Best tool for pinewood derby?

[perlgeek]

Hi everyone.

I don't own a whole lot of power tools besides my 20v cordless drill. My son is in cub scouts and this is our first year building the derby cars.

I tried buying a coping saw and spent hours trying to get it to cut right but now I've actually broken it. I don't want to go that route again.

Any suggestions on what I should be looking at? A quick menards search brought up jig saws, miter saws, and circular saws. I'm leaning towards a jig saw but wanted more suggestions. What would be easiest to cut pinewood derby cars and other light cutting around the house?

 

[balane]

I haven't built one in a long time but when I did I certainly used my band saw and 1" belt sander a lot.

 

[perlgeek]

I wish I could use a band saw but that is a little more than I want to spend. 80 bucks or so is what I'm hoping to get my tool for.

 

[abk241]

Not sure what you mean when you say you could not get the coping saw to 'cut right'.
If you need to learn how to use a coping saw try this link...

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#newwindow=1&q=how+to+use+a+coping+saw+correctly

 

[MattVette89]

It's been a long time here as well....but from what I recall I drew an outline on the block, my dad rough cut it with a jigsaw, and I finish sanded it by hand.

Good luck, great father/son project.

 

[ouchifellagain]

Concur with the bandsaw. They can be costly for a good model, might want to see if anyone in the troop already has one. A circular saw on parts that small is a great way to lose fingers or worse. A jigsaw would work, but I would find a great way to clamp down the piece, though the cut may be a bit rough.

 

[perlgeek]

Not sure what you mean when you say you could not get the coping saw to 'cut right'.
If you need to learn how to use a coping saw try this link...

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#newwindow=1&q=how+to+use+a+coping+saw+correctly

The thing that held the blade on top was slightly off center in a direction I could not straighten. The blades had just a tiny slant to it making it impossible to make a straight cut. The bottom connector was adjustable but the top one wasn't. It was just a defective saw from the start.

 

[panknuckshovel]

Do what my dad and the other fathers in the pack did and contact each other. Find out what everyone has and find a way to get together and use each others tools.

 

[larry_g]

Some of the first cars the my boys built were shaped with a wood rasp and sand paper. Take this opportunity to let the boy learn, not as your greatest moment. One boy now owns his own construction company.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Askme42]

Whittling knifes and sand paper?

 

[tarbellb]

Do what my dad and the other fathers in the pack did and contact each other. Find out what everyone has and find a way to get together and use each others tools.

This, but also learning to use the coping saw is tough but thats the fun.

You can cheat and find a scroll saw, thats the best bet. Then lots of sanding.

Dont forget to grab some Graphite powder to lube the wheel/axle assembly. And make sure you put the max allowed weights.

 

[panknuckshovel]

This, but also learning to use the coping saw is tough but thats the fun.

You can cheat and find a scroll saw, thats the best bet. Then lots of sanding.

Dont forget to grab some Graphite powder to lube the wheel/axle assembly. And make sure you put the max allowed weights.

Yah. we always drilled two holes on the front of the block and dripped lead in for weight and it looked like headlights.

 

[gol4]

<quote>"Take this opportunity to let the boy learn, not as your greatest moment."</quote

This right here is the best info.

Buy a some better coping saw blades and a dremel type tool and let him have at it. Eat some of that boy scout pop corn while you watch him.

 

[hayhauler71]

scroll saw

 

[Shadowdog500]

A scroll saw and a drill press are the best tools I've used to build cars. The HF scroll saw is on sale for $69. With a 20% off coupon it will be $55. Small drill presseses aren't that expensive either. Small detail files and some sandpaper come in handy.

Hope you have fun helping your son build his car. I've helped people build these cars over the years, I don't mind helping because I know all or most of the fathers are doing the same.

Sometimes wish they would split the competition into two races. The first would be for kid built cars, so the kids can have fun racing their own creations that they built on their own with guidance from thier father. The second could be dad races, to let the fathers race the super tricked out cars that they build, buy, or have thier friends build every year, without trying to pass it off that the kid built the thing.

