Video of the Nerdy Derby 2012.

[Ed Hagopian]

http://youtu.be/QP0HrGQwfJ8

Pete, if you have friends at Make... Just sayin...

[Kevin Crowley]

Michael, Awesome job on that fan shroud car.  You definitely beat everyone on the uphill portion of the competition.

On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 3:25 AM, Ed Hagopian <edhag...@gmail.com> wrote:

http://youtu.be/QP0HrGQwfJ8

Pete, if you have friends at Make... Just sayin...

--
 
 
 

[Shane]

I would have liked to see the ducted fan on an official Nerdy Derby
track....

I predict that it would have taken flight off of the hill in the
middle.... :D

[Have Blue]

I'm not so sure - I had that hill in the middle in mind when I designed
the car. The underside is perforated with large holes, and the hope is
that it will draw enough air through them to keep it firmly adhered to
the track.

I'll do a blog post on the construction and post the DXF files in case
anybody would like to build their own.

[Ed Hagopian]

As much as the derby is rules free I'd argue for a motorized and unmotorized division for next year. That was wicked fun regardless.

[Have Blue]

Agreed - there's still plenty of room for advancement on the unpowered
front, and I wouldn't have minded entering one in that class were it
available.

[Brent Bublitz]

I would recommend in the future that we separate into two categories,
powered and UN-powered. It felt a little unfair to some of the kids
there, and I firmly believe the powered category is going to get a lot
faster next year.

Also, we need to redesign the finish gate so it won't shred propellers. >.<

Brent

> --
>
>
>

[Shane]

I would think that we could put the "eyes", as it were, for the
outside two lanes on either side of the track so that the height
issue...isn't.

The problem would be the middle gate.

What if, assuming we still want to build a track, we embedded the
"eyes" for the timers into the track itself so that anything passing
over them would trip the timer?

I suppose, depending on how Buggs' track bolts together, we could just
build an extension that we could modify like the above so we don't
ruin his track....

[Have Blue]

I think that's actually how most finish line detectors are set up - you
just have to be sure to have sufficient light directly above (and make
sure that nobody is waving their hands though the end zone).

Also, we really need a better deceleration zone at the end if cars are
going to get faster and heavier. Although I will admit that the Dorito
ejection at the end was highly entertaining.

[Shane]

...We could have them all get slurped into a giant block of Jello....

Seriously though, Perhaps add a section of track that quickly curves
into a vertical slope? Maybe a little gate that shuts so when they
slide back down they don't go barreling back down the track?

[Have Blue]

Upward slope isn't a bad idea - perhaps make the 'track' at that point
out of closed-cell polypropylene foam so that rolling resistance
increases as a function of vehicle weight.

[Shane]

What, like foam rubber? That's a damned good idea.

And now that I think of it, going completely vertical is just asking
for the car to fall backward off the track.

It might be cool to have a gentle slope and, instead of changing the
type of track, we just have a pit with some irregular foam-rubber
cubes and such that the cars could fly into....

[Shane]

...Even a foam-rubber wedge like the carpet, but longer and higher so
that by the time the car makes it past a certain point, it's
completely off the ground.

[Mrspeed700]

How a bought a small sand pit?
Rich

> 
 wrote:
> > >>>>> Agreed - there's still plenty of room for advancement on the unpowered
> > >>>>> front, and I wouldn't have minded entering one in that class were it
> > >>>>> available.
> > >>>>> On 10/7/2012 11:08 AM, Ed Hagopian wrote:
> > >>>>>> As much as the derby is rules free I'd argue for a motorized and
> > >>>>>> unmotorized division for next year. That was wicked fun regardless.
> > >>>>> --

-- 

[Pete Prodoehl]

Sand is no good for my wheel bearings... 

Pete 

(Sent from a mobile device.)

--
 
 
 

[Kevin Bastyr]

Did my slingshot car race?  Or was it deemed too dangerous for the timing mechanism & audience to participate?

