Place the Axle Press in a clamp or vise. Gently tap the axle with a hammer until the desired bend is achieved. The Pro Axle Press reduces friction! By creating a straight axle in an accurate hole on the body, the wheel will work in the most efficient manner. straighten the axles on your pinewood derby car.
How do you install a pinewood derby axle?
Pinewood Derby Axle Installer. To glue the axle, remove the axle and place a small drop of wood or paper glue in the axle slot about one quarter inch in from the side of the body. Wipe any excess glue from the bottom of the car. Insert the axle again using the above procedure. Keep the wheel away from the car body until the glue dries.
How do you straighten a bent rear axle?
Straightening the axle is best accomplished using an axle press or with a small hammer and anvil such as on a bench vise. In either case, the worst of the burr and crimp material near the axle head should be filed off by hand or with the axle chucked into a rotary tool or hand drill.
How do I lubricate the wheel/axle?
1. Lubricate the wheel and axle - Slide the axle into the wheel. Tip the axle down then add graphite between the axle and wheel. Tap and gently spin the wheel to work the graphite into the wheel. Continue until no more graphite can be added. 2. Place the wheel/axle on the base with the pointed end of the axle up. 3.
What type of lube do you use for pinewood derby?
The official BSA pinewood derby rules do not state any limitations on lubes. Meaning the sky is the limit. HOWEVER, most packs rules address what type of lube (99% of them say dry lube only) you can use. If you do not know, please stop here, read your rules, then return back when you have the answer.
What is Derby Dust?
Graphite such as Derby Dust® Dry Lube is an effective lubricant due to its unique blends of plate like structures known as lamellae. These lamellas lay parallel to the direction of motion built during the “break in” process. The unique characteristics of Derby Dust® Dry Lube allow the layers or lamellas to easily shear over each other resulting in low friction. It is the Trifecta of lubes. Proper particle size, no gritty feeling, easily smears, and sticks on both prepped axles and pinewood derby wheels.
How to buff a car to make it faster?
We first take an axles through the wet sands as described about, then we buff the axles to a mirror 100,000 grit optical polish using high speed buffing machines (7000 rpm) and oil based polish pastes. Apply a light load on axles during buffing as not to “burn” the paste into forming a wax. Each stage done by a separate buffing wheel to ensure there is no cross-contamination. Again cleaning the axle between each stage. In this case it requires an alcohol rinse and scratch free cloth.
What is the best level of dry lube for axles?
For dry-lube users, we find axles that have been polished to what we believe is the perfect level for dry lube. 3000 grit. I know it sounds silly, but this is what we discovered. This is the easiest way to explain it. Take a pencil. Try to write on a metal surface that is super shiny. See how much (graphite) sticks to the metal. Now take the same pencil and write on a surface that is a little more coarse. See how the pencil (graphite) sticks. We started from the highest level of polish we offered (60,000 grit) and worked our way down. We found that 3000 grit is that level that offers maximum speed and maximum lube retention.
What lubricant do you use in the Pinewood Derby?
Meaning the sky is the limit. HOWEVER, most packs rules address what type of lube (99% of them say dry lub e only) you can use. If you do not know, please stop here, read your rules, then return back when you have the answer. This ruling will determine your axle polish level.
What happens if you have a smaller diameter wheel?
A smaller diameter will cause erratic wheel spin. Once you have polished your axles, the next important process is anchoring or breaking in your dry lube. I can not stress the importance of this process for dry lube. Your car must build layers upon layers of dry lube that can shed off with each race.
What happens if you dust your wheels?
If you simply dust your wheels and axles, then you will not have sufficient amount of layers to get you to the winner’s circle. You will notice that you might win a race or two, but fall back quickly after that. Basically explained. The coarse surface allows the graphite to stick or bond to the surface of the metal.
Can you use dry lube to polish an axle?
With this info— axle polish and lube break-in are a paired process. If you just plan on polishing and dusting (skipping a break in) with your dry lube, then the higher grit levels will be a better solution. We have not tested how far up to polish to with just dusting as we were trying to get a car as fast as we can with dry lubes.
What are the Best Angles for bend Pinewood Derby Axles?
