Bsa rules help

Thomas segiel

Lurking
Feb 10, 2019
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Lancaster by 14086
So I figured I'd ask everone here because I'm having a real hard time getting an answer from anybody locally before my son's race in a couple weeks. Long story short this will be the last race for my son before he moves up to Boy Scouts. Our prior races were held within the pack at a local fire hall. This is the first year they decided to do it with the district at at a local mall, following a regional set of rules. This is our first time following a different set of rules and I want to make sure he doesn't get disqualified. So this is the rule need help clarifying, "The portion of the wheel surface that contacts the track must remain parallel to the axle" this is found under article t-5 in the rules that I'll have a link below for. To me this sounds like you can not cant the Axel's, for the life of me I can't think what else this would mean. Maybe somebody else can wrap their head around it better than I can. Thanks in advance.

So the official rules that my son Scouts are following this year can be found on this website.under rules tab

http://www.wnyscouting.org/rules/70890
 
Yeah that's what I was thinking. Thanks for your response

I was just testing a half a degree of bend, the wheel still looks like it's it's parallel but it does then push to the outside when rolling. Along with that when it's rolling it appears to hit an edge of the wheel as opposed to the whole surface. When it's sitting still it's sitting on the surface of the wheel appearing to be parallel . I think this will pass and is worth the risk.
 
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AAAAAaaaa. To me it reads normal! You have to put the axles into the slots...I dont know anyone that will take the time it takes to put those axles in and get them perfectly straight. Every car there will have some sort of canted wheels. I wouldnt do the standard cant but I wouldnt make it perfectly straight either, you need some steer, Good luck!
 
If these were the rules I were inforcing I would take it they want the wheel to remain flat on the track and not riding on the inner or outer edges. As I have said show me a car truly built by a boy and ... you get the drift. Close would count at the axle as long as the wheel sat flat. BUT I'M NOT YOUR INSPECTOR. Can you call for clarification? I answer calls/emails all the time before our race
 
So I figured I'd ask everone here because I'm having a real hard time getting an answer from anybody locally before my son's race in a couple weeks. Long story short this will be the last race for my son before he moves up to Boy Scouts. Our prior races were held within the pack at a local fire hall. This is the first year they decided to do it with the district at at a local mall, following a regional set of rules. This is our first time following a different set of rules and I want to make sure he doesn't get disqualified. So this is the rule need help clarifying, "The portion of the wheel surface that contacts the track must remain parallel to the axle" this is found under article t-5 in the rules that I'll have a link below for. To me this sounds like you can not cant the Axel's, for the life of me I can't think what else this would mean. Maybe somebody else can wrap their head around it better than I can. Thanks in advance.

So the official rules that my son Scouts are following this year can be found on this website.under rules tab

http://www.wnyscouting.org/rules/70890


It sounds to me that no bent axles are allowed. If an axles is canted and straight the wheel tread and axle will always be parallel. I cant say this is the way they wanted it interpreted but that is how it is written.
 
I take it as allowing canted axles or bent axles as the flat of the wheel or edge that touches track would still be parallel to the axle/bore. Sounds like they are putting a restriction on the wheel shape with this rule. That's my take on it.
 
Yeah, this is very confusing. Maybe they mean something completely different than people have suggested so far? Maybe they mean you can't machine the OD of the wheel at an angle?

Think of a wheel and axle alone holding in your hand . Of course the surface will remain parallel to the axle (unless you machine it at an angle). That's all they say, wheel surface and axle, nothing about "relative to the car" or "relative to the track".

I agree with everyone else that what they are trying to say is that the wheel surface must be parallel to the track. However, I think they should have just said that instead! This is just how my engineer's mind works :)
 
Make some calls and remove all doubt......or build 2 cars.
Does seem simple... tread face must be parallel to he “axles”. That’s it. In other words you can’t heavily modify the wheel. In short tread surface needs to be parallel to bore. Nothing says parallel to track or full touch. Canting is fine.
  1. But agreed with L2... just call to be sure.
 
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Does seem simple... tread face must be parallel to he “axles”. That’s it. In other words you can’t heavily modify the wheel. In short tread surface needs to be parallel to bore. Nothing says parallel to track or full touch. Canting is fine.
  1. But agreed with L2... just call to be sure.


This is my thinking too.......if your axles are drilled at a 3deg cant the the wheels will be parallel to the axle. Seems to me maybe that the rules were written long ago and the current membership have no idea what the rules really mean. We had this happen in our District......the rules use to say no bent axles causing a wheel to ride on the outside or inside edge...but yet the person in charge at that time would allow a bend steering axle cause he thought the rule implied that there should be no extreem bend that would make wheel almost horizontal........SO when I took over this was re written as 10deg max bent axle and the confusion ended.
 
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I used to love the rule discussions. looks like both obvious sides have been discussed. I read it as dont bevel the tread of the wheel. Hopefully you can contact someone, then hopefully that person has a clue. Good luck
 
after reading all the rules in the link I would have to say that axle canting is allowed.....rules state Must use the slots in the block and wheel must be parallel to the AXLE.....no where does it state all 4 wheels must be flat on the track. A wheel will always be parallel to the AXLE it rides on.
 
I think this is about wheel shape. You can’t round or angle the surface of the wheel that contacts the track so less of it touches the track, because then it would not be parallel to the axle. If the portion of your wheel thst touches the track is straight across, it is always parallel to the axle no matter how much you cant the axle.
 
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That’s horrible wording, so whatever you do, you may be able to argue it nicely if they fail you. I think they mean flat to the track. Depending how strict they are, this can be a headache. It bit me in the butt this year.

But like I said, wording is weird and up to interpretation. They need to clarify!