This video shows it's pretty fast (skip to 1:30 for the  1/10th second 40' long race and "It's Beautiful!")  

http://milwaukeemakerspace.org/2012/10/nerdy-derby-car-sling-shot/

-Kevin

--
 
 
 

[Shane]

Yeah. I thought of sand, too, but it gets everywhere and can be
surprisingly heavy.

Have you guys ever seen some of the gyms that have Parkour training?

They have these giant pits with foam-rubber cubes for people to land
in and do flips into and such.

I figure that that is near perfect, albeit on a smaller scale, so that
cars will stop and won't get damaged, even if the motors are still
running.

...And if they DO manage to drive around/out of the pit, we'll get
bonus points from the audience. :D

On Oct 7, 1:23 pm, Pete Prodoehl <ras...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sand is no good for my wheel bearings...
>
> Pete
>
> (Sent from a mobile device.)
>

[Shane]

I'm afraid that yours was deemed too dangerous, Kevin.

It still got put on display, though. :)

[Have Blue]

Mine as well.  A pit of foam rubber cubes doesn't sound bad, but I'd worry about cars colliding with each other in it.  I'd say just a foam rubber track section with a blanket at the far end to capture cars (or a jacket - that was proven to capture airborne vehicles quite well  :-)

--
 
 
 

[Have Blue]

My favorite quote from the video (which should be enshrined in the hall-of-quotes on the site):  “Just keep… It’s not gonna… Eh, we’ll find out.”

--
 
 
 

[Shane]

In that case, I picture a foam-rubber wedge that rises about 3" off
the track, then plateaus. This way, the car's momentum carries it up,
but then it's just suspended above the track.

This will work beautifully with both motorized and non-motorized
vehicles.

It still won't be as cool as "The Pit", though.

On Oct 7, 1:30 pm, Have Blue <haveb...@airsoldier.com> wrote:
> Mine as well.  A pit of foam rubber cubes doesn't sound bad, but I'd
> worry about cars colliding with each other in it.  I'd say just a foam
> rubber track section with a blanket at the far end to capture cars (or a
> jacket - that was proven to capture airborne vehicles quite well  :-)
>
> On 10/7/2012 1:23 PM, Pete Prodoehl wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Sand is no good for my wheel bearings...
>
> > Pete
>
> > (Sent from a mobile device.)
>

> > On Oct 7, 2012, at 1:18 PM, Mrspeed700 <mrspeed...@aol.com

> > <mailto:mrspeed...@aol.com>> wrote:
>
> >> How a bought a small sand pit?
> >> Rich
>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Shane <Impe...@hotmail.com <mailto:Impe...@hotmail.com>>
> >> To: milwaukeemakerspace <milwaukee...@googlegroups.com
> >> <mailto:milwaukee...@googlegroups.com>>
> >> Sent: Sun, Oct 7, 2012 1:06 pm
> >> Subject: [MakerSpace] Re: Video of the Nerdy Derby 2012.
>
> >> ...Even a foam-rubber wedge like the carpet, but longer and higher so
> >> that by the time the car makes it past a certain point, it's
> >> completely off the ground.
>

> >> On Oct 7, 1:02 pm, Shane <Impe...@hotmail.com  <mailto:Impe...@hotmail.com>> wrote:
> >> > What, like foam rubber?  That's a damned good idea.
>
> >> > And now that I think of it, going completely vertical is just asking
> >> > for the car to fall backward off the track.
>
> >> > It might be cool to have a gentle slope and, instead of changing the
> >> > type of track, we just have a pit with some irregular foam-rubber
> >> > cubes and such that the cars could fly into....
>