Here is the first of a three part video of a guy who builds tricked out cars so his grandchildren can win the pinewood derby. The cars do pretty darn well, but his grandkids have nothing to do with the building of the car.

. Perhaps you can watch the video with your son to get a few ideas. The design is actually a copy of one form a book on winning cars. If you plan to build this style of car you may want to build a backup car that looks kid build, because a friends pack would not let the car of this design run because it looked strange and obviously wasn't kid built.

Chris

 

[K-Dog]

I just spent half an hour watching pine wood derby videos.

 

[Shadowdog500]

I just spent half an hour watching pine wood derby videos.

Hopefully yu looked the videos.

Here is another fast car that is dead simple to build.

I may try the bent axle trick next time I'm tagged to help build one.

Chris

 

[IndyGarage]

The look of the car makes no difference in the car being fast.

That being said, you can easily cut out a car with one of those Japanese style pull saws. I think they cost about $15. You might have to make multiple cuts to get the contour you want, but it can be done.

After that a wood rasp and a lot of sandpaper.

There's another few things you need to make a fast car: A postal scale; some lead weight segments, a piece of flat glass, super glue, graphite powder and about 5 extra car kits.

The ultimate trick is to build 5-10 cars and pick the fastest one. No two cars roll the same. Although here's how to make one faster than most.

The key to a fast car is in the wheels and the weight of the car. Build the body of the car to the rules - the shape of the body makes zero difference in how fast the car is, unless you do something odd to the front of the car where it trips the sensors or make the body too low so it rubs on the track.

Install the wheels using the nails into the slots per the instructions - some people like to polish the nails - I haven't found it to make much difference, but you do need to use powder graphite on the wheels and axles. Make sure the wheels spin freely. Now put the car on the glass and see how out of alignment the wheels are from one another. slowly, one by one move the wheels/axles up or down, in and out until you have the car sitting on the glass perfectly level and with all wheels touching perfectly. Some people think having three wheels touching the ground and the fourth slightly raised, makes the car faster. I've studied physics and i"m skeptical about this.

Once the wheels are perfect, use the super glue to lock them into their position in the slots. Do not drop the car after this.

For weight, you want the car at the maximum weight allowed. Take a postage scale and weight the car. Take out lead segment weights and apply them until the car tips over 5 ounces. Take out some pliers and nip off small bits of the last weight until the car tips the scale just under 5 ounces.

If you do those things, the car will be faster than 90% of them. If you do this 10 times and pick the fastest one, you'll beat 99 out of 100.

 

[K-Dog]

Hopefully yu looked the videos.

Here is another fast car that is dead simple to build.

I may try the bent axle trick next time I'm tagged to help build one.

Chris

Yeah, that is the best one. I watched that all the way through.

Now I just need to find a son in the boy scouts.....

 

[MaineGuide]

When I was a kid, I wasn't allowed to compete anymore because I won too many years in a row.

We had a bandsaw and scroll saw (still have both). We cut on the scroll and then spent a ton of time sanding, and even more time painting.

 

[bl00]

A handsaw and sandpaper is all a young boy needs to make a car if you plan to let him do it himself. I would stay away from power tools. Boys being boys, once he thinks he knows how to use them he might try when you aren't around. Also sawing and sanding are good energy burners and boys need plenty of that.

Prep him for the disappointment of his car being smoked by the ones built by dads and grandpas. They can be a bunch of cheatin' bastards.

 

[Bronson]

I remember spending many, many hours building My car, My Dad wasn't around much.
I had not a clue what I was doing, but I finished it.
Race time, the winning car looked like something GM built for the World's Fair.
It won easily, and I remember thinking it wasn't fair, for some kids Dad's to build their car, while the rest of Us DID build our cars.Whaaaaaaaaa...

