On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 15:59:38 -0500, J. Clarke
wrote:

On 13 Feb 2007 08:29:38 -0800, wrote:

On Jan 22, 5:32 pm, Tom Watson wrote:

We race on a forty foot Piantedosi wood track, with a starting pin
height of about 45", and the slope runs out flat at about 12' on a
level line from the pins. The pin to finish line distance is about
35' measured on the track.

We use tungsten weights that come in 3/8" d. cylinders and we drill
the car body out, starting on the centerline of the car and running
parallel to the centerline for one row on either side of it. The
drilled holes have about 1/8" between each and they are drilled to
depth with a forstner bit on the drill press.

We insert the weights into the center line of holes and attempt to get
the car to five ounces, with one ounce riding on the front axles. We
set the weights to be flush with the bottom of the car.

We straighten the axles in a press and hammer the nail head into the
press so that it is square to the shaft, and then file off the webbing
below the nail head. Then we lightly file the underside of the nail
head into a coned shape.

Then we insert the axle into the drill press and polish it with
wet-or-dry abrasive, starting at 600 grit and moving through the grits
to a finish with 1 micron polishing cloth. We wipe them down with
alcohol and put them in a baggie with a powdered graphite/moly
lubricant. We treat the underside of the nail head the same as we do
the shaft.

We use a jig on the drill press to bring the wheels into round and
then treat the tread with the same regimen of abrasives. We cone the
bore of the wheels and we polish with the same set of abrasives. We
use the same abrasives on the area of the wheel that contacts the
underside of the axle. We polish the inside edge of the wheels with
the same abrasives and then we take a rag and push graphite/moly into
the surfaces of the coned hub, flat face, treads, etc. We use a piece
of drill rod and some liquid abrasive to polish the interior of the
bore. Then we clean out the wheels with compressed air, then swab
with denatured. Then we put the wheels in a baggie that has some
graphite/moly in it and shake them up, then let them sit overnight -
they come out a cool looking graphite gray and - we hope - the
graphite gets into some of the crans and nookies.

We drill holes in the body at the bottoms of the axle slots, so that
the axles will go in straight. We load the wheel hubs up with
graphite/moly and push the axles through, trying to keep as much
lubricant in the bore as we can. We push the axles into the body
until the wheel bores are 1/32" away from the body. Then we spin the
wheels for a bit using the air compressor to direct a stream of air
over the wheel to make it spin.

Then we set the car on a piece of plywood that is eight feet long and
set to a five degree slope, being level side to side. We put a dot on
the twelve o clock position of the axle head and we turn each axle a
quarter turn at a time until the car can run a straight line over
eight feet.

We then run the air compressor over each wheel until we think the lube
is gone and test the car for straight again. A little more tweaking
to make it straight. Then we pack it with lube and we're ready to
race.

The boy ran third out of fifty his first year and second last year.
Then he went to the Districts and ran third out of 150.



Man, why'd you even bother using "we" in this post? Sheesh.

Blame the engineers you refer to in another post ("Hey, they're
cheating, so I will, too!")

Rationalize it as a learning experience ("Son, you're going to have
to do this for your son some day, so pay attention.")

Rationalize it because you did well. Make excuses all you want, and
I know you will.

But if your kid gets kicked out of school for cheating, let's see how
well those excuses hold water. Since pinewood derby is nothing like
school, he's not being taught cheating is OK, right? Riigghht.

Whether you realize it or not, when you're not around, the kids talk
about who did what. (this coming from a former pack leader) Kids
being kids, the ones that didn't do well (but did it themselves) will
have lots of ammunition for those that had DaddyCo make their car.
And they -will- use it. ("Loser, you can't even build a car! Your
Dad had to do it for you!" That's a verbatim quote.) They all know.
The kids are psyched when they win, until later, usually during the
trophy presentation, they get called out. And all those wonderful
lessons you think you imparted are washed out by a few choice words
from an eight-year old.

The winners learn the wonderful life lesson that hey, I won, so who
cares if my dad did it? And please, spare us the tripe about his
"involvement" in the process. Eight year boys don't polish axles
down to sub-microscopic levels.

But hey, at least yours will know Kipling. At least have it
memorized, anyway.

I think that what is needed is a Budweiser Ebony Wood Pro Derby with
big prizes and free beer, unlimited engineering innovation is allowed,
no one under 21 is admitted, and all cars must be made of species that
sink in water.

While the adults are all competing for bucks and ****ing for distance
the kids will be able to get back to being kids, and having fun with
their simple cars that float, learning what they can as the aspire to
being allowed to build a sinker.


Winning the PineyWood Derby is a simple process, J.

Make your car weigh five ounces and distribute your weight so that one
ounce is on the front wheels.

After that it is a game of alignment and friction reduction.

Get your axles square to the body and parallel to each other.

Then it is a game of who spent the most time with the abrasives.

The team with the best sandpaper wins.

My story is true.

In every endeavour that I have been involved with in my life, be it
sports or business, or music, or whatever - the person who is willing
to go the extra mile beats raw talent nearly every time.

It's a good lesson for kids and it is a good lesson for us old
*******s that might have forgot.


Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/