3D printed Pinewood Derby cars?

[RememberSchiff 3662]

Rumors about that our Pack may have its first 3D printed pinewood derby car this year.

Nothing in our rules that a Pinewood Derby Car must be made of wood. 

[Eagle94-A1 2687]

I think PINEWOOD Derby Car would make it obvious.

[RememberSchiff 3662]

What's in a name these days. I wouldn't be surprised if some past custom carved cars were made from basswood.

[Eagle94-A1 2687]

That's true. After all, "Arrow Of Light Scouts" use the Webelos Handbook, TriColors, Neckercheif and Hat, etc.

 

And of course will will soon have Girl "Boy Scouts" 

[scotteg83 89]

Our council Pinewood derby have their posted rules, stating that race cars will be built from an Official Grand Prix Pinewood Derby Kit. 

I would check with your local council to confirm there is no "extra" rules for District and Council level races, and then modify your pack race rules to match.

[Tampa Turtle 1011]

I'd say it wasn't Kosher. Yeah, I used to be a 'car screener' and we bounced 1 or 2 that were not made from the kit. I know we had Outlaw races and Dad's races. I can see 3-D printed car races but not as an "Official Pinewood Derby" race. Seems like someone could win at a local unit and be bounced as they competed at District. But who knows these days?

[perdidochas 658]

On 1/1/2018 at 12:47 PM, RememberSchiff said:

Rumors about that our Pack may have its first 3D printed pinewood derby car this year.

Nothing in our rules that a Pinewood Derby Car must be made of wood. 

While not having that problem, when I was a Cub Scout leader, we had a few pre-cut cars (that won the race).  There was no rule against it in our Pack PWD rules at that time. We then changed it so that the body of the car had to use the PWD kit (body and wheels).  

[NJCubScouter 1389]

I think our pack's rule was that the car had to be made from the kit (which was given to the boys for "free", meaning their parents had paid for it as part of the dues.)  I don't think anybody even raised an issue about it.  We did have an "open race" for parents, siblings etc. and I think non-standard cars were permitted.

[CNYScouter 46]

I actually 3D printed a car. One of our local libraries has 6 or 7 3D printers to use (you pay by weight of what you make). I ran it in the Packs "open class". I preferred using the wood block. The car looked cool but trying to keep the wheels on and straight were way easier with wood than the plastic the 3D printer uses.

 

 

[qwazse 4342]

Now, what would be really cool is a 3D print aluminum deposition car with axels printed coming out of the block already aligned, and wheels printed around the axels.

[WisconsinMomma 217]

I think that's cool.  3d printing is cool.   The Scout will learn different manufacturing techniques and that's OK!   Maybe the car will run well, maybe it won't, but it will be a memorable experience for the kid making that car.

Unless the Pack has specific rules against it, why  not?  Why not let the kid have some freedom? 

 

[Col. Flagg 909]

We had a aerospace engineer who actually used a wind tunnel to test "his kid's" car. He won, er, his kid won every year he was in the Pack. We finally created different divisions, not by rank or age, where folks could compete. All the parents kids who thought they had fast cars all went to the top division.

I hated PWD for that very reason. Most of the time the cars were designed and built by the parents.

Is it a "pinewood" derby if you print the car from plastic? That should be its own category if you allow it.

BSA does have official rules, but seem to leave wiggle room for interpretation. How unusual of them.

Edited January 10, 2018 by Col. Flagg

[Tampa Turtle 1011]

We had an engineer whose all 3 boys had the same exact refined car design, year after year. He was WAY too much invested in it. I once had to bounce his his kids car because of aftermarket axles and tires. I loved the year a Tiger came in 3rd out of 100+ cars in our Pack and all he did was push in the nails with the tires and crayoned the heck out of it. (it was a nice ending because mom called me the night before with him crying in the background because divorced dad blew off the last minute work session.) He would won 2nd place too if a wheel hadn't flown off. But yeah the parents ruined the speed category.

Our Pack had a lot of design categories and weighted evidence of a boys actually handiwork heavily. Some of them like the sailing ships were beautiful creations but terrible racers.

I have a big issue with 3-D printing; make it a STEM thing.

[WisconsinMomma 217]

Our PWD has winners for speed and design too.  Some kids really get into the design, others get into the speed.  Thankfully the kids are generally sportsmanlike about the whole thing.   We had a beautiful parent car once.  The kid was so proud of that car, too.  Given that that kid's parents soon had a very ugly divorce, I am happy that this kid and his dad made some good memories together with that car.   In the end, it's just a PWD. 

[Tampa Turtle 1011]

"In the end, it's just a PWD. " Amen. I remember one ugly parent shouting because his his kid's car beat a Bear Cub. I thought "Congratulations you beat an 8 year old".

Some of the boys REALLY got into their design cars. The younger guys would glue all sorts of little bears, army men, legos on them and were so thrilled they could just race.