> >> > On Oct 7, 12:53 pm, Have Blue <haveb...@airsoldier.com  <mailto:haveb...@airsoldier.com>> wrote:
>
> >> > > Upward slope isn't a bad idea - perhaps make the 'track' at that point
> >> > > out of closed-cell polypropylene foam so that rolling resistance
> >> > > increases as a function of vehicle weight.
>
> >> > > On 10/7/2012 12:49 PM, Shane wrote:
>
> >> > > > ...We could have them all get slurped into a giant block of Jello....
>
> >> > > > Seriously though, Perhaps add a section of track that quickly curves
> >> > > > into a vertical slope?  Maybe a little gate that shuts so when they
> >> > > > slide back down they don't go barreling back down the track?
>

> >> > > > On Oct 7, 12:04 pm, Have Blue <haveb...@airsoldier.com  <mailto:haveb...@airsoldier.com>> wrote:
> >> > > >> I think that's actually how most finish line detectors are set up - you
> >> > > >> just have to be sure to have sufficient light directly above (and make
> >> > > >> sure that nobody is waving their hands though the end zone).
>
> >> > > >> Also, we really need a better deceleration zone at the end if cars are
> >> > > >> going to get faster and heavier.  Although I will admit that the Dorito
> >> > > >> ejection at the end was highly entertaining.
>
> >> > > >> On 10/7/2012 11:55 AM, Shane wrote:
>
> >> > > >>> I would think that we could put the "eyes", as it were, for the
> >> > > >>> outside two lanes on either side of the track so that the height
> >> > > >>> issue...isn't.
> >> > > >>> The problem would be the middle gate.
> >> > > >>> What if, assuming we still want to build a track, we embedded the
> >> > > >>> "eyes" for the timers into the track itself so that anything passing
> >> > > >>> over them would trip the timer?
> >> > > >>> I suppose, depending on how Buggs' track bolts together, we could just
> >> > > >>> build an extension that we could modify like the above so we don't
> >> > > >>> ruin his track....

> >> > > >>> On Oct 7, 11:29 am, Brent Bublitz<phot...@gmail.com  <mailto:phot...@gmail.com>>  wrote:

> >> > > >>>> I would recommend in the future that we separate into two categories,
> >> > > >>>> powered and UN-powered. It felt a little unfair to some of the kids
> >> > > >>>> there, and I firmly believe the powered category is going to get a lot
> >> > > >>>> faster next year.
> >> > > >>>> Also, we need to redesign the finish gate so it won't shred
> >> propellers.>.<
> >> > > >>>> Brent

> >> > > >>>> On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 11:14 AM, Have Blue<haveb...@airsoldier.com  <mailto:haveb...@airsoldier.com>>

[Have Blue]

I like that idea - you could still have the pit underneath in case any
cars fall off the side.

[Mrspeed700]

They have a  synthetic form of sand mostly rubber from tires very fine balls, shoulden't hurt any thing.
Rich

--
 
 
 

[Kevin Bastyr]

Gosh, I'm glad I didn't make the even faster car that I thought was too dangerous!

Sent from my mobile telephone device.

--

[David R.]

Kevin,

   Sorry I made you miss the event! I know you would have deployed your racer with skill and determination!

No one else dare try!

(Also they didn't want to lose to you. This was just an excuse! ;)

David R.

--
 
 
 

[Have Blue]

What, a pinewood derby car stuffed into the muzzle of a civil war howitzer?  Name it the 'Cannonball Run'...

--
 
 
 

[David Buggs]

I'd be concerned with the cars hitting and damaging one another in any type of pit stopping arrangement   I'm certain if we think about it long enough we'll come up with something better.

Buggs

--

[Kevin Bastyr]

Something using ballistics was the fastest one (knowing that there is no lower limit on car size).

The intermediate one used model rocket engines and a guide wire to ensure it crossed the finish line. 

The sling shot car is about 300 feet per second.

The rocket car would be about 800 feet per second.

A tiny pistol bullet car would be about 1300 feet per second.

--
 
 
 

[Shane]

New rule: In its trajectory, some part of the car must follow the
general contour of the track. :D

(Hey, at least this allows for hovercars....)

