom of the car with cyanoacrylate

glue.

Ready for Weigh In

Do not play with, or race the car before derby dayUSE THE SECOND CAR FOR THAT!!!

On Race Day - Bring

Graphite

Extra Weight

Cyanoacrylate glue

Needle Nose Pliers

Extra Wheels and Axles

Protection for the Car - Carrying box, etc

Other ResourcesTimer derby spreadsheetshttp://home1.gte.net/res06xo8/pine.htm

pinewood derby planning guidehttp://www.abc-pinewood-derby.com/run-pinewood-derby-race.htm

building a trackhttp://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/derby/track/

pinewood derby ruleshttp://www.abc-pinewood-derby.com/pinewood_derby_rules.htmhttp://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/derby/rules.html

pinewood derby tipshttp://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/derby/

pinewood derby Power Point presentationshttp://stanpope.net/ppt/pptindex.htm

pinewood derby elimination methodshttp://www.usscouts.org/usscouts/pinewood/cspdpro2.asp#single

pinewood derby software for purchasehttp://derbymaster.com/

pinewood derby electronic timers - $120 and uphttp://www.newdirections.ws/

Building A Better Pinewood Derby Car Making It Fun for All (It Is No Fun To Be Embarrassed)

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