They use timers now days. No question about who the winner is.
Posted on 03/07/2019 10:34:00 AM PST by Coleus
One of the formative experiences with politics that turned me into a conservative at an early age. :)
I’ve come to think that since the lesbians took over girl scout leadership, and the gays took over boy scout leadership, the safest thing for the kids is for girls to go into the Boy Scouts and boys to go into Girl Scouts.
My daughter is in American Heritage Girls. They partner with our church’s Boy Scouts for the pinewood derby every year. My daughter was the reigning champ for 4 straight years until finally being outmatched this year.
On a side note, I entered a car in the “outlaws” class. No rules ... build what you want. I built the Knight Bus from Harry Potter at my daughter’s request. 3 derby blocks stacked. That thing was unbeatable. Even left her car in the dust.
“scoutmaster were sexual predators and deviates. And that was 20 years ago.”
.....
Yeah it reminds me some of the religions that have been in the news recently. It’s a very sick world.
“I used to love building those cars”
What did you use for wheels and wheel bearings?
My daughter made sure weights were place behind and directly in front of the rear axles. Perfect placement. Shape was flat ... maybe a quarter inch thick. Polished axles and lots of graphite.
They use timers now days. No question about who the winner is.
“Yeah it reminds me some of the religions that have been in the news recently. It’s a very sick world.”
And that is even worse since the “color of authority” of perpetrators is nominally God! Sadly, I would venture to say that virtually all of the major religions have had sexual predators who have escaped prosecution.
I hate the graphite.
I was winning all the early heats. Then somebody said to add this graphite stuff, “It’ll go really fast.” I said no but got talked into it.
Of course I came in last (by half the length of the track) in the championship race. The graphite loosened up the glue holding the axle nail into the block of wood. The glue ran down into the tires.
I was one ticked off little kid.
I worked with a group of fellow engineers on optimizing PRD cars. We figured it out (on extruded aluminum tracks) so well that they changed the rules in our Council. No wind tunnels at NCSU, no ion implantation to harden axles or inner wheel hubs, etc.
Basic physics says put the weight at the back. However, high speed video photography showed that the cars with the weight in front of the front axle “chattered” less as they went down the track and the contact between the inside of the wheel and the track acted like braking. The best weights are tungsten welding rod tips (waste at a welding shop) with 2x the density of lead. Also, the nail used for the axle needs to be under-cut with a file to remove the forging seam under the head. This seam cuts into the wheel and brakes the wheel. If you can, put the wheels on a lathe and cut the thickness of the wheel rim down (from the back), you will significantly cut the rotational inertia and the wheels will “spool up” faster going down the track.
Also, never add graphite the day of racing. I had photomicrographs of the graphite at various times of break-in and it started out rough and got smoother and smoother as time passes. New graphite is like throwing chunks of concrete into a transmission.
I could keep going, but I forget a lot of the details.
We went nuts...
PRD should be PWD
Weight at 75% of balance point to the high (rear) and polished wheels with graphite - made regional.
Shape of the car actually impacts the speed very little. Had one care place 2nd that was an block shape - not even a wedge.
Never add anything to the car once the wheels have been “run in”. Add it while you’re doing the “run in”, but once completed don’t add any more. Match the axle to the wheel and don’t mix them up at assembly.
“And that is even worse since the “color of authority” of perpetrators is nominally God! Sadly, I would venture to say that virtually all of the major religions have had sexual predators who have escaped prosecution.”
.....
When I was a small boy we were taught that folks who had a sign in their window with a red hand on it were safe houses. Places you could go if needing help. Much like finding a cop.
I haven’t seen those signs since. Makes me wonder now how many were predators hiding under the guise of authority. Seemed like a good idea. Nowadays, I would never advise children to go to a strangers house.
My son’s car came in 4th place out of 60 scouts. It was the first time in about 45 years that I won something.
Gonna change the name to “Boi Scouts”.
The Boy Scout movement is as dead as Adam Baden-Powell.
We had a “Dad Challenge” that was intended to divert the dad’s attempts to live vicariously through their sons by building their cars for them, by letting us build our own cars.
Mine was an homage to my favorite Hot Wheels car from my childhood, a purple Dodge Deora mini-truck carrying two surfboards. I cut new wheel slots as close to the ends as possible, lifted one wheel so that only three were contacting the track, and did all the usual stuff with graphite, weight in the rear, etc. Other than that, it was a perfect recreation. I won - and half the dads there came up to me and told me they had or remembered that Hot Wheels car.
Hope they are at least competitive otherwise they’ll have to employ a discrimination policy in the form of a handicap for female builders.
I still have a little of it around.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.