Throw the miss drilled block away

[BulldogRacing]

So I read the posts about which step to do first, weight pockets of axles. DD4H says weight pocket first, then axles. I had a problem with my cars passing my tune table test and after axles they would get out of wack and the wheels would not migrate as they did before. So naturally I listened to DD4H and started cutting my pocket first. This helped my odds a lot, but I am curious to know how many blocks out of a 1-10 scale you guys have to toss. I got 7 out of ten by following the video on the silver bullet. What is good, bad, goal?

 

[txchemist]

I get 100% because I fine tune for tow-in or out, drift, DFW against the rail with back wheels centered by cutting the block in two a wheels width behind the DFW and use marine epoxy to re-position all parts relative to each other and test on the track and tuning board while the slow epoxy sets up. Now I use straight axles all around for ruggedness in Cub racing, but after doing a few cars with the silver bullet, I can get the correct drift every time with 6 pieces of paper inserted in the cut to steer the car. I cant back and both front pos and neg, and rotate the front to raise the NDW as I set distance to the rail. I almost flunked wood shop so this is an achievement.

 

[HurriCrane Racing]

We all have a bone yard of scrapped car bodies. You'll get better with practice, just follow the DVD. It's kind of like watching the movie GREASE. You pick up on more of the little details each time you watch it.

If you're getting 7 good drills out of 10, I'd say you are doing great!

 

[BulldogRacing]

thanks hurricane i was just curious what you guys have to throw out. i built ten cars hoping i could get 3 that worked as planned. i realized after last year that my cars would work well on the initial tune board but when i tested right before the race the wheel were not migrating correctly. maybe paint warped the body? we still won pack, but i don't want to embarass myself this month at my first NPWDRL race.

 

[HurriCrane Racing]

I didn't even break a sub 3.0 in my first race. You won't be embarrassed and will find that there are plenty of racers that are willing to help you out. You just have to take that first step and send a car in. With two options for amateur classes, it will buy you some time to learn before jumping in with the big dogs.

Good Luck!!!

 

[Vitamin K]

Now I use straight axles all around for ruggedness in Cub racing, but after doing a few cars with the silver bullet, I can get the correct drift every time with 6 pieces of paper inserted in the cut to steer the car. I cant back and both front pos and neg, and rotate the front to raise the NDW as I set distance to the rail.

Can you go into a little more detail about this process, txchemist? I always like the idea of tune-able processes.

 

[bracketracer]

Now I use straight axles all around for ruggedness in Cub racing, but after doing a few cars with the silver bullet, I can get the correct drift every time with 6 pieces of paper inserted in the cut to steer the car. I cant back and both front pos and neg, and rotate the front to raise the NDW as I set distance to the rail.

Can you go into a little more detail about this process, txchemist? I always like the idea of tune-able processes.

Until Tx has a chance to get back to you, read here. I believe that's the process he's describing.

 

[txchemist]

Yes, that is the process. I like to let the Cub mess with the paper shims and put as much work into the car as possible. I have some cars coming over for last tune up, race is tomorrow and I will try for a photo to show how it looks after cutting off edges and finishing the car. I am super happy the three cars that are 3 wheelers are all exactly the same speed with test wheels, and even with stock wheels and red rocket, they are faster than the council winner last year with Cheetahs and a typical bent DFW axle build. ( after the Pack race, the winner will get to run Cheetahs in District where the rules are nicer).

 

[Vitamin K]

Yes, that is the process. I like to let the Cub mess with the paper shims and put as much work into the car as possible. I have some cars coming over for last tune up, race is tomorrow and I will try for a photo to show how it looks after cutting off edges and finishing the car. I am super happy the three cars that are 3 wheelers are all exactly the same speed with test wheels, and even with stock wheels and red rocket, they are faster than the council winner last year with Cheetahs and a typical bent DFW axle build. ( after the Pack race, the winner will get to run Cheetahs in District where the rules are nicer).

Ah yes, I remember this now. I'd love to see more pics of the technique. Very innovative. I also wonder if it possibly runs the DFW wheel at a slightly different angle than you'd get with a bent axle?

Just to be clear, though, the technique doesn't affect the rears at all. Those get drilled with the Bullet as normal, no?

 

[txchemist]

Rears drilled normal cant pos, front drilled same angle but neg cant. after slight twist, DFW has about a 5-6 degree slant- less that bent axle typical, but that could be changed by using a larger pin for the DFW drill, but for Cubs- easy is better. About half of them catch on to what the angle is doing to help speed. I have a few dummies to run with no canting, etc. so they can see for themselves.

NOTE: this is a lot of work to come up with a body inferior to a plug & play, but for those with some tools, it is a reasonable Cub project.

 

[Vitamin K]

Rears drilled normal cant pos, front drilled same angle but neg cant. after slight twist, DFW has about a 5-6 degree slant- less that bent axle typical, but that could be changed by using a larger pin for the DFW drill, but for Cubs- easy is better. About half of them catch on to what the angle is doing to help speed. I have a few dummies to run with no canting, etc. so they can see for themselves.

NOTE: this is a lot of work to come up with a body inferior to a plug & play, but for those with some tools, it is a reasonable Cub project.

Quite right. I guess what confused me is that the thread topic was "% of success when drilling canted rears", and you mentioned getting 100% with this method, but the method pertains more to setting the toe and angle on the front, as opposed to the rears.

Or am I missing something? Do you have a way of tuning a rear alignment with this?

 

[txchemist]

IF you have a slight problem with tow in or tow out due to either height of DFW or slightly uneven back axles, this can be overcome to an extent by adjusting the slope of the bottom of the car with the set screw and testing on your tune table and then marking the wood and glue or epoxy. . Changing the slope of the bottom will dial in the correct tow. If the car does not track well, you might need to use a section of track to get the offset and drift correct for a miss-drilled back axle.+