2 cars out of 1 block

[TWarwick07]

I was thinking last night would it be possible to take a pinewood block and cut it across the center and use it to make 2 cars ??

I know this sounds cheap but i was just wondering.

As a side note i stopped at hobbymasters in red bank last night to pick up a couple wood blocks and they are the gnarliest, funky looking wood blocks i have ever seen. they put out the pine pro line of products. I will not be buying from them again

 

[TRE]

Find some good quality sugar pine or 1/4 inch basswood blocks

 

[B_Regal Racing]

Stop in Michael's. They have 3' by 1/4" basswood planks ready to go for $4. You just need to rip it to width.

 

[Kinser Racing]

...or you could support the sponsor of this forum and buy precut blocks from derbydad4hire.com

You can even opt to get them routed and drilled.

 

[True North Racing]

DD4H has the best deal in my opinion. You can buy his Premium Sugar Pine block for $4.75 and I cut them in half and have two bodies. I just bought 10 blanks and after a few minutes with the band saw, I now have 20 potential bodies. The best deal I have ever found locally here is 3.99 for a Revell PWD block.

 

[txchemist]

Yikes!!
I must warn all- the Revell blocks are not good at all- I do not even think they are pine- they crack, split and are hard enough to get a lot of drill wander. Some years ago, one of the dens in our pack went out and bought the kids any Revell kit they wanted. Out of 20 cars in the pack- the slowest 7 were all those Revell bodies. Our Scoutmaster came over and used the SB to try to drill good axle holes- impossible- many of the cars doglegged very bad.

 

[gWebber]

I was thinking last night would it be possible to take a pinewood block and cut it across the center and use it to make 2 cars ??

While I can't say I recommend it, I've made three cars from one PineCar block.
I'm not a Pro, but I am cheap... Still , I'm not likely to try it again.

 

[Vitamin K]

I was thinking last night would it be possible to take a pinewood block and cut it across the center and use it to make 2 cars ??

I know this sounds cheap but i was just wondering.

As a side note i stopped at hobbymasters in red bank last night to pick up a couple wood blocks and they are the gnarliest, funky looking wood blocks i have ever seen. they put out the pine pro line of products. I will not be buying from them again

If it's a good piece of wood, I'm not inclined to waste it. Especially if you're only cutting 1/4" bodies out of it. If you have something that you can rip nice clean slices from the block, go for it. Otherwise, you can get at least two cars out of one standard sized block.

I second the recommendation for the basswood at Michael's. Be sure and grab a 40% off coupon before you go.

 

[True North Racing]

Stop in Michael's. They have 3' by 1/4" basswood planks ready to go for $4. You just need to rip it to width.

How do you get the sides that you rip to be straight enough for a body? I have a nice band saw and no matter how hard I try and using a fence, I still find it next to impossible to get a super straight cut.

 

[TWarwick07]

Maybe a palm sander could grind it dowm on each side?

 

[B_Regal Racing]

How do you get the sides that you rip to be straight enough for a body?

Table saw.

 

[Crash Enburn]

I've been cutting my blocks into 3-4 cars each. They've come out pretty square, and careful application to the belt sander has helped. They have been imperfect (like differences of 1/128"), and I've considered them, "eh, good enough."

Then again, my NPWDRL results have been, um, unimpressive.

 

[Vitamin K]

How do you get the sides that you rip to be straight enough for a body? I have a nice band saw and no matter how hard I try and using a fence, I still find it next to impossible to get a super straight cut.

I used to get pretty square cuts on my dad's bandsaw (before the blade guide wore out -- but that's another story). Had to make sure that the fence was square on both sides (use a ruler, don't trust any guide markings) and that the table was perfectly perpendicular to the blade.

 

[Vitamin K]

Table saw.

Never had much luck with the table saw. What kind of blade do you recommend for cutting PWD blocks?

 

[TRE]

i just buy 1/4 inch then no cutting

 

[bracketracer]

Never had much luck with the table saw. What kind of blade do you recommend for cutting PWD blocks?

Hard to beat a Freud blade. I use a rip blade and with a little tweaking on my Uni-fence it will produce bodies parallel to .001" on my table saw.

 

[Rat Pack Racing]

Or if you make your living working with wood like Bull Dog, just run it through the handy planer. I haven't come across anyone I know that has one, but I keep asking around.

 

[TWarwick07]

Glad to see my stupid question generated some good conversation

 

[BulldogRacing]

I like to plane one side then plane the opposite side, then off the true side rip over thick on a table saw with an 80 tooth blade, then plane down to size to fit my jig that I drill with. make the blocks square to the starting planed side

 

[Cramjet]

I got 12 quarter inch basswood blanks out of a $8 block at Michaels. It happens to be the exact width, so I just made quarter inch cuts on the band saw until I got to the end. So far, I think I got lucky on that find!