Team Vitamin K 2015 Lineup/Progress

[sporty]

Nice shape and good start.

Sporty

[whodathunkit]

Look'n good Vitamin K !

[Vitamin K]

Slow progress is still progress. Got the profile cut done on my older son's car. Made him cut the paper template and trace the lines, then we scrollsawed it together. Didn't get it done perfectly, but that's what sandpaper is for!

[Vitamin K]

Stole a few minutes before wifey came home with the kids to run down to the workshop. I cut and sanded the canopy and cut out the wheel wells on one of the fenders.

Fitting single-piece fenders to the wheels is a learning experience for me. I cut the wheel spaces out pretty conservatively, and then I'm sanding them from inside with a piece of sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. Seems to be working out well enough, if not exactly speedy. Can't rush balsa, I suppose.

Hopefully, I'll have a better idea of how to attack things when I help my daughter with the fenders for her car.

[sporty]

Nice, coming along well.

[whodathunkit]

Very nice job on the Stremline car.. it's looking good Vitamin K.

[Vitamin K]

<insert Scout-friendly exclamation of dismay>



Was cutting the final wheel well on my second fender on Daddy's car when the scrollsaw blade 'grabbed' the balsa out of my hand and cracked the fragile top curve of the fender.

NOOOOOO...!

Not quite ready to say die. CA glued all the wood fragments together and will slap more glue on after those have dried. Since the broken part isn't 'load bearing' (the bottom of the fender is secured to the side of the car, if I can just get it to hold together long enough to assemble, I might be able to salvage it.

Lesson learned, though...definitely need to cut thicker segments for delicate balsa components and then plan on sanding/dremeling down to final dimensions.

At least I'll be better armed when I help my daughter and my wife with theirs..!

[sporty]

I cut it thicker and sand down, still this stuff break's easy.

[whodathunkit]

You might try:
Using some clear packing tape on both sides of the balsa then make your cuts with the scroll saw.
It will help hold the basla together.. as well it acts as a lube for the blade while cutting.

You say you broke the balsa while makeing a turn and the blade grabed it!

Round over the back side of the scroll saw blades for makeing even tighter turns.
To do this you'll need something like an eze lap diamond hone & stones.. or a knife sharping stone.
With blade in the saw and running take the hone or a stone and round over the backside of the blade.
These are some things i'v found to be very handy while cutting balsa with a scroll saw
& makeing tight turns in balsa.
http://www.fine-tools.com/eze-lap317900.jpg

[Vitamin K]

You might try:
Using some clear packing tape on both sides of the balsa then make your cuts with the scroll saw.
It will help hold the basla together.. as well it acts as a lube for the blade while cutting.
Some more things you can try.. if you broke the balsa while makeing a turn.
Is to round over the back side of the scroll saw blades for makeing even tighter turns.
To do this you'll need something like an eze lap diamond hone & stones.. or a knife sharping stone.
with blade in the saw and running take the hone or a stone and round over the backside of the blade.
These are some things i'v found to be handy while cutting balsa with the scroll saw.
http://www.fine-tools.com/eze-lap317900.jpg

Thanks Whoda, I'll keep that in mind! Will definitely try the packing tape for my next dicey cut. Rounding the blade seems a little trickier.

[whodathunkit]

Was cutting the final wheel well on my second fender on Daddy's car when the scrollsaw blade 'grabbed' the balsa out of my hand and cracked the fragile top curve of the fender.

Thanks Whoda, I'll keep that in mind! Will definitely try the packing tape for my next dicey cut. Rounding the blade seems a little trickier.

Vitamin K, if you were makeing the cut for the inside curve for the wheel opening..
try keeping your eyes on a point 1/16 in front of the blade.
some scroll saw blades have bures the will make the blade cut to the right.
(due to the stamping of the blades and how they are made.)

To round over the back side of the scroll saw blade you are also reducing friction.
http://images.meredith.com/wood/images/ ... smCuts.jpg
this will eliminate some of the frictional heat caused by square corners of the blade rubbing
against the material you are cutting.
Position a honing stone or file at a 45 degree angle to the back of the blade.
With the blade moving lightly tuch the stone or file to the back edge of the blade
turn the saw off .. and then repeat on the opposite back edge.

[Laserman]

You the man Whoda!

[Noskills]

Vit K,

Looking sweet!

You say you are sanding the inside of the wheelwell with a sandpaper on a dowel. Try cutting a 1/2 strip of sand paper and CA glue it to a spare wheel. Then put the wheel in a wheel mandrel then into the the drill press and sand with that...much easier.

I just made my first set of one piece fenders. As I lack a scroll saw I used a 1 1/8 in forstner bit and then sanded and shaped as above. They came out rough but thats what wood putty is for.

Noskills

[Vitamin K]

Clever! Finally a use for my wheel mandrel!

Looking forward to seeing the builds you and your crew come up with!

You say you are sanding the inside of the wheelwell with a sandpaper on a dowel. Try cutting a 1/2 strip of sand paper and CA glue it to a spare wheel. Then put the wheel in a wheel mandrel then into the the drill press and sand with that...much easier.

[Vitamin K]

So I've finally started designing the two year old's car.

One thing I noticed quickly was that he likes rolling cars around like toys. This he's been doing with the car that I built with my dad, back in the 80's. Well, this rules out using lead for ballast, even lead that's sealed within the wood.

Tungsten is out. I'm not paying for tungsten yet. Somebody needs to discover a huge tungsten mine full of 1/4" cubes, so the price goes through the floor.

Well, after ballasting test cars with pennies, I decided I'd use pennies for my son's car, too. I haven't done any actual calculations yet, but I have been intrigued with the challenge of making a semi-speedy car with pennies as weight.

Behold, I present: The Pennywagon.



One thing I'm concerned about is fragility, due to the large holes drilled to accommodate the pennies. However, I think that if I epoxy the pennies to the wooden frame, this will help greatly with strength. Any thoughts? The design's not set in stone, yet.