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(YouTube)   Jet-powered Pinewood Derby car. Because why the hell not?   (youtube.com) divider line
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3565 clicks; posted to Video » on 23 Dec 2014 at 4:14 PM (8 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



27 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest
 
cretinbob [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2014-12-23 2:14:15 PM  
Yeahh...whatever ...hmm...your design...please show it 5 more times... OMFG LOOOOOOOOOOOOL
 
Earguy [recently expired TotalFark] [OhFark]
2014-12-23 3:12:55 PM  
Fun concept, but the music was horrible and the video was three minutes longer than it needed to be.
 
Relatively Obscure [TotalFark]
2014-12-23 3:23:38 PM  
Ha, look at that spring action.

No, look at that spring action.

Seriously.  Spring action.  LOOK AT IT.


LOOK.  AT.  THE.  SPRING.  ACTION.


SPRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG.  LOOK
 
MaudlinMutantMollusk [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2014-12-23 3:25:56 PM  

Relatively Obscure: Ha, look at that spring action.

No, look at that spring action.

Seriously.  Spring action.  LOOK AT IT.


LOOK.  AT.  THE.  SPRING.  ACTION.


SPRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG.  LOOK


With screws

/sharpened screws
//it's nothing without the screws
 
FriarReb98 [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2014-12-23 4:53:47 PM  
I would love to have done this against the cheating little shiats whom I lost to when I was in Cub Scouts.  Swear to god half of them just flat out broke the minimum height requirements.

\it's okay though, because none of them could move our farking sledge at the Klondike Derby...I, however, really didn't care.  Drove that thing like it was a JV lineman and I was Jack Farking Lambert. :p
\\won 3x in my six years of doing it, 2nd a couple others
 
vballer
2014-12-23 5:03:27 PM  
Obviously not fast enough.  I didn't see Baby Fark Mcgeezax show up.
 
mudpants
2014-12-23 5:20:39 PM  
The kits we got in the late 60's were designed to accept a rocket motor that we replaced with a bunch of lead.  S'posed to put a staple on the bottom and race them on a wire  across a parking lot or playground. Where the hell have you been?
 
Mr. Eugenides [BareFark]
2014-12-23 5:24:58 PM  
That's a reaction engine not a jet.
 
lostcat
2014-12-23 5:26:39 PM  
"I spent way too much time tinkering in the basement, but the result was spectacular!"

Read: I spent weeks isolated from my family, especially my cub-scout son.

/NTTAWWT
 
Skink Wrangler
2014-12-23 5:32:41 PM  
Once screwed a Jetex engine to the roof of my Munster Coach model - that thing flew down the neighbour's smooth asphalt driveway, so a bit underwhelmed by the seltzer-powered wood block.
 
baka-san [TotalFark]
2014-12-23 5:55:41 PM  
Big deal, we made those in Jr High shop.
 
fickenchucker
2014-12-23 6:00:59 PM  

mudpants: The kits we got in the late 60's were designed to accept a rocket motor that we replaced with a bunch of lead.  S'posed to put a staple on the bottom and race them on a wire  across a parking lot or playground. Where the hell have you been?



Yeah--not many people know about Blast Cars.  Boy Scouts have the option to build CO2-powered cars, and this guy took the idea and ran with it.  His key point was the new-fangled actuator, since Blast Cars have a special fixture to punch the cartridges.

/Still fun to watch, even though old ideas are old.
//Here's one video--go to 1:11 or Google Blast Cars:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGY7O6zcvV0
 
gunther_bumpass
2014-12-23 7:38:08 PM  

fickenchucker: mudpants: The kits we got in the late 60's were designed to accept a rocket motor that we replaced with a bunch of lead.  S'posed to put a staple on the bottom and race them on a wire  across a parking lot or playground. Where the hell have you been?


Yeah--not many people know about Blast Cars.  Boy Scouts have the option to build CO2-powered cars, and this guy took the idea and ran with it.  His key point was the new-fangled actuator, since Blast Cars have a special fixture to punch the cartridges.

/Still fun to watch, even though old ideas are old.
//Here's one video--go to 1:11 or Google Blast Cars:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGY7O6zcvV0


Is there some kind of requirement to use shiatty music on these videos or what?
 
natazha [BareFark]
2014-12-23 8:13:26 PM  
Watched the video without the sound, just assumed there would be crappy music.

However, I loved the car. I won a Pinewood Derby once; absolute minimum height, width; maximum weight to the gram; sanded the nails and polished the wheels. Ugly, but fast.
 
UNAUTHORIZED FINGER
2014-12-23 8:17:54 PM  

Earguy: Fun concept, but the music was horrible and the video was three minutes longer than it needed to be.


George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers. My first concert, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1979. I touched his guitar.
 
cretinbob [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2014-12-23 8:34:47 PM  

UNAUTHORIZED FINGER: Earguy: Fun concept, but the music was horrible and the video was three minutes longer than it needed to be.

George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers. My first concert, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1979. I touched his guitar.


Is that what old people used to call dicks?
 
Tillmaster
2014-12-23 8:40:49 PM  

Skink Wrangler: Once screwed a Jetex engine to the roof of my Munster Coach model - that thing flew down the neighbour's smooth asphalt driveway, so a bit underwhelmed by the seltzer-powered wood block.