On Oct 7, 2:20 pm, "David R." <videovilla...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Kevin,
>    Sorry I made you miss the event! I know you would have deployed your racer with skill and determination!
>
> No one else dare try!
>
> (Also they didn't want to lose to you. This was just an excuse! ;)
>
> David R.
>

> On Oct 7, 2012, at 2:02 PM, Kevin Bastyr <kevinbas...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Gosh, I'm glad I didn't make the even faster car that I thought was too dangerous!
>
> > Sent from my mobile telephone device.
>

[Collin Britt]

I also made a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNjI1-104ps&feature=plcp

The editing is only so good because iMovie kind of sucks.

[Shane]

What I like about yours, Collin, is that it actually shows my car
racing. :D

[Pete Prodoehl]

Lots more car ideas... from MFNY:

   http://nerdyderby.com/cars/


Pete

[Have Blue]

Okay, blog post on my car's construction is up - has the DXF of all the laser cut parts and links to the other components that I used in case anybody wants to replicate or improve on it (and there's lots of room for improvement).

http://haveblue.org/?p=1395

--
 
 
 

[Brent Bublitz]

For the pit at the end of the track, you are all thinking about it too
hard. A giant box full of packing peanuts. Cheap and easy to clean up.

> --
>
>
>

[Brent Bublitz]

Do we have pictures of all the individual cars we can put up somewhere?

[Have Blue]

Here's my original cheezy iPhone photos if nobody has anything else:
https://www.wetransfer.com/dl/79gc1YHo/cc766537d1b6589520642a4cd613180e0dcf8ee2f7f25e886c1c2da9af17e5ba0a773c4359e2194

[Kevin Crowley]

Michael has many on his blogpost.

--

[Have Blue]

Those are downscaled - better to use the raw ones I tossed onto wetransfer.

--
 
 
 

[Shane]

Pete got pictures of each one sitting on the butcher paper with the
names and everything. No idea if they turned out, but he's the guy to
talk to....

On Oct 8, 10:21 am, Have Blue <haveb...@airsoldier.com> wrote:
> Those are downscaled - better to use the raw ones I tossed onto wetransfer.
>
> On 10/8/2012 10:20 AM, Kevin Crowley wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Michael has many on his blogpost.
>

> > On Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 10:10 AM, Brent Bublitz <phot...@gmail.com
> > <mailto:phot...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> >     Do we have pictures of all the individual cars we can put up
> >     somewhere?
>

> >     On Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 10:04 AM, Brent Bublitz <phot...@gmail.com

> >     <mailto:phot...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> >     > For the pit at the end of the track, you are all thinking about
> >     it too
> >     > hard. A giant box full of packing peanuts. Cheap and easy to
> >     clean up.
>
> >     > On Mon, Oct 8, 2012 at 9:56 AM, Have Blue

> >     <haveb...@airsoldier.com <mailto:haveb...@airsoldier.com>> wrote:
> >     >> Okay, blog post on my car's construction is up - has the DXF of
> >     all the
> >     >> laser cut parts and links to the other components that I used
> >     in case
> >     >> anybody wants to replicate or improve on it (and there's lots
> >     of room for
> >     >> improvement).
>
> >     >>http://haveblue.org/?p=1395
>
> >     >> On 10/8/2012 9:47 AM, Pete Prodoehl wrote:
>
> >     >> Lots more car ideas... from MFNY:
>
> >     >>http://nerdyderby.com/cars/
>
> >     >> Pete
>
> >     >> On Sunday, October 7, 2012 4:20:03 PM UTC-5, Shane wrote:
>
> >     >>> What I like about yours, Collin, is that it actually shows my car
> >     >>> racing.  :D
>
> >     >>> On Oct 7, 4:10 pm, Collin Britt <jcbr...@gmail.com

[Have Blue]

They're probably already on the MAKE: Flickr pool

[Pete Prodoehl]

I have lots of car photos... need to go through them all.


Pete