Nerdy Derby Build a Nerdy Derby gravity racer! Based on http://nerdyderby.com/ What you’ll need: Chassis: Wheels: Decorations Tools Click any photo for a slideshow: Nerdy Derby cars people have made at our local Maker Faires Tools: Safety glasses, hot glue, markers, and hand tools are all useful. Decorations! Chassis: The “body” of the car. We made one of wood. You could use Paper, bottles, and recycled materials too! Wheels: We designed and 3D printed these. What else could you make round wheels from? Axles: You can make axles from screws, nails, and paperclips. What else might make a good axle? Start building by placing your wheels on axles Secure the wheels on the axle with a screw. Place a bead of hot glue in the axle slot Press the axle in the warm hot glue Push the axle into the hot glue to secure it. Axles and wheels installed! Start decorating! We added spots and ribbons! and MORE ribbons! Lets light it up. This is an LED (Light Emitting Diode) LEDs have short and long wire “legs”. The long leg is + (positive). The shorter leg is – (negative) The LED needs power> Let’s connect it to a battery! Touch the + leg to + on a battery, and – to the – side of a battery, and the LED lights up! You should also have a resistor in between one of the LED legs and the battery- especially bigger batteries, but it’s ok to try it with a watch battery like this. You can use tape or hot glue to hold the LED legs in place We added another LED and hotglued the battery to our car. Our Nerdy Derby car is ready to race!