20 replies to this topic

[drewdownunder]

Greetings all.

Im Drew, and a total noob when it comes to slotcars, but a keen and enthousiastic noob all the same, and would like to share our first steps into slots...

We purchased a cheap and nasty 1:43 slotcar set from a local wharehouse chain, and quickly found its limitations!
A workmate found the same limitations, so after some dodgy backroom trading, I swapped his set for some beer, and suddenly I had track coming out my ears.
It wasnt going to last long on the lounge floor, so I reclaimed some useable space in the shed and built this:


I found that being tethered to the same spot due to the short length of wires on the controllers became tedious, so I re-wired them with much longer cables, soldered the connections to the track plug in point and colour coded the handpieces to lessen the confusion.
Some patients, solder, and a few minor adjustments to track and controllers have produced a reasonably reliably racing circuit that keeps dad and the kids busy for hours


The cars that came with the sets are pretty nasty, too light, have no magnets and knobbly tyres with NO grip!
Some tweaking and tuning and practice have yeilded some nice racing action. (as nice as it can be).


Whilst trolling through the internet I found an article about modifying a computer power supply to provide decent track power, which initiated a hive of industry on the workbench as I set about changing a spare PSU I had lying around, when I recalled a model train controller I had collecting dust in a box.
I fished it out, plugged it in and WOW what a difference a few extra volts and amps made to the track and the way the cars performed!


Now we have reached the limits of the current equipment, I have purchased two Carrera Go!!! cars from the USA and am waiting patiently for them to arrive.
With a bit of luck they will run on our cheapo track, if not, I will have to look at other options.

Scalextric 1/32 is rather nice, but I am concerned at how much space it requires, and am rather lost as to the ultimate path I should take.
All those flash home built routered tracks are amazing.....

Cheers
Drew

[SlotsNZ]

Welcome aboard Drew, we're a minority amongst the matildas here, but there's nearly enough of us now to start a good revolution.
Carrera GO, should physically run okay on that Warehouse track, and they'll be a much better car than those set cars.

Looks like you have something with enough volts and current capacity to use them okay.

[Ember]

Welcome to the addiction Drew. I hope, given you're talking of trading beers for track, that it's not a picture of you in the corner reaching for the controller. Could be a little concerning.

Nice to see you've started your adventure in a reasonable way. Haven't tried the 1:43 scale (I sample HO before taking the plunge into 1:32) but your brand options for decent cars are Carrera Go or SCX Compact. Either will be a vast improvement on the strange things that came with your setup.

There's not a large 1:43 presence on this forum, but most of the information should translate no matter the scale. Nice bunch of folks here, some extremely knowledgable. All very helpful.

Hope the adventure continues.
Embs

[munter]

Heck Drew, you are on to it.
The slot journey sure has begun for you.

[drewdownunder]

Well, after the finding out the the Carrera Go!!! cars do not like cheap nasty slotcar track, I have trimmed the last track down to something a great deal simpler.....



.....which is proving to be rather popular with the boys.

But, as it is my birthday next month, my wonderfull wife has dropped hints that there may well be a new set coming, in a slightly larger scale..... woot

Drew

[munter]

Quote

my wonderfull wife has dropped hints that there may well be a new set coming, in a slightly larger scale.....

sounds like a sensible woman

[Eno the Wonderdog]

I just realised how much I need a jolly roger!

With the little guy there have you seen the Carrera "Cars" cars? I've bought a Lightning McQueen, Mr the King and Chick Hicks for my three year old..

I'm sure the guys here will be able to lead you astray - erm to pastures green when it comes to upgrading.. that SlotsNZ is a particularly bad influence!

[drewdownunder]

Eno the Wonderdog, on Jun 10 2010, 05:14 PM, said:

I just realised how much I need a jolly roger!

With the little guy there have you seen the Carrera "Cars" cars? I've bought a Lightning McQueen, Mr the King and Chick Hicks for my three year old..

I'm sure the guys here will be able to lead you astray - erm to pastures green when it comes to upgrading.. that SlotsNZ is a particularly bad influence!

