Derby Talk

Finished a workshop session for the District on Saturday the 5th.
Wow! We were so busy...
Fliers went out to all the Packs, fliers in the Scout shop with plenty of word of mouth.

Myself and two scouts drilled, cut and sanded over 20 cars in just over four hours.
We took my Bandsaw, Drill press, Belt sander and two extra drills. Also took The Block, Derbyworx tools, sandpaper and weights.

One parent/cub team had a car that had been cut, all the others were rectangular blocks looking for some ideas.
We ran a Design table (example cars, graph paper, scissors).
Axle & Weight drill table (2 hand drills, 2x #44 drill bits, 2x 25/64 drill bits)
Drill press etc were stationed outside on the loading dock. Northern Alabama actually had snow flurries for a bit and a nice cold wind.

Lots of cars got cut, lots of bad designs got nixed and I sent kids/parents back to the design table if they handed me a block of wood with just the nose to cut down.

Overall it was a HUGE success! No one in this District seems to have volunteered their tools and time to help others. The Scout shop gave us gift packages when we finished.

Try helping others... it's a lot of fun!

I did the same thing for a pack in our district this past Saturday. I supplied all the tools a scout could need to build his car like you did. We set up tables for each process and had an adult at each table to help the Scouts. We had several dad helping and did about 20 cars,you guys did a great job getting that many cars done. I know they appreciated everything you did.

19 Jan - 50+ 'Build Teams' showed up during a 5 hour build session. Did not have as many volunteers signed up to man positions, but some surprises happened and we were fine. Early birds showed up 45 minutes ahead, helped set-up and then worked! So thankful.

Advice: Keep spare band saw blades on hand. Not blade, blades! We snapped three of them!

Spare belts on sanders also help when that thing is running for hours on end.

We prep a check list for folks to follow, and try to get them through the difficult portions and then advise them for the finishing touches.

Two more - 2nd & 9th February.

rpcarpe wrote:Advice: Keep spare band saw blades on hand. [...] We snapped three of them!

Advice: Check your bandsaw guide adjustments per the manufacturer's instructions. If the blade guide is too tight or misaligned, the friction can heat and weakened the blade, causing it to break. (We now use Cool Blocks, which are rather forgiving.)

Nice job! With any luck it will grow over time. Our pack's Fun Day started long ago--years before my older son became a Cub Scout 7+ years ago. We were glad to get almost 100 back then. We had 198 this Jan 5th. I myself helped 50-60 kids with my plunge router. We had 4 band saws going all day, and had lots of hand tools available. We also had a track set up for testing, and others just for fun. Word gets around. Returning scouts look forward to it and new scouts are told about it by others in the packs. Other cub masters have even asked me when it occurs so they can get the word out to their packs.

Since the first District Workshop in 2010, where 3-5 build teams showed up...
We just finished the last big day... total of 130 build teams signed in (laptop battery failed during one workshop, probably 10-15 more participants).

Tool Line-up:
Drill Press
Band Saw
Scroll Saw
Belt Sander (bench)
Belt Sander (hand)
Coping saw
4x Dremels with sanding drums and cutting heads
2x hand drills for extra drilling
2x drills for axle work

Derbyworx tools:
Wheel Shaver
Hub Shaver
Axle Press
Rail Rider Tool
Axle Guide

Axle pliers

The Block (3x of them)

And the usual assortment of hammers, pliers etc..

Tune table (smooth painted wood)

Unless my home Pack moves their Derby date, I don't see where I can do more than 4 Saturdays in Jan-Feb.

It is a TON of FUN!!

Haven't tried running a District wide workshop yet. I've been running multiple pack workshops for the last six years. I ran six of them this past season and I get anywhere from 20 to 75 racers per session. They are a lot of fun, but I find difficulties getting volunteers to help out at each session. Not sure if my workshop could handle a full District wide partisipation. I would estimate it at over a hundred racers in a single day. May be able to reduce those numbers by having more than one session. I think I'm going to work on trying this for next season (or a variation there of).

-Nitro Dan