Garry J

Our Dazza could ride, but he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. I recall a race he and Darrell Eastlake were commentating on, and Barry was making the point that the rider in second place was better on the brakes because he was closing on the first-place rider under braking at every corner. Darrell tried to explain to him that it was because the guy in front braked first but Barry wouldn't have it. He couldn't grasp the concept of separation by time, not distance. RIP Bazza and Dazza

Yes, you are right Phil. I had it backwards, never having done it myself.

I've never done it myself, but I guess if it puts out more voltage it's more efficient. The idea is to set up a jig with a fixed motor to drive the test motors with a bit of tube between the shafts. Apply a fixed voltage to the drive motor and see what you get at the other end. My usual way to test motors is to run them on a few volts and choose the one with the least vibration. A combination of the two might work.

Forget the shunt field, we have permanent magnets. When you disconnect the power from a running motor it will continue to spin according to its momentum plus the momentum off whatever it was driving. At this point the motor becomes a generator because it's being driven, not driving. BUT THE TORQUE IS REVERSED WHEN THE MOTOR IS GENERATING, so if you connect it back on itself it is effectively attempting to drive itself in the opposite direction to whichever way it was running under power. Once the motor slows the generated voltage reduces until it eventually stops. Adding a resistance to the circuit simply reduces the voltage the motor is feeding back on itself, and therefore reduces the braking effect. To see your motor act as a generator, a common motor test is to free wheel a test motor using another motor to drive it and measure the test motor's output voltage. Good for relative comparisons only.

'Steam Punk' sculptures sell for big money. The comms tower is brilliant.

Nice lane marking job. Maybe a few too many ales involved.

Thanks Shaynus, need to find enough pics to model it.

Here are links to the instructions for chassis and body builds. http://slotworx.com.au/Body_Pics.zip http://slotworx.com.au/132_Pics.zip I do have some parts for these cars if any one is interested. Cheers, Garry

Milliput

I have one mostly complete, better dust it off.

Reading yesterday that they're working on the 2022 chassis to enable it to fit many different body shells, including coupes. Bigger question is 'will they still be here in 2022' If you have shares in Supercars, sell them now.

Gas41T, that's perfect, anyone doing a braid job should hang this picture on the wall as a reference.

One more thing, When running the braid down a hole or a join, use a pair of flat nosed pliers to bend the braid at a sharp angle. This gives the braid a permanent kink, you'll need to squeeze it back together at the bend because it will widen out a bit but you need to make that sharp kink that won't try to undo itself over time. Also use a flat file to very slightly round the end of the braid recess at the join, generally one light pass with the file will do it. If anyone wants some pictures I can probably organise something.

I've laid miles of braid in my time and here's what I've learned. Braid recess should be at least 1mm wider than the braid and a little deeper (0.1mm or more) than the braid thickness, the braid is then laid against the shoulder of the recess away from the slot. This stops the wheels on the cars catching the edges and stops the guide rolling up the inside edge. When laying the braid hold it above the track so that it loops as it goes down (a picture would help here). The loop forces the braid weave to open a little so it's not stretched, and it can expand and contract with temperature changes. This is critical in corners or you'll end up with Johnno's problem above. Glue? for almost all of the tracks I've built the braid was laid with contact glue, simply because it was prior to the high bond strength tapes being widely available. Contact glue has the advantage of not being fussy about the surface it goes on and is easy to repair. It's cost effective and you don't need to clean the braid, but it's messy. High bond strength tape works well, just follow Rick's instructions above regarding recess preparation as a smooth surface is important. Again, the most important thing is to loop the braid as it goes down to open the weave. Get a piece of your braid and curl it into a circle and see how it opens up, this is why you're having trouple with the corners Johnno, nothing to do with the glue or tape. Hope this helps.