Yes, I recently purchased Lightning McQueen and Chick Hicks, hoping to run them on the track seen above, but its only el-cheapo track and the Carrera Cars didnt like it one bit!



Not to worry, only a couple more weeks till my birthday

Am currently busy gathering the bits to make a simple infra red sensor system for lap scoring with "Lap Timer 2000" and an old PC I have here.
I got a lot of info from here:
http://www.slotcarillustrated.com/portal/f...ead.php?t=36970

Should be some fun in that, and keep me out of mischief for a while

Cheers
Drew

[Ember]

munter, on Jun 9 2010, 07:53 PM, said:

Quote

my wonderfull wife has dropped hints that there may well be a new set coming, in a slightly larger scale.....

sounds like a sensible woman

drewdownunder, on Jun 10 2010, 07:12 PM, said:

Not to worry, only a couple more weeks till my birthday

Sorry. Can't help but chuckle. Comment from His Lordship today.. "Suppose you want slot car stuff for your birthday"

[munter]

Quote

Sorry. Can't help but chuckle. Comment from His Lordship today.. "Suppose you want slot car stuff for your birthday"

see,....men do understand women

[Ember]

Only when we make an effort to spell it out for them.

Edited by Ember, 11 June 2010 - 09:16 AM.

[Johnnyfly41]

Welcome Drew and best of luck on your new adventure.

If you look at your wooden table there that your track sits on, well, it seems to me you have the makings of a track right there, sort of.

this will get me in trouble with Ember, but, there are actually some crazies out there building their tracks out of wood. You might want to look into it.

www.oldslotracer.com is a good place to kill some time browsing some tracks.

Best wishes,

John

www.pretzelcityspeedway.com

[Ember]

Johnnyfly41, on Jun 11 2010, 12:38 PM, said:

this will get me in trouble with Ember, but . . .

Edited by Ember, 11 June 2010 - 01:05 PM.

[drewdownunder]

Woohoo!!

Man have I got a fat head just now...





Downloaded "Lap Counter 2000" from the web
Fixed laptop
Googled "slotcar lap timing"
Made two "dead sectons" on a piece of track.
Wired up track section to printer port.
Fired up LT2K

Zoom

Zoom

Zoom



Makes a cool as zoom noise when it records a lap

Stoked!!!

It probably looks a little huckery compared to them professional types, but it works, and darn well!
Cant wait to retrofit and fine tune it to fit Scalextric track

Drew

[Bulsara]

drewdownunder, on Jun 11 2010, 01:21 PM, said:

It probably looks a little huckery compared to them professional types, but it works, and darn well!
Cant wait to retrofit and fine tune it to fit Scalextric track

Drew

No huckery involved, great home track. Well done.

ps. Have you cornered the market on DOLE bananas???

[drewdownunder]

Well its been a moon or two since my last post, but sadly not a lot has happened in that time.

I have, however managed to paint a bunch of track with a dark grey colour, which has improved traction for the el-cheapo cars out of sight!!

I also made a new (cleaner tidier less hori) timing dector track with slightly longer dead sections which greatly improved detection accuracy, re-did the wiring and fine tuned the connection to the laptop.
I was getting shorts and power back feeding to the other lane creating ghost counts and causing both track to go live with one controller, which boiled down to the fact I was using a common negative return and a common detection return instead of individual ones.

So now we have a uber reliable basic race circuit with timing... but its time for a new challange.

I have spent the winter months coming up with ideas for a homebuilt track and have settled on the following:

Will use 18mm MDF "panels" 600mm wide by 1800mm long. Why? I am planning on sticking to the 1:43 scale for the time being, importing Carrera Go cars, because the "panels" are easy to source here and I can make 9mm deep slots that will leave heaps of "meat" to stop the board folding into pieces.

Why 600mm?? Because the cheap 1:43 scale track I have now does a 180 turn in less than 600mm, so I reckon I can route a sweet track in the same space without using boring same radius curves...

But I have some questions for the wise and learned.... (if I have not bored you all to death yet....)

1: Is a 3mm slot wide enough, or should I spend the extra effort / cash and find a 3.2mm (1/8th) router bit? They are hard to get hold of....

