Pineword Derby - its on now!

[bedlamite]

5) Check that rolls straight on level ground. (Just give it a good push).  if it's pulling to one side that will slow it down as it goes down the track.  Adjust wheels/axles to get it to roll in straight line.

It's not going to roll in a straight line on the track, it will bounce back and forth. The key is to keep the lifted wheel from hitting the track.  Slight positive camber (1-2 degrees) on the rolling wheel along with enough toe in to barely keep it against the rail will produce faster times. If the lifted wheel hits the rail it will start to turn negate any advantage of lifting it.

[KD5NRH]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sutDTlmq5ZM

http://www.hulu.com/watch/346114

[T.O.M.]

And yes, there should be a "Family" category, for those hyper-competitive Dad's, Uncle, and Grandfathers.  Let the kids make their own cars as best they can and race those.    We also had various Style judging category so that even those that didn't come in the top three places in their dens at least got a ribbon for "Most scout like", "most colorful", etc.   We even had a prize for last place, a giant Hershey's Chocolate Bar, so one kid glued his wheels onto his car so he would lose every race and "Win" the chocolate bar.     

Make sure the kids have fun, and try to get him to do most of the work and explain how's and why's of what he's doing.

We had a prize, the Golden Turtle, which included a t-shirt, candy bar, and the honor of being the starter for the final races between the den champions.

But yes, we also gave awards for different categories.  And we gave away silly prizes, like a big Crunch bar to the first car to crash and break during a race, or the Gobstopper for the first car that past the stop strips and into the foam barrier at the end of the track.  Made it fun.

[AJ Dual]

Anybody do "rocket class" where the cars were drilled out for a BB gun CO2 capsule, and the cars were started by backing them into a board with pins/nails on them? 

[brimic]

I had several years of pinewood derby- there were quite a few dads who were machinists or engineers at Harley in my Son's pack. You wouldn't think a Harley engineer could produce anything fast, but I simply gave up on putting too much time into the process to impress anyone and just focused on having my son learn a bit of woodworking/painting- there were a few Dads that won everything, every year.

[Scout26]

That's why we did the family class (although a certain grandfather still made his grandson's car each year  )  My goal was to teach him how to use various woodworking tools.  (Keep Sanding !!!!)  The last year was when he got tired of losing and we went full bore mad engineer to win.  Funny it was Grandfather Norm Abrams that raised the biggest stink about Robert's fan powered car.   

[41magsnub]

In this case, we are kind of the outsiders.  The church associated with the school is running the derby, they invited all the students to participate.  Dylan and his Mom are not members of that church, they are paying to attend because the the school he would go to in the public system is REALLY bad compared to elsewhere.  As such, the information transfer on this kind of thing is very poor.  Right now I am not sure what all is going to happen on race day, what the classes are, what the awards are, and etc.  All I have to compare it to was my cub scout pack 30 years ago.

Next year he is going to get into cub scouts.  They are moving, probably in with me but that is another story, and my local school district is very good so he would go back to public school.  We are researching the boy scout situation right now, there are supposedly good and bad packs/troops in town, and we are asking around to figure things out.

[Hutch]

Not too useful at this point, but next year...

If you don't HAVE to use the wheels and axles that came in the kit, don't.

Polish the aftermarket axles with pumice and garnet paper, turning the axles in a drill, CAREFULLY tried to eliminate run out.

Harder wheels are faster wheels.  Source them from the axle vendor.

Ignore the grooves cut in the block to hold the axles.  Take some quality time with a drill press to make certain the car rolls true.nnonce that's established, DON'T let the kid roll it until AFTER the competition.

With the above mentioned drill press, locate the axle holes as far forward and as far rearward as possible, keeping in mind you want the holes at least one wheel-radius inboard.

Using this strategy, none of my kids lost a race except when the ran against each other in the final heat.

[Scout26]

Anybody do "rocket class" where the cars were drilled out for a BB gun CO2 capsule, and the cars were started by backing them into a board with pins/nails on them? 

I tried compressed air car (20 plastic pop- bottle filled by a bicycle pump), but I couldn't get it to stay on the track...on in the building...

[41magsnub]

Holy hell...  this is an all day event.  Each car is in 10 heats.  80 cars...

[T.O.M.]

Holy hell...  this is an all day event.  Each car is in 10 heats.  80 cars...

Good lord,  it was an all day event for my Pack, around 120 cars, but only three races per car (then the champion heats). 

[41magsnub]

We came in overall 7th place for speed, 4th in his age group.  He won quite a few of his heats.  Good lesson for Dylan how to accept not winning, eased by being towards the top.

We stopped to pray FOUR TIMES...  Those 7th Day Adventists are an interesting group.  We started with a sermon on the evils of "drones" while they buzzed a little toy RC quadcopter around the room and landed it in the pastor's hand.  As a group they don't do caffeine, alcohol or meat (my favorite 3 things), but the concessions were beef chili, hot dogs, sodas, and pepperoni pizza.  It was confusing...  

If there is a next year, it will be in boy scouts with an actual published set of rules.

[Andiron]

We stopped to pray FOUR TIMES...  Those 7th Day Adventists are an interesting group.  We started with a sermon on the evils of "drones" while they buzzed a little toy RC quadcopter around the room and landed it in the pastor's hand.  As a group they don't do caffeine, alcohol or meat (my favorite 3 things), but the concessions were beef chili, hot dogs, sodas, and pepperoni pizza.  It was confusing...  

I'd be a Mormon if it weren't for the prohibition on beer and coffee.  That and I believe Smith was completely full of it.  Past all of that,  Good people.

[Regolith]

I'd be a Mormon if it weren't for the prohibition on beer and coffee. 

Didn't stop any of the Mormons I knew...

[Marnoot]

Didn't stop any of the Mormons I knew...

As a general rule, Mormons that by choice aren't regular (or even occasional) church attenders don't tend to actually follow many/most of the teachings.

On-topic, I'm really hoping the cub scout pack where I'm at encourages cars built by boys, rather than dads, or has separate categories for each. Kind of defeats the purpose otherwise, IMO. There's helping, where the father advises and provides some minimal assistance, and then there's "helping" where the father might allow his son to be in the same room while the father builds the car. Three more years before my oldest gets into cub scouts.