How to Polish Your Pinewood Derby Car’s Axles and Wheels
The quality of your Pinewood Derby car’s axles and wheels may be the most important factor in building a fast car. Here’s how to choose and polish your car’s axles and wheels.
Polishing Pinewood Derby Axles
1. Start with a set of raw axles.
2. Can you tell the difference between the axles in the top row and the ones on the bottom? The ones on the bottom aren’t straight and will slow your car.
3. To tell which are straight and which aren’t, mark each axle with a marker about 1/2 inch from the pointed end.
4. Have an adult clamp a power drill into a vise, a device that will hold it perfectly still.
5. Have an adult help you insert each axle into the drill at the location you marked in Step 3. Have the adult turn on the drill.
6. Bent axles will wobble as they turn in the drill. Straight axles will hardly wobble at all. Pick the ones that wobble least.
7. Once you’ve selected the four straightest axles, use a file or fine-grit sandpaper to remove small burrs and mold marks that can cause friction and slow a car. These imperfections should be removed from both the axles and the wheels. Watch this video to learn one way to do this.
8. Use polishing compound from the auto supply store to polish the wheels and axles. One easy way to do this is to clamp the axles back in the drill and let the drill spin the axle while you polish it.
9. When you install the axles and wheels, make sure they are aligned perfectly straight. You can test the alignment of your axles by pushing your car across a smooth floor or table. It should roll in a straight line.
10. Don’t forget to add graphite or another dry lubricant to your wheels and axles.
I’d use three straight axles and take one bent one. Put the bent one on a front wheel and mark a line on the head from center to edge. Roll down an incline. If car veers to one side, use needle nose and rotate bent axle 45° if it i if it’s worse,rotate in other direction and tweak until straight. Better option then pulling down on a wheel and cracking the wood.
Some dad’s enjoy the quality time with their kids. It is a project that is supposed to be done together. Mu Tiger scout could not do any of this. So we do it together.
How can you fix it
We did this to perfection. My son was winning by such a margin, that two parents placing the cars on the track started cheating and lubricating every one of the other cars before racing them.
Watch a Movie called Down and Derby if you want to see parents out of control.
Graphite needs a few days of spinning to shear correctly, they weren’t doing those builders a whole lot of good 😞
When polishing the axles, only take of the minimum material to make them smooth. Too much removed will result in wobbly wheels too.
Good tips ..
This. My son made this change this year and it was fantastic. We noticed the wheels rattling, so he went real gentle on the polishing and once we got the graphite smoothed out the wheel wobble disappeared and ended up yielding a big trophy and a lot of pride.
Will wobbled wheels slow it down
Getting the car to track straight is big too. If the car pulls it will scrub off speed. So if it pulls left ,pull the left wheel down . If the wood splits use gorilla glue.once it tacks up enough finish the test gently .let it dry .
I tried a 2.5mm angle on my steering wheel up front. Don’t do it.. it jumps the track to the center…. use 1.5mm angle only on fronts.
if you have a bent axle.. or just want to start from straight.. reverse the axle/nail in the axle bending tool up to the head.. then give it a couple of wacks with the hammer, do this at 12:00, 4:00 and 8:00.. by rotating the axle. This should give you a good straight axle to use.. then you can have a more accurate angle in your axle.
In my opinion, properly aligned, highly polished axles is the most important factor in all fast Pinewood Derby vehicles!
These are real helpful tips