2: I have found two router bits I can purchase online, one that is 7.9mm deep and one that 9.5mm deep. Is deeper better?

3: Bearing in mind that I am aiming at 1:43, yet would like some space for 1:32 cars, how far apart should the lanes be? 90mm? 100mm?

4: I have found 4.5mm wide copper foil tape on Trade Me with adhesive backing... is this the right stuff for the slots?

5: Laslty, is there a recomended minimum radius for slot curves for 1:32 so its not too tight?

Thanks for your help.

Regards
Drew

[Johnnyfly41]

Drew,

congratulations on your upcoming adventure.

I would encourage you when building your routed track to cast off the "plastic thinking". Straights dont have to be straight and curves do not have to be constant radius. Lane spacing can also vary if you want it to. heck, you can have lanes cross one another if you wish. I highly recommend the flexible strip method of routing. Squeezes demand disciplined driving, but they are less troublesome than you might think. Squeezing a turn to narrow lane spacing might just buy you room you need in a critical area.

I did 3.5" lane spacing on my three lanes. It would be very tight for 1/24th but I really like it for 1/32nd. Consider routing a track that will work well with a 1/32nd car. You never know what the future holds.

I used Venture tape, purple core, I think it was 7/32" width and one mil thick. this seems to be the defacto standard in the states anyway. Venture is high quality tape. Mine is about 2.5 years old and causes me no problems at all. You wont believe how trouble free a copper taped track is compared to sectioned track you are using now.

Is your track indoors ? If not, I would recommend you use copper braid for the track. If you want traction magnets to work, there is a thing called "magna braid", that will give you good magnetic action. In any case, a track in a garage or a shed should use braid due to the expansion and contraction that it will see.

I used 3/8" mdf, had to special order it. Standard here is 1/2", I suspect the same as your 12mm. That is plenty thick, easy to find. My 3/8" MDF is plenty strong enough and yet will bend to allow for banked curves and elevations. My slot is deep enough for 1/24th guides.

The most efficient way to support the track is on a open frame of light weight timber. many threads on that topic. Your choice might depend upon if you plan to do scale scenery or finish it like a commercial slot car track.

My slot is 1/8" and none of my turns are super tight so it is plenty wide enough. A good carbide 1/8" bit is about 30 dollars here. Before you route your track you could route a tight radius on some scrap and pass the car through it to make sure it does not bind.

Track finish, there are several choices. Lots of Oz tracks use Ferador, a abrasive paint. I think in NZ many tracks are a very glossy finish. Grip is a great thing, various ways to get there. I used a material called "Plasti Dip". I love it, great grip, non abrasive, does not come off on tires likeI have heard that standard water based latex will. I use home made urethane tires because they tolerate dirt better than silicone tires do.

You have lots of choices in building your track, use what suits your tastes and your desires.

For ideas, check out www.oldslotracer.com tons of track pictures there.

Oh, and if you dont post pictures of your progress in this forum, your track will never work !

j.

[GJH-NZ]

Hi there Drew,

Where are you? (Normanby - where the hell is that). There are a lot more slot enthusiasts around that you might imagine and a lot ware very will to share/help in projects. All a lot of formal groups that hold regular club meetings, enduro racing and nationals - these provide a wealth of information.

Johnnyfly has shed a good bit of info for you. A few additional comments on your questions.

1. Don't know much about 1/42 scale cars so not sure slot width would be an issue. You should use a 1/8 (3.2mm) bit if you can. Two reasons. 1st: A lot of the 3mm bits are cheapies and also single flute (ie 1 cutting blade). 2nd: If you buy a quality bit (eg Linbide) you will find it lasts 10 times as a cheaper version - . The Linbide ones are Carbon Tungsten and double fluted (2 cutting blades) so they have a much better cutting ability. You can order through Linbides web-site I think - or any specialist tool supplies shop (Not Mega10). Get them to look up the hardcopy Linbide catalouge or website for more information. From memory router bit is about $50 inclduing courier charge. Remeber the slot width also has an impact on the cars guide when it goes around a corner. If you have a long guide/narrow slot combination you may find the guide jams on a tight corner.


