Pine wood derby car time

[Baltimoreed]

Looks like a rule change to ‘hand built’ using ‘normal’ woodshop tools would be in order.

[lightman]

Wow, The Pinewood Derby has come a long way. Back when I was Cubmaster my boys built a few winners and a few stiff competors with my minimum help. Mostly supervision when they were using the bandsaw. We raced on a homemade wooden track that I built. The night of the races we tried to ham it up. I borrowed traffic cones and barricade tape from work to surround the track. All of the officials wore hazmat suits to look like pit crew mechanics. My Wife even sang the National Anthem and announced "Gentlemen start your engines". Yeah, we had a few parents that built their Scouts cars and a few that wanted to argue when the scale showed their cars to be over weight. I was the Cubmaster and just pointed to the rules!

Now we're still going to the races but its to watch the Grandsons race. The track is a factory built aluminum track with 3 lanes, an electronic starter, Christmas Tree like a real dragstrip, photo finish and the times, speeds and places are piped to a laptop and projected on the wall like a powerpoint presentation. And yeah, Dads are still building cars and arguing against the rules.

I never thought about having professionally built cars or cars for sale on Ebay!

[CastingFool]

I have to admit that when my son had to build his pinewood derby car, I did most of it. I told him I was the mechanic, and he was the driver. Lol. We came in 2nd, not bad for my 1st pinewood derby car.

[CWME]

Not all is lost with the program. I open my shop every year for anyone that wants to come and get help with their car. I have had kids from four different packs come in and build cars. The kids design their car on paper and then layout the cut lines on the car. Myself or the cubmaster cuts the cars to shape on the bandsaw. A piece of sand paper is given to the Scout and they are instructed on how to sand that chunk of wood smooth. Axle polishing is explained and demonstrated to the Scout while the paint dries. I have a small paint booth setup with spray cans for them to paint the cars. Basic colors are provided. From there we weigh the car body, axles, and wheels to see how much weight they need. Cast boolits are used for the weight. 255gr Lee 45 boolit to be exact. We now attach the axles and wheels to the car. I hold the wheel with the axle in the hub and the cub hammers it in. The Scout then applies their graphite and a couple test runs on the track to see how it goes. If they are happy with that then they are race ready. At all points of the build the Scout is instructed on why things are beneficial to speed. They make the decisions. My process helps prevent the parents building the cars and gives teachable moments for the Scouts. By the third year they roll in and get to work without much assistance. The race times are VERY competitive in our pack as most of the cars are built in my shop.

[Winger Ed.]

Both my boys did the pine wood derby in cub scouts.

I took the instructions literally. The kids decided on the basic shape, I cut them with a radial arm saw,
then they sanded the top of the car until they got tired of it. After that we marked off some designs and they painted 'em.
Once dry, I went to work polishing the axles and pouring molten Lead in 1/4" holes going side to side between the axles.
I had a high end scale, and finished their weight to 3.99 ounces.

The first year, we had race day and there were 'Dad' cars the kid had never been allowed to touch, and looked like
very, very good models of real sports cars.

Ours was a little more humble in appearance to say the least.
My oldest was clearly disappointed in his own.... I told him, "Don't worry about it. We came to race, not to win a beauty contest".

They ran four cars at a time,,, four times. Once from each of the 4 lanes of the track.
He felt a lot better after he'd won all four of his races by half the length length of the track.

The next years, the other Dad's got with the program about the importance of the wheels & weight.
We still won all three of the annual races, but after the first year, the competition did get better.

[GregLaROCHE]

I always thought it was important for kids to grow up with bicycles. All the basic mechanical skills and concepts learned from maintaining one, would be an asset in life.

[MrWolf]

Did that as a kid. Didn't get any help and it looked it but I did it. I do remember someone getting nailed for using lead weights and cheating. It was supposed to build character, not how to cheat or cut corners. Parents do not realize they are not helping but are making things much worse. Just as guilty latter in life helping my kids probably more than I should have, but we try and make things easier for them which actually can hurt in the long run.

