Off the subject - pine wood derby

[Joe Barnes]

All, thanks for all the input. We will try these helpful hints and let you
know how we come out. The Pack race is next Saturday and the District race
in Feb.

Joe
P.S. My son picks the design and color. I do the cuts with the saw and
dremel. He sands and paints.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Atwood, Mark" <atwoodm at paragon-inc.com>
To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 7:19 AM
Subject: RE: Off the subject - pine wood derby


Hey Joe,

This can get VERY carried away (we have a dad's only race where there are
few rules) but the simple answer is as far back as possible without haveing
the frint wheels leave the track.  The higher the weight on the track, the
more potential energy.  Also, some little tricks...

Tap the wheels (meaning thread them).  The cars we use the axle is very
close to 2-56 so I tap them with a 2-56 tap.  This significantly reduces the
surface area thats in contact with the axel, but more importantly, it
provides grooves to pack graphite into for lubrication.

Even more important...bend an axle or place it slightly higher on one side,
so that one of the two front wheels is NOT touching the ground.  I.e. the
car will run as a Tricycle...it can still be made to track straight, and
again, much less friction on the track.

There's more, but not that will fit in the Cub scout rules...Lol

Good Luck,
Mark


-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Barnes [mailto:jbarnes at gaseed.com]
Sent: Wed 1/15/2003 1:13 AM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Cc:
Subject: Off the subject - pine wood derby

My eight year old son and I are building a Pine Wood Derby car for the Cub
Scout races. Does anyone know where the car should balance? (or does it
matter?) I will be adding about 2 to 2.5 oz. of weight to the car to bring
it to a maximum legal weight of 5 oz. There are different opinions with the
Dads. Some say the weights should be in the back to push the car down the
track and some say the front to pull the car down the track. I think it
should be some where in the back third. This is our third year of races and
we have done pretty well the previous years.(seconds but never a first.)

Any help would be appreciated,

Joe Barnes




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