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Troop 42 Work Party
Building a New Sled and
Painting the Old Sled
January 2004

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Well, we finally got around to having the Scouts build a sled - it was a "design as you go" affair, the brake was actually added later by an adult. The Scouts did 95% of the work other than the brake and purchasing materials. There are 2 sloped side rails, upper and lower. The lower rails are totally unscrewed and removed for storage, everything else folds down - the upper siderails only need two screws each removed for the rear frame. When using it - we lash some rope on the side to stop stuff falling out. the plastic runner bases werre cut to order from TAP Plastics and were not expensive.

  Assembling transverse frames from 2-1x4 either side of 2-2x4 using glue and screws
Cutting kerfs into the 1x4 runner bases - this was done by an adult - the kerfs allow the 1x4 to bend, alebit reluctantly
Gluing and screwing 1x4 runner-bases to the transverse frames
  At this point all the cross frames, runner bases, and floorboards are in place, and he Scouts are cutting a brace for the back panel
  screwing the hinges in place - these allow the rear panel to fold flat for storage
  Assembly line - drill, countersink, and then drive in the woodscrews to hold the plastic runners to the runner bases - this went fast
  installing the lag screws - these allow the side main arms (with the handle) to fold down for storage
  the handle bar being cut to suit
  base of sled - before installation of brake
  this view shows rear frame which folds down for storage, and the brake - a galvanized steel angle is bolted to the flexible aluminum bar
view of sled underside - showing the long flat bar of aluminum which acts a flexible drag link
a similar brake was added to the Troop's old sled - notice the retracting spring
the brake drag strut is really the same on both sleds - long and floppy
so we gave the old sled some decroative paint as well
so we made snow saws out of pruning saws by using a grinder to remove the razor sharp points
in bewteen construction we did gear checks for the Klondike Derby - sled painting is in the background
pre-trip shot - all troop gear is staged in leader's garage - ready for loading on the trailer

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