2. The deeper the slot the harder the router and bit has to work. 7.9mm would be deep enough for any guides that I know of even including the specialist extra large Wood Guides. Generally speaking 7mm would be enough I suspect and just move the router slowly around. Note when they route a track in the CNC-Router shop they actually do 3 separate routes in the same slot increasing the depth on each cut - think this is so the bit does not break/wear and also less strain on the machine head.


3. 100mm is ideal but you could get a way with 90 (95 would be good). Note you need less on the inside of the corner (as little as 50mm). Also you want at least 100mm on the outside of the corner so cars do not hit fences or scenic items.


4. Beware of cheap copper foil. You can't go past the venturer brand. It been tried and tested - easy sourced from stained glass supply shops and is about $12 - $15 per roll. I have a roll somewhere and will try and dig out the product number for you. Try some research on the forums and you will find the model number probably. Personally the Tinned Copper Braid product matched with a product call VHB 3M Doublesided Tape is the bees knees but for a 1st track (there will be a 2nd), I would try copper tape as long as air temp/humidity variation is not an issue. If you search around the Slot Car web-sites in NZ you will find a very good one that has very detailed track building instructions. (Mark - can you help here)

5. Would think that min Radius would be 150mm gving a diametre of 300mm. I have a 170mm radius and its easy to get around.

6. Gloss is the "Queen of track finishes" - As smooth as you can make it - with a good enamel or water-based enamel - High Gloss. Grip is superb with silicon tyres, NSR and an array of other makes. Wood is a very different racing surface than plastic.


Keep us posted with your ideas and photos, photos and more photos.

Cheers
Grant

PS: Hope this helps and not hinders.

[drewdownunder]

Its been a busy summer with the family, but I can now happily report that I have a REAL slotcar set!! WOOT!

Firstly a big thanks to all those above who have replyed with support and suggestions. Greatly appreciated.

Boy have I been missing out!!
When the courier dropped off the box my eyes nearly popped out at how big it was. Once I unpacked the set and got it all working, it was clear this was money well spent. The cars are just simply stunning


and they have working headlights and tail lights.


I was like a kid in a toy shop again. (I dont think my wife knew quite what I had been up to - I couldnt stop grinning)

I bought a Scalextric "Top Gear Powerlaps" set and modified the benchwork in the shed to suit.



The track set up.


I was also really happy that the Carrera Go cars went round the track like a dream, and they worked the lap timer.


So me and Mikey had an afternoon racing and sinking Speights.
The lap timer that came with the kit is powered bu two AA batteries and is very limited. We thought we could improve things, so I disconnected the workings of the kit timer, and wired up the track car detectors to the Laptop via a modified USB plug and socket wired to an old printer cable. With Lap Timer 2000 and the kit detectors, we did a few hundred laps and had 100% reliability - too easy!


Lastly, as I had to give back the In Law's beer fridge, the leaner was looking empty and forlorn, so my amazing wife suggested that the old tv and playstation could live in it...

so now the man cave is well and truely establishes and I think will be a great place to hang out this winter..

Now I need to learn what type of track I have so I can purchase some more. I thinks its Scalextric Sport...

YAY!

Drew

Edited by drewdownunder, 29 March 2011 - 04:33 PM.

[Ember]

Congratulations.

One of the good things about the TG Powerlaps set is that it comes with a few different corners, rather than just the standard R2s. It's the set that started my journey. It didn't last in its figure 8 set-up for long, and there was a little disappointment that it didn't have a proper hammerhead.

The Ford GT is a really nice car and easy to get running well sans-magnet if that is what you desire. The Porsche doesn't get on my track anymore unless its in the hands of a child or a new chum. Figured I should keep at least one magnet car for the novices.

You'll probably find yourself wanting more track in no time. Most of the Scalex box sets are standard R2 figure 8. But it's worth buying one cheap as it will give you a second power supply (no more surges when a car deslots). I added a bulk lot of 10 straights and a bunch of R1s that I got from eBay. But had to buy a couple of packs of R3s and R4s at standard retail price.

Oh, and yes Scalex Sport is what you're after.

Embs