It will steer towards the side rail with an unbalanced situation like you describe. If any thing you will be increasing friction. The only real friction is between the axel and the wheel. If you eliminate 1 wheel the other 3 wheels will have more friction. Use tons of graphite on the wheels and axel.
A trick I used was to put the nail/axel in my drill with the wheel mounted and added lots of graphite. With the axel spinning quickly in the drill and holding the wheel all surfaces became polished/burnished and loaded with graphite. My son won 2 trophies that year with that car.
I have heard and it makes sense to raise one wheel up a little bit to reduce friction, but which wheel one of the rear wheels where the weight is or one of the front wheel and hope it goes straight with one front wheel? Joe
Many smart people disagree about whether it is better to have one wheel raised or not. Truth is, you're not very likely to get your axles positioned accurately enough for all 4 wheels to carry weight anyway. Three will be carrying the weight and one will be loafing along. Oh, it will be turning alright, but it won't be carrying much weight. If it touches the track at all, it be a result of the slack between the hub and axle that allows the "high" wheel to drop down to contact the track. The light wheel will also rub along the center rail, so it needs to be treated the same as all the others.
That said, most of the faster cars I ever saw had one wheel raised just a little. You can only raise a wheel on the light end of the car. If you try to raise a wheel on the heavy end, that wheel will just go down anyway and raise the one on the opposite corner.
Find a hard, smooth surface and roll the car to see if it rolls straight or not. If it doesn't, tweak the front axle by bending it slightly fore or aft until the car rolls straight.
DonkeyHody "Give a hungry man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him to fish . . . and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day."
I remember my first pine wood derby. Mydad watched and gave me some instruction when I was building my car. I was so proud of what I had built and my dad saw that I was. The day of the derby we walked in and there where cars that looked like indy cars and formula 1 cars some even had spark plug wires.My dad walked up and told the scout master that this was my last day in scouts.As we where leaving the derby started and all the other dads where having a good time racing THERE cars.On the way home my dad tried to explain to me that when you are involved in something for you that it should be up to you to do your best. I did not understand at the time. Growing up and getting married raising my own kids I get it know. Im 46 now. My daugther is
I remember my first pine wood derby. Mydad watched and gave me some instruction when I was building my car. I was so proud of what I had built and my dad saw that I was. The day of the derby we walked in and there where cars that looked like indy cars and formula 1 cars some even had spark plug wires.My dad walked up and told the scout master that this was my last day in scouts.As we where leaving the derby started and all the other dads where having a good time racing THERE cars.On the way home my dad tried to explain to me that when you are involved in something for you that it should be up to you to do your best. I did not understand at the time. Growing up and getting married raising my own kids I get it know. Im 46 now. My daugther is
I think that this depends on the judgment of the parent and the age of the child.
Last year, the first year that my boy was in a PineyWood Darby, he was seven, and I let him draw the car and then I roughed out the blank on the bandsaw, according to his drawings.
He then used the rasp and various grades of abrasives to bring the car to its final shape.
He did the finishing.
I knew, nothing about the preparation of the wheels and axles.
He came in Third in his pack and was well satisfied.
This year he will be Eight. I will explain the physics of weight placement, friction, etc.
He will true the wheels and polish them.
He will true the axles and polish them.
We will not cut out on the bandsaw, because I am too afraid of my eight year old running it.
We will use a coping saw.
What I learn wd from last year is that we should build two cars. I will build one and show him the steps. He will build the other, step by step with me.
He should learn a lot from this.
Above all, I want the boy to have fun. I don't want it to become a serious exercise.
We will use our best efforts to produce a car that does as well as it can.
I have done a father-son clinic in my shop for years and have helped build scores of cars. Some argue that if you lift one of the fron wheels up a bit, and you can keep it running straight, you will have less friction. Some also argue tilting wheels on edge also helps. I don't really know if it helps that much. Polishing the axels is important and aligning the wheels is important. After that, it is marginal at best for the rest of the stuff.
My goal each year is getting my son to use two or three different tools that he didn't use the year before. Maybe it is a carving goage, rasp, a hand router, spokeshave or using stop cuts, or whatever. When I do the clinic, I bandsaw out the rough shapes for some of the youger scouts if they want, but I explain it is just as easy to get down to the lines with spoke shave or chisel or even a sharp pocket knife. I spend a lot of time going around telling dads to let they boys run the tools for awhile.
I won my first year, and then spent the better part of a Saturday watching my son's car getting killed in the District tournament. I was glad to have him get the experience of winning and losing about something he cared about. It was good character development, but I have never had a big desire to repeat the experience. Each year I look at the completed car and think about spending a half an hour aligning the wheels. I know that if I do, he will likely win. I spend some time teaching my son to do it, but I don't do it.
When I have run our pack derby, I deemphasize the fastest car award. I know about all the bullcrap feel-good awards. However, it isn't a even playing field for the boys in terms of building and tuning the cars. It isn't fair to penalize the boys who don't have as much or as skilled assistance. I make sure each boy get an identical looking award, even if the award is for the "Best painted block of wood with wheels". Even though my kids are now teenagers, they still have their cars displayed on shelves with whatever ribbon they won.
Good luck on you car an enjoy the time with your boy.
Joe, you can't raise a rear wheel, or the car will sit cocked.
You can raise a front wheel and adjust the steering by tweaking the other front wheel so that the car runs true.
It doesn't increase or decrease friction (all else being equal) to ride on only three wheels. The total drag from friction is the same in both cases. However, potential energy can be saved if the car runs true down the track, because the lifted wheel will not be rotating full speed when the car crosses the finish line. The lower momentum of that wheel must be conserved, and the only place for it to go is into the forward momentum of the car. So, there is some potential benefit from raising a wheel.
I don't mean to downplay the importance of lubricant and polished bearing surfaces. That's paramount.
How do you tell the difference between a car with a wheel raised on the light end and one with a wheel raised on the heavy end that settled and raised the light end?
But, if you try (unsuccessfully) to raise a wheel on the heavy end, you inadvertently lower the body at that location which may cause it to drag on the center rail. It's better to raise the correct wheel in the first place so you don't have that problem.
DonkeyHody "We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again---and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore." - Mark Twain
It's good that you have been able to find wisdom in your dad's course of action. I think you could have learned many more valuable lessons by staying in Scouts.
I wasn't involved in Scouts as a kid. But as a dad, I see tremendous benefit to the boys from the experience of Boy Scouts (much more than Cub Scouts or Weblos). I'm very glad my son has the privilege to participate.
DonkeyHody "We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again---and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore." - Mark Twain
Yeap, the graphite is key, as well as, making sure the wheels are aligned straight. Make sure to roll along a flat surface and it maintains a true straight line. Trophies two of three years. The one year an axle came lose. Ha!
When our sons did this, I sawed two kerfs in a 2x4 block and set the wheels in them for alignment. They did well, years later I did the same for a grandson, his didn't do worth a darn.
What happens if you race the same set of cars against each other repeatedly? Are there _really_ "fast" cars ?
On a really bizarre note, has anyone ever heard of pinewood derbies being held in the UK, or particularly Northern Ireland? It sounds like a great idea.
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