Pinewood Derby Wheel (f360 attached)

thingiverse

Our pack had an "outlaw" class with no restrictions on wheels for the pinewood derby, and mine performed well except it wobbled due to the "axle" offset in the wheel. I had added the axle to give room to angle the axles, but that only made things worse. The version uploaded has shorter axles to counteract the wobble, and you can also turn the front wheels around or modify the project directly. I've also uploaded a no-axle version for those who prefer a more traditional approach. These ended up weighing .9 grams per wheel compared to 2.7 grams for the official wheels. That's a significant difference, especially when you consider that every gram counts in a competition like this. After printing, I used a small drill bit by hand to smooth out the hole for the nail. Then, after turning the axles in the drill press and filing down the flashing, I lubed them with a teflon spray - which is why there's a white haze over everything. It's worth it, though: these little tweaks make all the difference. The weight in my wedge design was achieved by drilling some wide bore holes and then filling them with a low-melt tin-bismuth alloy. This stuff is amazing: it's lightweight yet incredibly strong, making it perfect for this application.