My son, the machinist.

K

koyote

Guest
It's pinewood derby time again.

Leif (age 7) has a lot more involvement this year- and getting things tied down to a milling machine is helping him with tool control a lot. Here's the photos so far:

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more machining!

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hand sanding before we get to the weight addition issues:

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And we have a weight of about .... 2.25 ounces, less paint. Last year, we were at 3.5 ounces, and I used 1/4 inch brass pin stock inserted into drilled holles to make up the weight. But we calculated it out, with the showlower holes because of his Stingray style car, and it would be approximately 22 holes to get it up.

Well, we need something beefier than 1/4 inch brass. And not going to town today...

Well, it's always possible to use lead, right? As long as it's coated it's safe.

hrm. coated lead.... hrm.

Okay, so we're going to go with 5 (I wanted 6, but that would have been 4.8 ounces without paint!) exposed copper colored "cylinder heads" along the top of the hood. It's a straight 5! Copper coated lead cylinder heads of exactly .358 diameter.... :D

Here's the dude drilling holes:

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We'll see what it looks like once it's painted and the semi-wadcutters- I mean "cylinder heads" are in place.

In the meantime, the nails you are required to use for these things have flashing on the heads and ridges all over.

So, what to do???

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Yes, my 7 year old is (with a lot of help) turning 1.25 inch long nails.....
 
That's AWESOME!!! Please keep the pics coming. We all want to see what the finished project looks like.
 
That is awesome! Looks like he's doing a great job. Thanks for sharing

We have to go to University of Scouting tomorrow for training but Cole and I are hoping to get started on his car this weekend.

This year will be his third car, he's a Bear.

We use bullets to make up the weight and try and get the weight in the back.

Last year Cole built a General Lee car. This year he says he's going to make a Rosco P. Coltrain police car.

I'll post up some pics when we get going.
 
Shhhhhhh, The local pack doesn't like cutting new slots (big arguments ensue where you have to prove lack of square). I have some other photos with the original slots and a machinists square. Off OVER 3/32 on 1.75 inches. I'd be happy to just "fix" the existing ones, but when I have to widen them about the width of the nail, it's useless.
 
and here's my Wolf with the .38 special stingray. (he wanted the cylinder head look. I should have checked his depth, we coulda got another 1/16 to 3/32 of depth on them. But he's 7, and he did the car about 85% on his own. Mostly I helped set up some jigs and evened out his sanding a bit on a slack belt after he shaped his curves.

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Boy does this bring back memories. My son will be 34 this year and I think he still has the car that he and I built when he was in scouts. You guys are building life-long memories.

Good on ya,
Carey
 
I built mine by myself dad was TDY both years and I won first place both times, It sure was great.
Brings back good memories, thanks.
Michael
 
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