Derby Talk

Here is an excerpt of the Material Safety Data Sheet from Midwest Tungsten Service: "Effect of Overexposure: Dust, mist and fumes generated during physical or metallurgical treatment may cause mild irritation of the nose and throat. With the exception of two Russian studies that found early sig...

Perhaps a better answer is to buy cars that are drilled? Or drill your own? Then you could simply cast the tire weights into a cylinder that could be stuffed into the body with a little glue, and spackled shut.

While bismuth can indeed be used in diamagnetic levitation, it requires quite a strong field. Tracks are aluminum, wood or plastic, none of which can be magnetized. This is an esoteric property, and it would be pretty tough for someone to rig anything non-obvious to help their car. For sure bismuth ...

Mass production = close race, I didn't create this monster but I will say, this will probably be the only time(3 more years) these boys (cubs) will ever operate a lathe or drill press. I hope this is a good experience and at least they understand the process. I’ve never seen the sales types offerin...

Are they Cub Scouts? In our pack we insisted that a parent be there during the meeting with each boy. Well, we let some sneak out for a quick errand, but I wouldn't tolerate them bugging out like we were babysitters. Have the parents help! Then again, some of those very parents have demonstrated whe...

To get the swage marks off I just have them carefully run a file against them. Then, I generally just have them use a strip of the appropriate grit paper that I have precut for them. The axle doesn't have to be concentric, since it isn't doing the turning. Sacrilege, sure, but that was before I came...

Until somebody finds lead in the patches, ain't nuthin' a guy can do. I went to the Chevy dealer to buy some parts for a '70 truck and got parts made in China! 0.o I think it cheats our country to buy from there, especially there, but that isn't going to change it. Bummer.

Interesting. I hadn't realized that most stainless steel is non-magnetic. Still, the "pins" on our start gate are aluminum. Actually, they're 1" wide aluminum strips, so we have fewer staging problems with pointy-nosed cars. I believe that most nickel based stainless steel is quite m...

Is it a wood track? If it is, and the saw marks are still on the edges of the guide strip, the car could climb the rail. But, on the aluminum tracks, I would never expect that. 1 inch forward of the rear axle is pretty stable, especially on a metal track.

Gravity...what makes the cars go. Steve...my first name. How prosaic is that, in a forum like this? A little history: I have a BSc. in Physics, and worked as a mechanic for many years- I can fix anything from lawn mowers to bull dozers, drill presses to welding torches. I used to drag race, but that...