Post by Sappington R on Nov 28, 2008 14:36:23 GMT -6
Hey everyone. I hope all is well and happy Thanksgiving! I have been kind of quiet on the boards lately but I'm still out here and looking forward to "The Season". To that end, I wanted to provide a quick review of the new
DerbyWorx Pro-Body Jig
Let me start by giving the following disclaimer: I have absolutely no financial interest in any aspect of PWD racing- I'm purely a hobbyist but more importantly a Scout Dad that until 3 years ago had absolutely no idea how to build a PWD car. I did a lot of research via the internet, as I'm sure that everyone who reads and posts on the message boards, at one time or another, has done the same. I've talked with and met in person a lot of great people involved with this "past-time", many of which I consider to be friends, and quite frankly don't believe that I would have continued as a builder (outside of scouts) had we not met and gotten to know one another.
Here's the deal on the Pro-body Jig: In my opinion the PBJ is a major improvement to the existing pro-body tool and I think that if you are already experienced (or maybe not so experienced) with the older tool you will seriously appreciate the additional features.
If you've not seen it yet here's a brief description: Two body tools connected to a piece of steel that give you the option to adjust the wheel base length by simply loosening an allen set screw and sliding the tools along the steel bar. Once the adjustments have been made, a pine block will fit snuggly into both tools assuring that tools are square to the steel bar and that the tools will remain parallel to each other during the drilling process. The end result is that you will be able to drill all of the holes so that once an axle is placed, all of the angles will be at 90 degrees and both the front and rear wheel base will be parallel. I believe that you can get close to a "perfect" set-up minimizing any camber, caster, ect...
A few things that I've learned in working with it- you may need to lightly "table sand" the block with 220 grit before starting to get the best fit. You only need to make sure that on side is perfect.
If you like to narrow the FDW side, it makes the process very easy to measure.
I also believe that the PBJ is MUCH more kid friendly. Once it's clamped on at both ends, it's very difficult to mess up, and the entire drilling process is A LOT quicker.
I have also experimented with the WD-40 straw insert for drilling needle axles. Again it works great. Here's another thing that I found about that: If you have a can of compressed air like the kind you would use for blowing the dust off a computer keyboard, the straw that came with the can I have works much better than the WD-40 straw. It fits tighter and less "run out".
Let me summarize by saying that the Pro-Body Jig is a major advancement for the DerbyWorx line. PBJ combined with the RR tool is a perfect combo- both would definitely be a great "stocking stuffer" this year
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the races
DerbyWorx Pro-Body Jig
Let me start by giving the following disclaimer: I have absolutely no financial interest in any aspect of PWD racing- I'm purely a hobbyist but more importantly a Scout Dad that until 3 years ago had absolutely no idea how to build a PWD car. I did a lot of research via the internet, as I'm sure that everyone who reads and posts on the message boards, at one time or another, has done the same. I've talked with and met in person a lot of great people involved with this "past-time", many of which I consider to be friends, and quite frankly don't believe that I would have continued as a builder (outside of scouts) had we not met and gotten to know one another.
Here's the deal on the Pro-body Jig: In my opinion the PBJ is a major improvement to the existing pro-body tool and I think that if you are already experienced (or maybe not so experienced) with the older tool you will seriously appreciate the additional features.
If you've not seen it yet here's a brief description: Two body tools connected to a piece of steel that give you the option to adjust the wheel base length by simply loosening an allen set screw and sliding the tools along the steel bar. Once the adjustments have been made, a pine block will fit snuggly into both tools assuring that tools are square to the steel bar and that the tools will remain parallel to each other during the drilling process. The end result is that you will be able to drill all of the holes so that once an axle is placed, all of the angles will be at 90 degrees and both the front and rear wheel base will be parallel. I believe that you can get close to a "perfect" set-up minimizing any camber, caster, ect...
A few things that I've learned in working with it- you may need to lightly "table sand" the block with 220 grit before starting to get the best fit. You only need to make sure that on side is perfect.
If you like to narrow the FDW side, it makes the process very easy to measure.
I also believe that the PBJ is MUCH more kid friendly. Once it's clamped on at both ends, it's very difficult to mess up, and the entire drilling process is A LOT quicker.
I have also experimented with the WD-40 straw insert for drilling needle axles. Again it works great. Here's another thing that I found about that: If you have a can of compressed air like the kind you would use for blowing the dust off a computer keyboard, the straw that came with the can I have works much better than the WD-40 straw. It fits tighter and less "run out".
Let me summarize by saying that the Pro-Body Jig is a major advancement for the DerbyWorx line. PBJ combined with the RR tool is a perfect combo- both would definitely be a great "stocking stuffer" this year
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the races