Search found 275 matches

by Mike Doyle
Wed Jan 04, 2017 5:31 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Want to take it to the next level
Replies: 79
Views: 96915

Re: Want to take it to the next level

Here's a link to the carbon fiber inlay write-up:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5180&p=48711&hilit ... 9ed#p48711
by Mike Doyle
Wed Jan 04, 2017 5:28 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Want to take it to the next level
Replies: 79
Views: 96915

Re: Want to take it to the next level

I may be able to offer some tips; I haven't posted here in years and thought I'd check in to see how everything is going. Looks like it's going well! We won Districts 3 or 4 years in a row, and out District represented a few thousand cars, so it was always competitive. Here's a couple of things that...
by Mike Doyle
Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:06 am
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: What would you guy have done?
Replies: 8
Views: 9267

Re: What would you guy have done?

Well, at least the cars were on an actual table. At our District race one year they were checking in cars the night before and setting them on the carpet under the check in table, right next to their feet. That was the same year that someone protested 3 wheelers even though there was no rule against...
by Mike Doyle
Thu Jan 28, 2010 1:24 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Time to share some secrets (good ones) with pics
Replies: 23
Views: 26963

Re: Time to share some secrets (good ones) with pics

Must be "Old-Timers Day' :lol: Hey Mike! Since we are sharing secrets, Carbon fiber and epoxy was used in three of the designs below. We also would pre treat wood, when going very thin with a PVA glue mix. Was always intigued by Warp's offset weight ideas, never had a chance to implement them....
by Mike Doyle
Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:52 am
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Time to share some secrets (good ones) with pics
Replies: 23
Views: 26963

Re: Time to share some secrets (good ones) with pics

The carbon fiber rods were 3/16" hollow tubes and the carbon fiber flat stock was somewhere in the neighborhood of 3/16" wide by 3/32" thick. For the flat stock axle inlays, I used a band saw to cut the slots, for the center tube inlay I used a table saw. One pass right down the middl...
by Mike Doyle
Tue Jan 19, 2010 8:05 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Time to share some secrets (good ones) with pics
Replies: 23
Views: 26963

Re: Time to share some secrets (good ones) with pics

You could stop the carbon fiber short of the rear axle, but we placed our weight along either side of it, even in a very small body profile with no problem. One of the main criteria for using carbon fiber in the first place was to provide torsional rigiditity among the axles, so I felt it was necess...
by Mike Doyle
Sun Jan 17, 2010 8:10 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Time to share some secrets (good ones) with pics
Replies: 23
Views: 26963

Re: Time to share some secrets (good ones) with pics

I also meant to ask you if you could possibly post some additional pictures of the build and one of the underside of the finished product. Thanks again! Here is a picture I took of the bottom of the car today. There are several things to note, mainly the offset weight working in conjunction with th...
by Mike Doyle
Fri Jan 15, 2010 8:13 am
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Time to share some secrets (good ones) with pics
Replies: 23
Views: 26963

Re: Time to share some secrets (good ones) with pics

I also meant to ask you if you could possibly post some additional pictures of the build and one of the underside of the finished product. Thanks again! I'll take some pictures today of the underside and post them today. I'll also look back and see if I have more of the build in progress. There was...
by Mike Doyle
Thu Jan 14, 2010 3:02 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Time to share some secrets (good ones) with pics
Replies: 23
Views: 26963

Re: Time to share some secrets (good ones) with pics

Thinking about a totally carbon fiber car- once we worked the block down to a shape like the Lightning Storm, there really wasn't much wood left to spread out the COM. We had a 40' Piandetosi track in our basement with a MicroWizard Timer, so I could collect some really good data. From comparing not...
by Mike Doyle
Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:03 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Photos
Topic: Star Wars Speeder Bike (added pics)
Replies: 18
Views: 29648

Re: Star Wars Speeder Bike (added pics)

I hated to see the links go dead on this one and even though my sons are retired from scouts, I figured I'd get these pic links fixed one more time:
Image
by Mike Doyle
Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:55 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Time to share some secrets (good ones) with pics
Replies: 23
Views: 26963

Time to share some secrets (good ones) with pics

Since it is getting to be PWD season, I thought I'd share a couple of very effective tricks that worked extremely well for us. We had back to back overall championships at our large District Pinewood Derby representing some 3,700 cars district-wide, along with top 5 finishes every year at District, ...
by Mike Doyle
Tue Nov 25, 2008 3:57 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Aerodynamic question
Replies: 21
Views: 17835

Re: Aerodynamic question

I had all my photos hosted on AOl Pictures which apparently isn't working, even though their email said Dec 31st.

I'll have to dig up the old files and host them on Photobucket.

I'll edit the links and get them working again- give me a couple of days.
by Mike Doyle
Tue Nov 25, 2008 3:53 pm
Forum: General Off Topic
Topic: Electric Pig Race?
Replies: 36
Views: 39503

Re: Electric Pig Race?

Well the race was today and there was a little confusion about the rules which were pretty sparse to begin with. Apparently the rubber claws I'd attached to the front feet had to be removed since there weren't any on the rear feet. One rule stated what you did to one foot, you had to do to all of th...
by Mike Doyle
Mon Nov 24, 2008 7:25 pm
Forum: Car & Semi-Truck Construction
Topic: Aerodynamic question
Replies: 21
Views: 17835

Re: Aerodynamic question

I'll chime in here since I've experimented and been a proponent of aerodynamnics in PWD. What most software simulators fail to model properly is "ground effect" which is a very real and interesting application in PWD. With that said, any attempt at lift generation via angle of attack will ...
by Mike Doyle
Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:53 pm
Forum: General Off Topic
Topic: Electric Pig Race?
Replies: 36
Views: 39503

Re: Electric Pig Race?

Here's an update on the pig project: today I picked up some small conical shaped rubber bumpers that are the same ones you'd see on a car's glovebox door. I mounted them to the feet like hooves and gave the pig a test run. Instead of moving forward, he pretty much jogged in place since the rear legs...