Brandishing graphite

[DuckOfAllTrades]

I know this has been discussed in previous posts, but I’m still a little unclear. After I wax my wheel bores, my last step is to brandish them with graphite. To do this, I use graphite, obviously, Qtip with one end cut off at an angle, and a drill. My question is what is the right way to do this with this set up? Do I use fast speeds or slow speeds with the drill? How long? Is it possible to damage the wheels if I go too fast? Should I be doing it by hand?

I’m starting to prep and finalize my kids cars for next Saturday and I want to make sure everything I do is correct to give them the best cars.

Thanks in advance.

The Duck

 

[Jimmy & his 2 Kids]

Heads up... a Qtip on a drill will melt it. I have literally melted the inside of the bore where it just pulled apart. I have done that at high speed and at medium speed. The right sized Qtip stalks are perfect for wheel bore prep but you need to be careful. Slow speed is fine but anything faster is dangerous. If I wasn’t on my phone I’d post a pic of melted bore.
It’s easy to do. When I used to use graphite i put it on a stalk, ran it through the bore and then just rolled it back and forth on the table with some pressure. It burnished the graphite into the bore just fine.

went on pc... here it is... thats whats left of my bore on the stalk.

 

[DuckOfAllTrades]

Heads up... a Qtip on a drill will melt it. I have literally melted the inside of the bore where it just pulled apart. I have done that at high speed and at medium speed. The right sized Qtip stalks are perfect for wheel bore prep but you need to be careful. Slow speed is fine but anything faster is dangerous. If I wasn’t on my phone I’d post a pic of melted bore.
It’s easy to do. When I used to use graphite i put it on a stalk, ran it through the bore and then just rolled it back and forth on the table with some pressure. It burnished the graphite into the bore just fine.

went on pc... here it is... thats whats left of my bore on the stalk.
View attachment 1218

Wow! That’s exactly why I asked! Don’t want to ruin a wheel. So far so good. But I don’t know at what speed or how long I do it to be correct.

 

[DuckOfAllTrades]

Just realized, it’s burnishing, not brandishing!

I’ve been smearing a qtip in graphite, placing it in paper with a pile of graphite, folding it and inserting the drill. Then i spin the drill to embed it. I add graphite to the wheel bore and slowly insert the qtip at low speed. I spin it a few times, add graphite, repeat a number of times, always slow to not melt the bore. Is this right?

 

[Jimmy & his 2 Kids]

Honestly the majority of my experience is with oil and I only messed with graphite a bit our first year in the Awana Derby before I found PDO. But what you are saying sounds safe to me. There is probably a guru here that is more experienced using graphite than me tho so let’s hope they chime in.
But going slow, being thorough about sums it up. Many different ways to do it, all working fine if your careful.

 

[M Tull]

Duck, try using the forum search feature. Use the term: burnish. You should get allot of results. There's more than one way to burnish and you'll eventually find what works best for you. For me it took a while to find a combination that was easy for my scout but didn't make a mess.

Here is what some of the other forum members recommend
http://pinewoodderbyonline.com/thre...-burnish-a-graphite-question.5577/#post-67386

 

[DuckOfAllTrades]

Duck, try using the forum search feature. Use the term: burnish. You should get allot of results. There's more than one way to burnish and you'll eventually find what works best for you. For me it took a while to find a combination that was easy for my scout but didn't make a mess.

Here is what some of the other forum members recommend
http://pinewoodderbyonline.com/thre...-burnish-a-graphite-question.5577/#post-67386

Thanks M Tull,

I had done the search and couldn't find what I was looking for, which was a definitive answer...don't think there is one! This is as close to I have found. Everyone has there own way. Sounds like i need to ditch the Qtip and go with a rod or an axle. I'll give it a try, don't want to risk widening the bore. Plus my kids would enjoy rolling the wheel round on an axle!

 

[SuperSlow]

Thats funny duck.
When I brandish graphite I draw it swiftly from its holster and point it at my wheels in a threatening way. Lol

 

[M Tull]

DuckoofallTrades, Here is the technique my scout has success with ... but first you have to create a jig.

The Jig:

• While polishing a pin gauge, slightly round the ends so you don't scratch the wheel bore.
• Drill a hole in a block of wood around the same size as the aforementioned pin gauge.
• Using a 1/4 (or close) drill bit or Forstner bit counter sink the hole you just drilled for the pin gauge to a depth of about a 1/16 of an inch ... the hole only has to be large enough for the inner wheel hub to fit into so the inner wheel tread can lay flat on the block of wood.
• Roughly 3/4 of an inch or more the pin gauge should be showing.

Usage:

• Lift the wheel slightly and place 1k or finer wet/dry sandpaper between the block of wood and inner wheel tread ... then just turn the wheel several times to polish the inner hub and tread. Use successively finer sandpaper and polish as desired.
• After polishing you can then direct graphite into the wheel bore and apply pressure to the wheel tread while rotating the wheel in order to burnish. The graphite tends to collect at the bottom of the wheel bore (inner hub) which also helps.

I prefer this approach as the wheel face is horizontal. Graphite is more easily contained (at least for me) compared to trying to roll the wheel on a horizontal surface while holding a pin gauge on either side of the wheel.

BTY I've also melted my fare share of wheel bores