When choosing your angle of bend, you have 2 master choices. 1.5 or 2.5 degrees. 1.5 degree bend will have a larger tolerance level of tuning. However, depending on your car block, sometimes it is necessary to use a 2.5 degree bend. As your angle increases, your ability to fine tune decreases. With a 2.5 degree bend you have basically 30 degrees of rotation or less to get it to ride on the axle heads. It’s not much! I’m not sure how to describe it other than just telling you the results.
What did we notice when bending axles?
What we noticed when bending axles as instructed, we found that the bend of the axle was falling inside the last portion of our wheel hub when gapped properly. We needed more straight surface for the wheel to travel on before the bend began.
How to bend a Derby Worx axle?
One of the most reliable ways to bend axles requires 2 tools from the Derby Worx product line. You will need the axle press and the Pro Rail Riding Tool. Follow manufacture’s instructions to achieve your desired axle of bend. Derby Worx instructions suggest the use of a hammer. There is always variations to all methods and we think we found a way to tweak the process a little better.
Why bend camber wheels?
You will easily add an additional 2-3 hours of build time. The only reason you should bend an axle is so that you can tune your car. If you plan on just slapping on the wheels and axles.
What does a camber axle do?
Reduce the surface area, reduce the friction, increase speed. Camber axles also pushes the wheels during motion so that there is no side to side travel and therefore greatly REDUCES FISHTAILING!
When to install axles?
Once you have completed your axle bends. You are ready to install. At this point in your build, your car body should be finished painted and your center of gravity should be appropriate. Your final weight should be within a gram or two. Installing axles is almost LAST step in a car build. Because you do not want to EVER remove the axles once it is TUNED. Especially not for painting.
Does a dedicated press work without axle movement?
Author’s note—We actually have a dedicated press that we do this with. This ensures repeat-ability without axle movement. We found that with multiple hits of the hammer, that the axle slightly moved during the process and compound bends were common. We understand not everyone has this option, just be aware the if your cubber goes beating against the press, remember to try and keep the axle from rotating.
How to use the Axle Press on Your Pinewood Derby Car
Most axles are NAILS! They are not straight and more than likely never will be unless they are corrected.
Axle Press Video Transcript
The Pro Axle Press is designed to improve speed and performance of your Pinewood Derby car by correcting the nail type axles that come with most kits. The Pro Axle Press is a 2 piece jaw specifically designed for straightening both the length of the nail and for squaring the head of the nail to the center line of the body.
How to glue a car axle?
To glue the axle, remove the axle and place a small drop of wood or paper glue in the axle slot about one quarter inch in from the side of the body. Wipe any excess glue from the bottom of the car. Insert the axle again using the above procedure. Keep the wheel away from the car body until the glue dries. 6.
How to use graphite on a BSA?
1. Lubricate the wheel and axle - Slide the axle into the wheel. Tip the axle down then add graphite between the axle and wheel. Tap and gently spin the wheel to work the graphite into the wheel.
How to change a wheel on a sandbox?
2. Place the wheel/axle on the base with the pointed end of the axle up. 3. Place the Axle Guide in the axle slot. The end of the a xle guide should be flush with the side of the car body. 4. Hold the Axle Guide in place with your thumb then gently press the car body straight down on the axle. Push until the wheel touches the car body.
Does Pinewood Derby have axles?
Our axle installer makes it easy to install wheels and axles on your Pinewood Derby car the right way every time. It makes sure that the axles are horizontal and that the wheel-to-body gap is correct. For BSA, PineCar, and other kits which use 4 independent axles mounted in slots.
Who won the Pinewood Derby?
Ryan Jarvis from Long Island NY finished first place in his Pinewood Derby race beating over 100 cars. He used our Axle Installer, wheels, axles and graphite.
To Groove
With a drill press and moderate selection of files and sanding cloth or sandpaper, putting a shallow channel in an axle takes anywhere from five to fifteen minutes for most people. That’s great, but why groove your axles in the first place?
Or Not to Groove
Some people invest a lot of time and energy building computer models to determine if placing grooves in axles is a good idea. The thing is – computer algorithms do not always reflect reality. There are a lot of other considerations such as if you use bent axles, canted (from drill angle into the car body), and even how your wheels are prepped.
How to Groove Pinewood Derby Axles
If you can get access to the following tools, it will make life a lot easier and speed up the grooving process while improving accuracy.