 

[Kracin]

I remember spending many, many hours building My car, My Dad wasn't around much.
I had not a clue what I was doing, but I finished it.
Race time, the winning car looked like something GM built for the World's Fair.
It won easily, and I remember thinking it wasn't fair, for some kids Dad's to build their car, while the rest of Us DID build our cars.Whaaaaaaaaa...

that is the funny thing. for those boyscout stuff, it seems like its more for the dad than it is the kids.. they take over all kinds of things, i say step in when needed but try not to turn it into a thing for you as well. i remeber doing a half and half with my dad on the derby cars, they weren't the fastest things there, but they were something we built and chose the look of, he just did the difficult cutting parts. the winning cars are always 100% dad built.

 

[wild cowboy]

the best tool for a pinewood derby car is a dremel as you need this for creating a cavity to house the hidden brushless lithium ion battery powered motor and embedded micro-drivetrain to insure victory!

PS - plastic wood is good for covering up your secret mod!

 

[rowerwet]

Never did pinewood derby, but my kids are in Awana, and they have a Gran Prix which is pretty much the same, using the same track.
the first tool you must have is a good vise to clamp the block into, kids running a saw are wild and have poor tool control, save your skin and theirs, use rubber to cushion the jaws.
the next one to use is a pull saw, better names like Marples, get better results.
a block of wood and a pack of self adhesive sanding discs to stick to it for sanding the car body.
A dremel tool is nice, I got the flex shaft attachment to go with it. For younger kids it is too much, even on low speed they will not have good control. For the adults race you can make a really slippery, or wild looking car in very little time. It also helps for making the holes you pack the weights into in the back of the car to make up for all the wood removed.
Lowe's offers a workshop from dremel on making a pinewood car, there is a patch for it as well.
For the day of the race you need
graphite for the wheels
a drill to remove weight,
stick on weights in case the car is light,
a digital scale.

If you really want to win no matter what, there are kits or whole cars you can buy on Ebay that claim you will win, CHEATING!

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Hopefully yu looked the videos.

Here is another fast car that is dead simple to build.

I may try the bent axle trick next time I'm tagged to help build one.

Chris

I was thinking back to my pinewood derby days and I had a car that placed 3rd. After watching this video, I think we got the weight distribution and graphite right. My dad is far from handy, so we just made something that looked cool. I think we used a jigsaw as that's all my dad had besides a handsaw.

 

[DonPowers]

You can always use a stanley rasp to rough it out. They are inexpensive, come in various shapes and will cut through pine quickly. Use a finer tooth rasp and sandpaper to finish it out.


http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=aaplw&p=stanley+rasp

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt...jc1MjIwOQ--?p=rasp&fr2=sb-top-search&fr=aaplw

 

[Stuart in MN]

When I built my cars, I'm pretty sure all I used was my cub scout pocketknife, a hand rasp and some sandpaper. That was 50 years ago, though.

 

[iajonesy]

I got a real lesson in life when I was a very young Dad. My oldest son was a new Cub and we built his first racer.I didn't have many tools at the time,but we did build it as a team. When we arrived at the hall for the race all the cars were inspected and after that were all put on display.My buddy,whose son was my son's best friend,and I were looking over the cars when we overheard one of the kids ask his Dad,"hey Dad,which car is mine?".That left a hollow feeling in me that took a very long time to get over.

Mike

 

[tool_scrounge]

A1x42 belt sander with a semi dull belt work great. A new belt a cut a bit fast. That was probably my most used too after the drill press when I was growing up.

 

[Shadowdog500]

I got a real lesson in life when I was a very young Dad. My oldest son was a new Cub and we built his first racer.I didn't have many tools at the time,but we did build it as a team. When we arrived at the hall for the race all the cars were inspected and after that were all put on display.My buddy,whose son was my son's best friend,and I were looking over the cars when we overheard one of the kids ask his Dad,"hey Dad,which car is mine?".That left a hollow feeling in me that took a very long time to get over.

