Essential Pinewood Derby Tools

What are the most important Pinewood Derby Tools? That is an often asked question in regards to the tools needed to build a fast Pinewood Derby car.  There are more than 20 tools available for derby cars.  Each of them has a purpose and can be quite useful.

The extent to which you plan to get involved in the derby car building aspect will govern how many and what specific tools you will need. For example; you must decide if you are going to use the factory axle slots or drill new axle holes. Also, are you going prepare your axles and wheels to their optimum level?

Body Shaping

Saw:  You will need a hand held coping saw or an electric band or scroll saw.  Coping saws are much less expensive.  Band saws and scroll saws are much easier and faster.  You might have a friend who will let you use his saws.  Your pack might even conduct a Pinewood Derby workshop where saws will be available.

Pro Body Jig:  If your rules will allow, you should drill a fresh set of axle holes.  This will make sure that all axles holes are square to the block and are perfectly parallel to each other for greater speeds.  The Derby Worx Pro Body Jig allows you to precision drill these holes with a drill.  This tool comes with complete instructions for use.

Drill:  You will need either a hand held drill, Dremel drill or drill press for use with the Pro Body Jig for drilling axle holes.  You will also need a #44 drill bit but the Pro Body Jig comes with a bit. You will also use the drill during axle and wheel preparation.

Axle Preparation

Pro Axle Press:  The Derby Worx Pro Axles Press is an excellent tool for straightening axles.  It’s very important that axles are perfectly straight unless you intentionally bend them for alignment purposes.  The Pro Axle Press tool comes with complete instructions for use.

Pro Rail Rider Tool: This tool is a requirement only if you plan on building a Rail Rider.  The Derby Worx Pro Rail Rider Tool must be used with the Pro Axle Press to place and exact 1.5 or 2.5 degree bend in the axles for canting and rail riding purposes.  Instructions are included.

File:  If your stock axles come with visible crimp marks on the axle shaft near the head you will need a small file to remove those.  You will also need the drill again to chuck the axles in.

Drill:  Same drill as before.

Pro Axle Guide:  The Derby Worx Pro Axle Guide is a multi tool to help you set the proper spacing between the mounted wheel and the car body.  It will also help to make sure that axles are mounted correctly in the original slots.  Instructions included.

Axle Puller:  You really need a tool to help you safely insert and remove axles.  You must be very careful not to damage or mar the axle head or it will create additional friction against the wheel.  A good tool like the Max-V Axle Pliers or the Pinewood Derby Axle Puller will make axle installation and removal much easier.

Wheel Preparation

Pro Wheel Mandrel:  The Derby Worx Pro Wheels Mandrel allows you to chuck the wheel to a drill press so it can spin.  You can then sand and/or polish the tread surface and the inside edge of the tread area.

Pro Wheel Shaver:  Using the Derby Worx Pro Wheel Shaver is one of the easiest, most efficient and cost effective ways to create perfectly round wheels from a molded standard wheel. Not all wheels are created equally, but with a Pro Wheel Shaver, they can be made Hi-Performance.

Pro Hub Polisher and Polish: The Derby Worx Pro Hub Polisher is designed to use the included Micro-Gloss Bore Polish that is secured in a tool base for polishing the inner hub. By providing equal pressure on the inner hub bore while being spun in a drill at a low speed, imperfections from molding are removed and break-in time of a new set of wheels is reduced.

Check out Derby Monkey for a full line of Pinewood Derby Tools

No comments yet.

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.