pinewood derby car

[metalspinner]

Tonight's fun was magnatizing the ends of screw drivers w/ a powerful magnet, he is setting up a test to see how long it lasts. The electron aligment should only last soooo long. Tomorrow he wants to make his own electro magnet w/ some old cotton covered blasting wire from up at the shop, a bolt and a battery. We cannabilize all sorts of toys that are electrified, and we glue stuff to them for him to use w/ legos and knex, he uses them to motorize them

ironwood,
What a coincidence.  We tried making an electromagnet last night, but all we could pick up were some iron filings. We used one of those 6 volt square batteries and a 3/8" X 3" long bolt.  Is there a part of this formula that we can change to make it stronger?

redoaks,
That's pretty cool that you make the cars for BSA.  I'll tell the boys about it.  They will think it's neat, too.

Our pack has a dad's race we use for a fund raiser.  $5 gets you in.  This year, the county fire dept. offered to host Pinewood Derby for any pack in the district as part of a community outreach program.  They purchased a brand new aluminum track with a digital timer.  They also will project the races ona big screen for all to see.  It's going to be a great time!

[Ironwood]

Our Cub pack bought one, $3500 big ones WOW. We are a very large and successful pack, one of the largest in our SW PA. region. We have folks defect from other packs because ours is soo well run. It really takes some momentum to make things work well. Many rural areas it is hard to establish that due to population density.

 Ironwood

[LeeB]

more wraps with a finer wire will make a stronger magnet.

[metalspinner]

Did you guys get the loopty-loop?

When my oldest joined as a Tiger (he's a Webelos now), our pack was fairly inept.  But over the years, we gained a few energetic leaders and have a good pack committee in place.  Our numbers are up to 75 kids.  Most of them are very active.

It does not take long to turn things around with the right people in place.



Thanks, Lee.

We used 18 gauge and wrapped it three times along its length.  We'll try again this weekend.

[Ironwood]

Metalspinner,

I have a HUGE roll of old old 20 guage w/ thin cotton mesh covering (perfect). If yours doesnt work let me know I can send you 20-50' or so, I'l never miss it, the roll is 1000-2000' feet , got it from my nieghbors garage when she offered help yourself, Pappy's been dead for 30 years, noone will ever use that stuff again.

 Ironwood

[Don_Papenburg]

How will you do the cryogenic  treatment to the axles?  It has to be a lot of   Fs below O to do any good.

[Ironwood]

Finer crystalline structure, may not make a difference, but it sure will get your competetion concerned. I showed up at a meeting after the Derby and said next year this will give me all sorts of feedback on the cars performance, they had never seen one before so I got some mileage out of it.