Help! No lathe turned wheels allowed.

[detyler]

My district rules prohibit lathed wheels and they also say the following, "The running surface may be smoothed but not polished to a mirror finish."

So, exactly what am I allowed to use? Are all the weight reduced wheels lathed? Can I use the "pro-stock" wheels from derbyworx? What about the "pro-inertia lites?"

Any help would be appreciated. I'm new to this forum, but I've been reading a LOT about the PWD. My kid had the slowest car in last year's derby - didn't even make it to the finish line in most races. This year I'm learning as much as I can, and he and I will build a fast car together. Fortunately, I can drill axle holes, widen the wheel base, and modify BSA the axles, but I'm stuck with non-lathed wheels! What should I do?

David

[andylester]

Dec 29, 2009 13:29:27 GMT -6 detyler said:

My district rules prohibit lathed wheels and they also say the following, "The running surface may be smoothed but not polished to a mirror finish."

So, exactly what am I allowed to use? Are all the weight reduced wheels lathed? Can I use the "pro-stock" wheels from derbyworx? What about the "pro-inertia lites?"

Any help would be appreciated. I'm new to this forum, but I've been reading a LOT about the PWD. My kid had the slowest car in last year's derby - didn't even make it to the finish line in most races. This year I'm learning as much as I can, and he and I will build a fast car together. Fortunately, I can drill axle holes, widen the wheel base, and modify BSA the axles, but I'm stuck with non-lathed wheels! What should I do?

David

The new BSA wheels are not too bad right out of the box. If they were "trued or lathed", I doubt anyone would even be able to tell. The wheels do not have the ejection pin mark on the tread like the old wheels, so it would be very hard to tell without using a dial caliper on them to get a true measurement.

[DerbyDoc.com]

Dec 29, 2009 13:29:27 GMT -6 detyler said:

My district rules prohibit lathed wheels and they also say the following, "The running surface may be smoothed but not polished to a mirror finish."

So, exactly what am I allowed to use? Are all the weight reduced wheels lathed? Can I use the "pro-stock" wheels from derbyworx? What about the "pro-inertia lites?"

Any help would be appreciated. I'm new to this forum, but I've been reading a LOT about the PWD. My kid had the slowest car in last year's derby - didn't even make it to the finish line in most races. This year I'm learning as much as I can, and he and I will build a fast car together. Fortunately, I can drill axle holes, widen the wheel base, and modify BSA the axles, but I'm stuck with non-lathed wheels! What should I do?

David

All of the derbyworx/warpspeed wheels are machined on a lathe. Like Lester said.....they would be hard to detect unless your gonna show up with ultralites. If I had to choose one of the derbyworx wheels to use for a tight rulebook, it would be the pro stocks for sure. All of the official BSA markings are still there and the only machining is a trued tread surface, reamed bore, and coned hub. The new BSA wheels already have a coned hub but derbyworx trues that up also. Very nice wheels.

[packlitig8r]

Just because it is hard to detect doesn't mean it's not cheating to break the rules.

[slkrnsntracing]

Jan 15, 2010 14:56:41 GMT -6 packlitig8r said:

Just because it is hard to detect doesn't mean it's not cheating to break the rules.

Well said!

Phil

[Lucky 13]

Dec 29, 2009 13:29:27 GMT -6 detyler said:

My district rules prohibit lathed wheels and they also say the following, "The running surface may be smoothed but not polished to a mirror finish."

So, exactly what am I allowed to use? Are all the weight reduced wheels lathed? Can I use the "pro-stock" wheels from derbyworx? What about the "pro-inertia lites?"

Any help would be appreciated. I'm new to this forum, but I've been reading a LOT about the PWD. My kid had the slowest car in last year's derby - didn't even make it to the finish line in most races. This year I'm learning as much as I can, and he and I will build a fast car together. Fortunately, I can drill axle holes, widen the wheel base, and modify BSA the axles, but I'm stuck with non-lathed wheels! What should I do?

David

David,

The new BSA wheels are really good right out of the box. If you rules won't allow lathe turned wheels, then there is really no sense in looking into the aftermarket wheel selections. I would pick up a few extra sets of wheel, try to get a mold matched set, polish the bores with some good plastic polish using some extra fluffy pipe cleaners and roll with it. I would concentrate more on axle prep, alignment and weight placement and worry less about the wheels.


Lucky 13

[teamfreeroller]

right on lucky . i agree

[the woodbutcher]

It would be impossible to tell if they have been worked with a lathe unless they have been lightened and you can see the thin tread. Were talking about shaving 1/1000 ths from the tread. I bet they couldn't measure it or even know what it's supposed to be. I could place 2 wheels on the table and unless you have some very special measuring tools (like these guys use to prep the wheels you buy from DerbyDoc, Max Vel, etc) you would think they are the same.
Are the Inspectors going to tear apart a car and measure and weigh every part? Are they going to measure the degree of polishing done to an axle? Really?
There seems to be such a focus of making sure the cars are fair, when the focus should be a kid and the parent doing something together that is fun. I know a lot about working with my hands and have lots of tools, but I know next to nothing about medicine or law. If we have an activity of a medical operation or a court case I am at a severe disadvantage. People are different. Deal with it.
The official derby car kits sold by the Scouts are not equal! What if my block of wood is .5 oz lighter than yours? What if I get wheels that are mold matched or (worse yet) the new style and yours are the old ones?
Don't be scared of the rule. Build your car, show up at the race and watch them 'inspect' the cars ... you'll be suprised.

[4wheeldrift]

deTyler- FWIW, we ran our first event with the new BSA wheels and axles and won our pack's PWD. While others were doing some polishing of the axles and smoothing the older wheels, I thought the new wheels were already pretty good (especially when you see them side by side with the old ones). All I did was true up the axles and did nothing else to them or the wheels. I think in the end we won with good weight distribution and alignment, which was where I decided to spend my time. Besides, we had similar rules where there was supposed to be no machining of axles or work on the wheels beyond smoothing out the mold mark....and still I saw people were doing what I thought was beyond allowed which was why I didn't touch ours. So in the end I'm sure you'd be fine in going with at least the pro stock wheels. I was told that as long as they're still squared and had the tread nubs it's ok. But I guess you mileage may vary.

[stealthscan]

"On my HONOR, I will do my best, to do my Duty..."
" A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal...."

You are allowed to use what came in the box, or what can be purchased at the Scout Store.

[DrT1010]

Dec 29, 2009 13:29:27 GMT -6 detyler said:

My district rules prohibit lathed wheels and they also say the following, "The running surface may be smoothed but not polished to a mirror finish."


David

Well... if you are going to districts (unless an all comers) you have done something right, congratulations to the team! Are you building a new car for district, or simply contemplating changing wheels? How are the wheels that got you here? Did you prep them?

A lathed wheel is a lathed wheel, regardless of detection. Think about the lesson learned.

Mirror finish is irrelevant, you don't want mirror shine on wheels. Sliding vs. rolling.

[pinecarpro]

If they say you can't use a lathe but you can use a drill and mandrel then use anything but a lathe. So I would use a horizontal milling machine or a milling machine , drill press and so on