Scout Pinewood Derby Car Trophy

prusaprinters

I printed about 50 of these, with a total filament/material cost of just over $100. This will save our Pack several hundred dollars a year. Get started early as it can take a few weeks to print them all.Any tips received for the model go back to Scouting. If you print a bunch for your Pack, consider donating a small amount for our Pack. Thank you!!Printing the BasePrint the base upside down on a textured sheet. Original Recommendation: PETG provided the best mix of adhesion and final top texture against the print plate. The base 3mf files include draft shields that I found provided the best protection against corner warping on the PETG. (4 will fit on a standard size print bed, but at the volume, they are much more likely to warp at the outside corners. I settled on printing 2 at a time.)Updated Recommendation January 2023: I've uploaded some new models with mouse ears for superior corner adhesion on the textured plate. This also saves material and speeds up printing. Back to recommending PLA for the base. Yay! Printing the PostsThe posts print best upright, and can be any material. I chose multiple colors of PLA. Posts can be stretched to ~150% vertically if you want to print different colored 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place trophies, but keep the horizontal dimensioned locked. I used:100% black (base participation trophy)115% bronze 3rd place130% silver 2nd place145% gold 1st placeUse some extra infill and perimeters (for the holes) as you scale the model higher. I initially used 5% or 10% infill on the taller gold posts, and they fell apart during assembly, so I went with 15% or 20% infill the second time around. If you extend the posts significantly, the mortise will also stretch, so you may want to extend the length of the floating tenon and perhaps the length of the screw, too. I stretched the bronze, silver, and gold tenons to 11mm, 12mm, and 13mm respectively with the percent sizes listed above.Printing the Name PlatesI highly recommend using the smallest nozzle you can use on the name plates, as the detail is quite fine. My default 0.4mm nozzle looked awful on test prints. I switched to a 0.25mm nozzle, re-sliced, and was very pleased with the results. IIRC, I used ironing on the very top surface of the glyphs, but used un-ironed Hilbert curve for the black plate top. (You don't need an MMU for these plates, but it helps.)AssemblyBase, tenon, and post go together with a single #6 or #8 screw, from 1" to 1.5"… See photos.To attach the cars, I cut the heads off of #17 x 1" picture nails, and CA-glued them into the top holes. I then drilled matching 1/16" holes in the bottom of the cars, not glued. See photos.The car sits on top of the trophy, but the kids can still take it off to play with it. Updates for 2024I created 2024/2025 date badges that go on the post (instead of the award faceplate) so I don't have to change the model & print files every year, and can re-use any leftover awards from the previous year.I uploaded new Pack/District Fastest and Pack/District Favorite post badges because we had some big winners! I also uploaded all my gcode files (except for the Scouts names, obvs), including the badges as non-MMU print files (single color change). Happy racing!