I remember Jetex  - basically solid-fuel rockets with replacable fuel cartridges.
Great fun.
Are they still around?
 
iron de havilland [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2014-12-23 8:49:02 PM  
1.bp.blogspot.comView Full Size
 
UNAUTHORIZED FINGER
2014-12-23 9:33:30 PM  

cretinbob: UNAUTHORIZED FINGER: Earguy: Fun concept, but the music was horrible and the video was three minutes longer than it needed to be.

George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers. My first concert, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1979. I touched his guitar.

Is that what old people used to call dicks?


gifrific.comView Full Size
 
Earguy [recently expired TotalFark] [OhFark]
2014-12-23 10:26:23 PM  

UNAUTHORIZED FINGER: Earguy: Fun concept, but the music was horrible and the video was three minutes longer than it needed to be.

George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers. My first concert, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1979. I touched his guitar.


Should be "banned to the bone" now.
 
UNAUTHORIZED FINGER
2014-12-23 11:50:38 PM  

Earguy: UNAUTHORIZED FINGER: Earguy: Fun concept, but the music was horrible and the video was three minutes longer than it needed to be.

George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers. My first concert, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1979. I touched his guitar.

Should be "banned to the bone" now.


Hey, It Wasn't Me!
 
ndeans
2014-12-24 3:15:37 AM  
I'll just leave this here:

Fark user imageView Full Size


Fark user imageView Full Size
 
buttery_shame_cave
2014-12-24 10:32:28 AM  

ndeans: I'll just leave this here:

[img.fark.net image 850x637]

[img.fark.net image 850x637]


fun. top speed is probably solid. what about accelerating out of the gate?

/helped a buddy of mine win at one of those derbies(i was never a cub scout) with various min-maxing ideas i got from some book or other. silicon lubricants, polishing all friction surfaces, etc. thought about graphite lubrication but couldn't come up with anything really workable. it wasn't massively dominating but it was enough of an edge that he beat the folks who were doing minimum height/max weight stuff.
 
ndeans
2014-12-24 11:30:29 AM  

buttery_shame_cave: ndeans: I'll just leave this here:

[img.fark.net image 850x637]

[img.fark.net image 850x637]

fun. top speed is probably solid. what about accelerating out of the gate?

/helped a buddy of mine win at one of those derbies(i was never a cub scout) with various min-maxing ideas i got from some book or other. silicon lubricants, polishing all friction surfaces, etc. thought about graphite lubrication but couldn't come up with anything really workable. it wasn't massively dominating but it was enough of an edge that he beat the folks who were doing minimum height/max weight stuff.


I tried several different techniques. One involved having the throttle at 1/2 and then max after the gate dropped. The other had the throttle at max but holding the throttle kill switch until the gate dropped and then it just took off (not literally). It all worked out about the same. There was really no lag for spin up you hit max throttle and it did it within 1/4 second. Average time for a non powered car down the track was 3.9-4.2 seconds Mine did it in 1.8 seconds. The real funny thing was that even with no power it still beat the previous years bandit champion down the track.

The biggest factor in making a winning car that adheres to the rules, is to polish the axles to a mirror finish. I used 7 gradually increasing grades of sandpaper on them while I had the axle chucked into my drill press. That and putting the weight at the right spot for the perfect momentum transfer at the bottom of the drop makes a huge difference.
 
buttery_shame_cave
2014-12-24 11:42:42 AM  

ndeans: buttery_shame_cave: ndeans: I'll just leave this here:

[img.fark.net image 850x637]

[img.fark.net image 850x637]

fun. top speed is probably solid. what about accelerating out of the gate?

/helped a buddy of mine win at one of those derbies(i was never a cub scout) with various min-maxing ideas i got from some book or other. silicon lubricants, polishing all friction surfaces, etc. thought about graphite lubrication but couldn't come up with anything really workable. it wasn't massively dominating but it was enough of an edge that he beat the folks who were doing minimum height/max weight stuff.

I tried several different techniques. One involved having the throttle at 1/2 and then max after the gate dropped. The other had the throttle at max but holding the throttle kill switch until the gate dropped and then it just took off (not literally). It all worked out about the same. There was really no lag for spin up you hit max throttle and it did it within 1/4 second. Average time for a non powered car down the track was 3.9-4.2 seconds Mine did it in 1.8 seconds. The real funny thing was that even with no power it still beat the previous years bandit champion down the track.

The biggest factor in making a winning car that adheres to the rules, is to polish the axles to a mirror finish. I used 7 gradually increasing grades of sandpaper on them while I had the axle chucked into my drill press. That and putting the weight at the right spot for the perfect momentum transfer at the bottom of the drop makes a huge difference.


well go figure. wonder how much effect the duct really has on that.

yeah, we went through all that, but our efforts were lower-tech. we just chucked the axles in a drill and used steel wool. worked out just dandy though that was the day we discovered steel wool could burn.

the silicon lubricant was key, though. super-thin coat, not enough to notice, but enough to render the surface frictionless. also freaking invisible. we had the damnedest time putting the axles on first time around because we were twits and lubed them before trying to put them on. several smashed fingers and some creatively childish cussing, we wised up and redid our work.
 
gunther_bumpass
2014-12-24 1:40:13 PM  
Leave it to the nerds and the stat tweakers to make something goofy and fun into a joyless, rote ritual.
 
CheapEngineer
2014-12-24 3:24:39 PM  

cretinbob: UNAUTHORIZED FINGER: Earguy: Fun concept, but the music was horrible and the video was three minutes longer than it needed to be.

George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers. My first concert, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1979. I touched his guitar.

Is that what old people used to call dicks?


They were both larger and wooden in those days.

\where do you think the word "woody" came from?
 
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