Slot Cars - a new track style.

While working on the new table track table track I was not happy at all with the braid being put on.  I only had steel braid left which was not ideal for a couple of reasons.  I did not want cars with magnets to have an advantage, and also with the temperature variations where it is stored, the braid would separate from the track surface.  I needed a better way.

And so back to my favourite tool, the laser cutter.  With the laser I can produce repeatable pieces of track over and over again.  As long as I keep within a 30cm x 40cm piece of board, I have freedom to create any type of straight/corner pieces I like, mix and match them in much the same way as a traditional plastic track.  The power lines are made using 1.2mm copper wire which is recessed into the track via "engraved lines".

Will be playing with this some more before going full scale on the table.

Laser - Maintenance

Today I decided it was about time I took care of my most useful tool in the garage, the laser cutter/engraver. 

This machine gets a lot of work from me and thank fully had very few issues with it.  These work great if you look after them.  My particular laser is a Ten High 40w nodel.
https://www.ten-high.com/

I use this for all sorts of little projects and it pairs very nicely with an excellent 2D design application Solid Edge which is free from Siemens.
https://solidedge.siemens.com/en/free-software/overview/

Mostly I use MDF board as my medium of choice.  If is readily available, strong enough for my purposes and cheap.  The local DIY shop sells a 6 x 3 sheet for about $5 and cuts it so size for my laser.

The problem with it is that where the laser vaporises it, it leaves all sorts of residue.

Also many little cutouts also fall into the machine.  Maybe I am over cautious, but where a laser is running hot enough to vaporise material, I think it good to clean flamible material out every now and again.

The residue it leaves on surfaces is another issue.  It is sticky and coats everything.  This can lead to uneven movement on the guide rails, and also a loss in cutting power due to dirty mirrors.

Some elbow cleaning solution and some elbow grease, and before long we are back to full power and happily cutting the next job.

Slot Cars - The portable table evolution

This part of my slot car journey started out as just a little side project with my Dad during one of his visits to Japan.  Both of us enjoy making things and so we thought it would be good to make a little practice track together.  So over the course of a day or so we marked out on some MDF a basic track following some geometric lines, nothing fancy.

The "Tron" like corners were quite severe, and after using this for a while I wondered what it would be like to have just flowing curves and if possible to run the path over an area more than once to make use of space.  And so a bit later a drift version was made.

Now I was starting to get into this.  It was fun to think it may even be possible to do a version from a single sheet of MDF that could be a portable table to just setup, plug in and play.  So next came a version based on a local drift track, and for the first time had a built in Arduino based lap timer.  Now you could actually see lap times and mark improvements.

The track was simple but some things bothered me.

1.  For the grass I had used some scenic paper for model railways.  Bits of this got everywhere inside the cars and needed constant cleaning.
2.  The table structure was a little unstable and did not inspire confidence.
3.  It was a single fixed layout that over time would not represent a challenge.

Time for a new version!

This time I started off by getting a folding table base from Costco to be the foundation.  Rated for around 200Kg, this should do the job.

I built a framework around this, sized to accommodate a standard 3 x 6 sheet of MDF that could be swapped in and out as new courses made.  Within this framework I hid a 12v power supply.

Later this was upgraded to a variable power supply to allow for adjustments.

Besides the main track area, I made a safe area to house the timing circuit, a fine voltage adjustment, switch for reversing the track direction, and 2 storage compartments for controllers and cars.

Onto here I made a new painted version of the drift car local track.  This time the track was done with a copper tape.

This worked well but left me wanting some more variety, something with scenery like a rally track.  And so the old track just lifted away from the table and a new piece put in.  Very easy and only thing that changes is the layout.

This track had a lot of work done on the scenery to finish off and was fun to make.

I should have stopped here, but I had made some mistakes in the construction.  Some of the turn radius's were too severe for a Carrera car guide, and also the cross overs were causing a few issues.  And so started the latest version to eliminate these mistakes and add a new dimension.

Note that the latest version has an all new sensor setup for the lap times.  Now all a track needs is an 18mm hole for the sensor to plug straight in to and can be adjusted for depth to get perfect readings every time.

This new track has a guide groove that really feels like a rally stage.  Too fast and it can deslot on a straight, let alone the coblestone bridge.  Issues with the braid sticking though need to be resolved before full landscaping can commence.  At a later date the Arduino is going to be replaced with a Raspberry Pi and a touch screen to polish it all off.

Slot Cars - Slot Table Woes

Having some issues with the braid on the new track layout for the portable table.  It seems that the ranges of temperature out in the garage causes the braid to come unstuck.  This having been done with the recommended 3M double sided tape too.  Need to research a stronger method to eliminate this.