Mike

I bet a lot of the kids have to ask that.

Chris

 

[K-Dog]

My most vivid memory didn't even have anything to do with me. There was one other kid who's parents were split up and he rarely ever got to see his father. He didn't show up to scout functions much. We didn't expect him to show up at the derby or else we expected he was just going to come watch. He came walking in with his dad and he was gleaming from ear to ear. He pulled out his car and all they had done was hammer the wheels onto the bare block of wood. He was the talk of the event every time his car won a race. If I remember correctly he ended up getting third place and he was the happiest kid in the room at the end of the night. Winning is nice, but just being there is what really matters, so don't worry too much about how to do it all perfectly. You never know, even after all the work you put into it you still might end up getting beat by a kid that just nailed his wheels to the block of wood.

This story makes me both happy and sad.

 

[rslaback]

You should be able to pick up a benchtop bandsaw on craigslist for between $20 and $60. That would be where I would start. You'll use it if your pack does the raingutter regatta as well.

 

[srmofo]

I vaguely remember doing the derby, but I do remember learning the valuable life lesson that life isn't fair and some people ****.

On the other hand when I was in junior high we made co2 cars and loved them. That was a blast. Probably couldn't get away with making those anymore these days

 

[Jlbc212]

I did help my son. We set the axles at a slight angle so that only the very edge of the wheel made contact with the track surface. Having the fastest speed is all about being at the maximum weight and having the least amount of friction. We never won the prize for looks, but we always got the prize for the fastest car. Having the most fun and best memories is doing things with your son.

 

[James-W]

I have a garage full of tools, both woodworking tools and metal working tools. My grandson was in scouting for awhile and I helped him make a little derby car. In fact, it wasn't just for him, I helped his whole troop make their little cars. A lot of the kid's dads didn't have any tools to speak of and the kids had no way of building a little derby car. My grandson mentioned this to me so I thought about it and decided to do something to help them.

I spoke with the troop leaders and had all the kids come to my house to work on their derby cars. I got some wood and I made up the blanks for several little derby cars before the kids got here. When they arrived I showed them how to sand the cars, mount the wheels, stuff like that, and I had bought some little bottles of paint and some little paint brushes for them to use. So they were able to make their cars and paint them any way that they wanted.

We made it pretty much an all afternoon project and we had a great time doing it. When we were about done I had my wife go out and pick us up some several pizzas and we all had pizza and soda. The kids loved it and I must say that I enjoyed it as much as the kids, maybe even more. Seeing the kids working together and helping each other was really nice. They learned a lot, and I guess in some ways I did too.

 

[efb16acrx]

Gee, I got to use a rasp and sandpaper. No wonder I always came in second to the ******** kid with the rich dad.

 

[1950mercury]

Gee, I got to use a rasp and sandpaper. No wonder I always came in second to the ******** kid with the rich dad.

Lmao

 

[bushmechanic]

The number one tool you need to build such a vehicle is a solidly mounted vice.

After that, anything can be accomplished with a rasp, whittling tools, sand paper, and a small coping saw.

Let him design what he wants, and just help him learn what he needs to do in order to make that design happen. Help him along here and there when he asks, but don't do it for him.

Parents screw up the experience and entertainment these races provide.

Let him try different ways to use the weights after you explain elementary physics to him. Precision tasks that might be difficult, such as mounting the wheels just right might give you a chance to help, but ask first.

A few extra blocks can really help with experiments and to recover from screw-ups.

Any shape can win. Let him build whatever he wants, and help him along with the physics at the end if there's an obvious problem; but let him figure it out for himself.

I ended up being kicked out of the scouts, but before that I got a taste of what it's like to have a parent **** up a good time. I ended up building a car secretly and swapped them out just before inspection.

I won.

 

[Jwych]

http://http://www.amazon.com/Dremel-MS20-01-Moto-Saw-Variable-Compact/dp/B00AFELU6O

This is in your budget and might just fit the bill