Lead part - cast or turn?

Yep. Same thing when it comes to firearms. My dad, begin an excellent gunsmith as well as a phenomenal tool and die man, always had guns in the house, in various stages of repair and fully functional.

I shot my first rifle (.22) when I was 4. My first handgun when I was

1. Dad always had the policy that if you wanted to shoot, just ask and he'd take you shooting, but if we EVER touched a gun without his immediate authorization and supervision, we'd not be touching one for a long, long time. We'd probably not be sitting down for a bit longer than that too.

Worked for me and my sister.

My oldest shot his first rifle at 4, same .22 that was mine. We've got the same policy for swords (he's got a nice collection of them he really enjoys looking at and showing of) as well as their bows.

My son was at a friends house and his friend found a pistol (had a trigger lock and wasn't loaded). My son asked to hold it and took it straight to his friends dad. :)

Teach 'em proper handling of dangerous things and they'll be a lot safer than if you isolate them.

Tillman

Look for "Jet Lube", mostly moly but probably slicker, especially if your bearings are a tad loose.

Or just drill a bunch of 5/16" holes and epoxy 30 cal cast bullets in them.

That'd work too. The idea about lead shot is a good one, though, as it allows last-minute weight adjustments for when the scales are wrong.

Wasn't my point though. I suggested it due to the very low melt temp which should be more compatible with direct application to plastic wheels. Lead free is just a side benefit.

Pete C.

Heh. What *will* they think of next!

The beer bottles visible around the pit areas indicate a certain relaxed attitude while working with high-speed vehicles though. :^)

Jim

I've wanted somebody to get that started during our St Patricks celebration here. I know of one other guy who would be interested in it. I'm not sure of anybody else which is going to be the problem.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

Been there done it :-)

The place is Kenyon Woodworking in Jamaica Plains Ma. Four of us from Maine head down there once year or so to compete in some type of annual race. Usually have thirty or so racers and manyyyyyyyyyyy more spectators. They have a 75' foot track set up just like a drag strip. Three of us four run in the "modified class" I run a Makita 4x24 with twin motors. Usually get a trophy or end up breaking something on the sander in the process. Under two seconds to go 75 feet when its tweaked right, turning some pretty good rpm's.

Ten dollar entry fee to race, I'st, 2nd and third is good for a trophy and some cash in both stock and modified classes. Spectators get in free, Samual Adams beer is supplied free.......... their brewery is in the same complex as the wood shop and a pallet of various samples of their ale is supplied. It can get a bit touchy as the day progresses... Power tools and beer open belts, chains and such with no guards.... Luckily the racers are more into racing than drinking.

Hmmmm Halloween is past and no race.......... maybe super bowl weekend, Where is my sander? Need to check that puppy out.

I think you could mix lead shot with epoxy and fill each cavity. To balance you could just subtract from the heavy side.

Why not buy mechanical pencil leads and then use them as the needles for a needle bearing setup. I have never checked, but they appear to be nice and smooth and very straight. That way all you would have to do would be to ream and polish the inside of the tube to the proper diameter. It wouldn't last forever, but you would probably eliminate most of your friction, and it should last long enough to win the race.

Another option would be to get some solid graphite scrap from an EDM shop. Turn round slugs with an accurately centered hole and use some nice ground and polished drill rod for the axels.

If it did..Id be complety screwed.

Twitch...spasm...jerk...grimace....#$%!!!

Never mind......

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the s*it out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

Bee Firearms has moly. Karl

Alas, you have to use the nail axels that come with the kits. You can polish them and lube them, but that's the extent of the modifications allowed to the wheel hubs and the axels.

Tillman

There is one legal trick with the wheels that puts you in a different class though. You probably already know it.

Jim

tillius

Tell us. Do you mean turning them to +/- 0.0002" concentricity and roundness, like I do?

BTW, I use Simichrome to polish the axles, after the 2000-grit w/d, which I taught my son to do. He won all three years.

-- Ed Huntress

Do, don't know it. The only ones I know you can do is the lube and polish. I heard you could take an appropriately sized machine screw, heat it up and screw it into the hubs and it would cut/melt threads in the hubs that you could load with graphite, but I don't think that one is legal.

I've seen about beveling the tread so a smaller portion touches the track or only running with 3 wheels touching, but that's about all I've seen.

Let me know what it is?

Tillman

The three wheel one. You rig the car so that one wheel is off the track. This makes a huge difference in the time, and it's legal as far as I know.

JIm

Hi Ed. How're the college visits going?

I was getting at the 'one wheel off the track' trick which apparently makes a big difference. I think it's legal.

Jim

Yep, it's legal. And it's funny too. A lot of parents will accidentally get the wheels aligned that way then come to the workshop and ask us to help them fix the car so all the wheels are touching. So we do :).

Tillman

Good. Two more to go. How about you?

I tried it, I saw no difference, but it was on only one car, on my 16' test track. The biggest issue was tracking straight without a guide track, such as on a hardwood floor. That made big-time differences on the actual track.

Of course, the long-wheelbase deal is the real biggie, but I don't like seeing them without a special class. They're sure to win if they're done well.

Think low polar moment of inertia. Keep the weight concentrated and dead-center.

-- Ed Huntress