[fixit]

I admit, I did most of the work on my kids car.... Complete with pretreating the axles with spray on moly. In the pre race runs, nobody could get close to our car's speed, then I gave the axles on more shot of moly, and ruined it.....the carrier fluid for the spray is a solvent, and I didn't consider that it would melt the wheels! Consequently, my son barely placed.

[country gent]

When my middle daughter started looking for a job The LGS was hiring. The owners and I were very god friends. She decided to apply.I told the owners that more important to me than her getting the job was that after they give her pointers on where she excelled in the interview and where she need to make changes or work on things. Funny thing is she made down to the final 2. But the critique of her interview has helped her more than the job would over the years.

In town there was a retired gentleman who for something to do spent his days rebuilding bicycles and selling them. Nothing fancy but they were nice, many kids bikes came from him. Families that were down the kids could pick a bike from the pile. Bill would then help them rebuild fix paint it on Saturdays or over the summer. For the basic bike and parts the kids helped in his shop and cleaned for him. Occasionally he would have them bring odd arts over to the shop to have welding done or bearings pushed on or off. You would see those kids cleaning sanding tapping dings out with a huge smile and dirt smudges on their faces. The shine in those kids eyes and the pride they took was something to see. When those kids finished their bikes up they not only had a nice bike they knew how to care for and fix it. Bills kids as we called them would stop in after school and help him even after they had finished their bikes. He had both boys and girls that built their own bikes. We kept a small helmet in the welding area so when the kids came over they could watch us weld their parts or what we were doing.

Kids learn by doing and a good mentor can really get them started out on the right path. Guiding them down the right path can make all the difference.

[popper]

Didn't have pine derby when I was a kid, just soap box derby. Took wood shop, metal shop when in school. Pretty much had the woodworking down pat by then, jig saw and lots of making 'stuff' in the basement by then. Even used the table saw under supervision. Did have a kid lose fingers in the planer in H.S. His fault. Learned lathe, gas & stick arc welding, casting in metal shop. Went on to auto shop, rebuilt a '37 V8 including using the boring bar to go 60 thous. over. One kid get some Desoto hemi's and we bored them out. Put them in hot rods. Even got to take buick and Olds auto trans apart and put back together. Did several manual rebuilds also. Kids nowdays don't even know how to change oil or plugs.

[Gator 45/70]

Pine wood derby's? When you live in the flat lands with no hills then there isn't a derby...But

We did have shop classes, When drilling holes in spoons swiped from the cafeteria I can reliably tell you that the number of times the knuckles will be slapped before you can get that paw out the way is several...and that's a fact!

[Brick85]

I just got an e-mail from a local wood shop supply. They will use their cnc router to cut out your sons pine wood derby car fora fee. And notify you when ts done, I remember them coming into the shop every year in batches. Now a business is offering this service.

What started out as a project for young boys to learn and grow was taken over by the Dads now businesses. Just what are the boys learning having the cars made for them.

When we did my sons we did use a mill and power tools, but he did all he layout work cranked handles and followed the lines he laid down. All I sis was supervise and make sure he worked safe. ( you should see the grin on 8 year old face running a bridgeport). When roughed out it was then time to file in and sand to finish.

These kits can be assembled with simple tools and the boys can learn a lot from doing so. Where is the pride and sense of accomplishment they get from hands on. Just watch a younger kid showing Mom And Dad the arts and crafts from camp or the shop project from school, Now that there is a real smile worth its weight in gold many times over.

Boy, that sounds like the ancient Chinese art of Chi-ting. I remember when we did the Space Derby, my dad handed me a potato peeler and told me to carve my rocket. It actually won despite the professional looking competition from the son of an auto body repair guy.

They are locally offering a workshop where kids can go and get help using the tools to make their cars, but even that feels a little off to me. I guess if there isn't a bandsaw around it makes sense, but I do have one. I think we'll be doing the car in the basement again this year.