Polishing Pinewood Derby Axles

A How-To Guide for creating performance axles for your pinewood derby car.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Pinewood
• Derby
• Axle
• Polishing

[joeghatta]

Well done... What is the name of this music? Very nice choice...

[rstutton]

@joeghatta - thanks. Actually, I didn't choose the music, my original choice was removed by the Google copyright police - and it was replaced by some no-name copyright-free music.

[rstutton]

@joeghatta - I just noticed that the music information is listed below the video - it says "Various Artists - Arnhem Lan" and there is a link to download the music! Cool.

[lanesteele240]

no cub is mature enough to work with power tools. one laps of judgment and LOOP!!!! he will be afraid of tools forever. most boy scouts lack the skills to work with tools,

[rstutton]

My thoughts on this are that the Pinewood Derby is primarily an activity for both Father and son - no one expects the scout build the car unassisted and likewise it shouldn't be done just by dad. However, how much the son contributes depends on experience and maturity and the father's judgement and hopefully the son will enter in more than one year and do more the second time.

This is why the results really aren't too important.

A mounted Dremel under supervision is a good intro to power tools.

[rstutton]

Ok, I laughed at that moter3d - I know I overdid it - but I can live with it :-)

[mustang5racer]

I appreciate seeing how you put the sand paper over the file. I always did it by holding it in my hand (with a leather glove). Gets hot and wears out my way - I'll try yours this year!

[drjollercoaster]

@lanesteele240

i had a shotgun at age 8. it depends on good supervision. 

[2002qdog]

luv the music

[DruUbben]

@lanesteele240 Agree with rstutton's answer below. Also, wanna see a 9 yr old that got totally involved and took it a step further? search "does weight distribution effect speed of a pinewood derby car?"

[dubsaloon]

@moter3d Are you sure it wasn't your finger.

[tony4sarah]

Another great asset to polished axels is graphite powder!

[hdtvcamera1]

Great Vid.

In the past I didn't let my scouts use cutting tools but I did lhave them polish.

We did similar to your video but use diamond files. All sanding is done with wet paper.

As a final step in polishing I use a white polishing paste. I chuck up the axles in a drill press and spin them while we use a Dermil with a cloth polishing pad. They shine like mirrors.

I hold a clinic at my house to help kids/dads without tools. I reccomend this to other leaders as well