Using #17 sewing pins as axles
Okay guys, if you are up for a little experimenting! I've been messing around a little with these sewing pins as axles. A #17 pin is .73mm as opposed to .8mm the an fte axle is...so, the fit on the wheel is a little looser than I really like. But, having a loss fit on the wheel automatically gIves you some negative camber...which works out pretty nicely. Oh, and they are nickel-plated!
The canary yellow 'Speedy' Bywayman square body Chevy that I ran in the Muscle Truck race had these pins for axles. It was not the quickest, but, it held it's own pretty well.
I think I bought that box of pins in Walmart for around (or less, I forget) $5...and you get about a ba-gillion pins (okay, like 500)...so, from a cost standpoint, they are WAY cheaper than buying donar cars for the axles.
I'll keep messing with them. And I'm curious to see if anyone else has any luck with them.
I think I owe CrzyTrkrDude a shout out on these pins. He told me about them...and I have to admit, they do work pretty well!
Discussion
I'd say two (2) are used for one axel utilizing an axel tube....that would be my guess?
Hey all.
New to this site, been reading it for a few months now, but just recently signed up. Really enjoy it btw...I just attempted my first mod to send into Diecast 64 to try my luck on the track. It’s been a learning experience to say the least. I think the car I choose to mod for car wars was slower than it was out of the blister pack. Lol. But I had a lot of fun doing it and I guess I can only get better. Maybe......
Just a question regarding this thread... where would one find axle tubes. I live in a small town in Canada and my options for buying hot wheels and donor cars are limited. But if you guys are having success with the sewing pins, it may be an option for me if I can get my hands on the axle tubes. Thx for the help
Hobby stores sell the copper tubing...see you at CC Rider's place this month.
...Peace - League of Speed
The more the merrier!!! My Wife and Daughters get involved as well...mostly in the races I host, but they definitely enjoy this community...welcome aboard!!!
Hey Keira,
Welcome! It's always good to see new faces in the threads!
This is what you are looking for...
That supplier is even in Canada! I hope that shipping your cars to the States won't be too much of a hassle!
I hope you can get some machines ready for the Crew Chief Challenge race in March...the more cars you build, the easier it will get!
This forum is a great resource...and everyone is very helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. But, my best advice is to just start building cars! As a very wise man (Traction Event) once told me, 'in order to build fast cars, you first have to build a lot of slow ones!'
Good luck...and see ya in lane 2!
Thanks for the warm welcome.
We, as a family, are all looking forward to the racing and we’re hoping to enter as many races as we can. It’s a little pricey to send the cars south of the border, but I think it’ll be worth it in the end. Hopefully I can find the time to do a lot more mods. The crew chief challenge sounds like fun. Really glad to have found this site. Thank you all for the help...
See you all in lane 2
Little Bug Racing ...... Keira
41-14 Racing ..... Brian
Wild Rose Racing ......Jackie
I should add that the best way to get a handle on what everybody is doing is to host a race.
I think the first Modified race that I ever hosted was a 'Cops-n-Robbers' race and I was totally impressed with how straight and how quiet the fast cars were. I remember Smitty's Gasser 'robber' car...I think it was a Willies...was so quiet and fast. I knew then what a fast car should run like!
There are a lot of tricks to squeezing the last little bit of speed out of these cars...but the first thing you need to do is make sure the wheels run true (don't wobble at all) and that they are aligned dead straight. Once you get that sorted out consistantly, you are more than half way there!
I tried the hat pins as axles a long time ago and while they were the right size, my issue was getting proper ends on them...the part that stops the wheel from flying off. My pins didn't have the nice ends that yours do...guess I need to find some that do. Are you using them with tubes then?
I'd love to find a way to take those pins and add an end to them so I can just avoid tubes all together. There's gotta be some way...bead of solder maybe? One of those teeny tiny washers against the wheel then something on the outside...hmmmm
Brian, there is a fella on youtube; Poochefmarowbe is his channel. He has a tutorial on using bead craft crimp tubes on HW axles and also the piano wire axles. The correct size is 1.5 mm. They are a gentle press fit but can also be glued on for racing. They can be purchased at WM, Michael's, Joann's etc... They are like $1.99 for 50 pcs. I do not have any experience using them in any races here but would like to fiddle with it at some point.
I like articles like this, thanks for sharing. What may I ask do you use to hold the other wheel on with; crimp tube?