Slot Cars - Banpro Starter Cars

Here in Japan the slot car racing scene does not appear to be as big as in other countries.  A reason for this could be the real estate you need in your home to set up a track.  You need a lot of space!  Because the market is not so big, there are not a great deal of places to buy the track or the cars, and both have a price premium due to their limited imports.  Because of this I am always looking at alternatives...

Enter a Japanese company called Banpro.  They make wooden tracks on a large scale, some of which you can find in the Japanese toy store chain Hakuhinkan.  Recently in these stores besides the major brand names for slot cars, a cheaper version has appeared with the stores own name on them.

The cars come in a various colours, and at the time of writing, two body styles - Volkswagen Beetle and Mini Cooper.

The cars have a metal adjustable chassis and a durable vacuum formed body.

Slot car racers may see a similarity here for this chassis and that of the Plafit range of chassis parts.  There is a good reason for that, Banpro and Plafit are one and the same company, with Banpro focus being custom built tracks and Plafit being high quality chassis parts.

Banpro Online Shop

This cheaper car does not offer all the bells and whistles of the main Plafit line, but it does give you some flexibility.

For racing the car can be made very easy to drive with the 4 round adjustable magnets.  You can change the height on these to adjust how strongly the car will hold to the track.  Be careful and ensure on plastic tracks with raised rails such as Scalextric and Carrera that these do not actually touch the track.

You can also adjust the wheelbase from around 60mm, right up to 80mm, giving you a good variety of body styles this can be adapted for.

This car comes with a fairly hefty guide blade to keep it in the slot - it is after all I believe aimed at beginners.  You may want to trim this down or even swap out for a more regular size guide.  Standard slat car guide on left compared with the one provided.

The cars themselves race pretty good out of the box and make a nice durable little car for younger racers.  Just a personal preference, they come mounted quite high for the body, and I just rather see them sitting a little lower.  The white car below sitting at the out of the box height, blue car is after moving the mounting plates.

These sell for under $30 and so I think a really good deal to get a quality adjustable chassis for some project cars and kit bashing.  Recycled a broken LaFerrari into a convertible and used one of these chassis for this.

TVR - Dash Removal

Dash Removal
Written by Darren Jones   

Sep 15, 2014 at 03:46 PM

Before starting to remove the entire dash which would stop me running the engine for a while, took one last go at running it and circulating oil etc and getting up to temperature and enjoy the real TVR burble.

That done so time to take a closer look at the mess behind the dash.  Did I mention some wires seem not connecting to anything?

The dashboard itself is just fixed in place by sliding into some slots in the dash base.  So all you really need to do is carefully remove all the meters/dials and lamps.  Just take plenty of photos and label the wires.  The lamps are "special".  You can remove the wires, but to remove the lamps you will need a soldering iron, so in my case, leave til later.

Finally the dash is out and can take a really good look at the condition.  I think the meters were holding alot of the veneer in place it is so bad.

She's now looking a little sad and will get sadder before getting better.

TVR - Dash Cover Removal

Dash Cover Removal
Written by Darren Jones   

Sep 15, 2014 at 03:18 PM

So the original dashboard is a little worse for wear and needs replacing.  New walnut dash has arrived from the UK so now need to remove the old one and now is a good time as a lot of the interior trim needs to be removed and recoloured.

The top leather cover of the dashboard is secured by just 3 bolts, but they can be a pain to get to.  There are two on the passenger side.  These are accessed by removing the "glove box" panel - the leather pocket under the dash.  To do this just undo the 2 screws on the top edge and the pocket will then flip down.  Now will have access to two 10mm nuts.  One in the horizontal orientation and one vertical....easy.

The drivers side single retaining bolt is a little tougher.  This one is in the corner of the dash close to the window upright.  To access this you need to get upside down in the drivers foot-well with a torch and spot it.  Once you see it, then access is not so bad, it's finding it that takes the time.

Once all 3 nuts are off the bolts you'd think it was straight forward to remove, but no.  The leather from the dash top and the leather of the window surround are probably a little fused from many years of leather cleaners and other chemicals.  Gently tease them apart to prevent damage, working from the passenger side first.  The passenger side should free up and then pivot on the remaining drivers side bolt, and then you get another gift from TVR.....the bolt is way too long to free from the body easily.  You will need to very carefully force the pieces apart to remove it.  First thing you should then do is grind that bolt down to a good size ready for the eventual refit.

Dash top off you can see the wonderful rats nest waiting for your attention.

This extends all the way across to the passenger side.  Take lots of photos to detail what plugs in where and what doesn't plug in anywhere.

Can see the cracks in the dash veneer are a little more than cracks.