What's the best alignment method

[pack459]

Is there a trick to aligning the axles to the car?

I'm having a problem where the holes are very tight and the axles need to be tapped in with a hammer. Every wheel is off center. Is there an eaiser way to accomplish this?

[sporty]

The pro body tool is a good recommendation for this. What you describe is a common problem with pre-axle slotted blocks. Also carefull on the hammer tap. Seen my share of split wood also in that process.

Sporty

[Derby Worx Pro Team]

Place an axle in the wheel. Lay the wheel flat on the face on a hard surface like a countertop, axle point pointed up. Press car carefully onto the axle. Repeat 4x.

[psycaz]

Have you tried predrilling the holes using a #44 bit?
Using that and a Pro Axle Guide will help with the wandering.

[Sappington R]

Pack459,
you mentioned that every wheel was "off center" not perfect? imagine that. This is a different topic than your alignment question, however, if you do good prep with the shaver xt and balancing jig, it will help "center" or at least give you a more rounded and balanced wheel. It really worked great for me.

On alignment- wax paper shims are not for me. Axle bending is much better IMO. You want to make sure that the wheels ride out to the heads when moving forward- towards the body is the kiss of death. The following link is to a software based alignment tool. Maybe this will spark further ideas. Good Luck

www.florian.org/Kids/Scouting/PineAlign/PineAlign.html

[ohsofast]

Pack 459,

Racer X has posted this a few times and it dose really work well from the get go, we can usually get a little more out of the cars on our test track but not a ton, but this set-up was a easy 2 car lengths faster than our best car before we found this forum.

It makes for a straight, fast, easy to align car especially with-out a test track.

Drill the body with a Pro Body Tool, straighten your axles with a Pro axle press and polish then. Mark the axle @ .350" from the head and put a dot at 12:00 on head with a sharpie.
Instal the axle into the Pro Axle Press at the .350" mark with the dot on the head down and slightly bend the axle with a light hammer tap. I use a digital caliper to measure from the head of the axle to the work bench to verify my bend. On the rears .015" and .010" on the front. Install the rears with the dot up at 12:00 as well as the front (dominant wheel).

The car should roll forward and backwards with the wheels staying on the axle heads. If not. rotate slightly fore and aft untill both are perfect and do not migrate. Use slight rotation of the front axle to steer. There are several good table top formulas on here (someone chime in) but 1" drift towards the dominant front wheel over 6' test roll will get you going well.

Good Luck

The trade off is positive vs. axle head to hub face friction.


Terry

[derbydominator]

I know this is an old thread but I thought I would throw one more suggestion in. I recommend checking the alignment immediately after cutting the axle holes and prior to any body cuts. I keep a set of straightened axles and DerbyWorx Pro Stocks in a zip lock for this very purpose. This also saves in final alignment time. If the initial axle holes run fairly true, then great, if not, I either switch sides to the block (front and back), flip the block or grab another body. I find it is much better to start with fresh wood and straight axle holes than to go through the entire building process and find your alignment needs serious help! I use the Pro Body Tool with a vise and drill press, but I can still find a way to mess it up. Checking alignment beforehand can save a great deal of frustration later. This also helps in that it forces you to test the holes for cracking prior to cutting.

As for the method, I prefer bending over shims.

Darryl
DerbyDominator.com