Wheels and Axles

This section is the most sensitive to what your Pack's or District's rules are. Before you get all excited about every last technique described below, make very, very sure that they will be legal in your organization, especially if you plan to compete at a District level, where the tech inspection is almost always more rigorous.

That caution out of the way, this section is divided into several sub-sections, progressing from simple things that anyone with the usual home tools, like an electric drill and some sort of bench vise or stand for the drill, to techniques which require access to precision lathes and NC milling machines. "Wait a minute," you say, "I thought this was supposed to be an activity for the boys!" Wrong, peanut-butter-breath!! Even in groups with really restrictive wheel rules, there is a definite advantage to parent/son teams with more than the average expertise and access to tools. It is up to you and your son to decide how competitive you want to be and where you divide the labor between parent and son. If you are serious about winning, read all the way through and figure out where to stop, based on your organization's rules. Then you'll know how to create the best set of wheels that you can. (This is a long section...)