Gears
Question-
If one builds a metal chassis with an anglewinder, final gear
mesh can be adjusted by sliding the driven gear from side to side
on the axle because this effectively changes the center-to- center
distance of the motor shaft and axle. If the design is a sidewinder,
and the motor is soldered in, you'd better get it right. Anyone
have any tricks?
Answer-
I always solder my motors in, whether itÆs an anglewinder
or sidewinder and always adjust the gear mesh by moving the motor,
rather than the gear. Make the motor-box about a millimetre wider
than the bottom of the motor,
each side of the centre-line of the armature shaft, and you have
enough space to move the motor forward or backwards. You can bridge
any gap between the brace and the motor with solder. Another trick
is to use Sonic
gears. They make a range of 64DP and 8ODP gears, specially for
1/32nd cars, which all have the same diameter, allowing you to
change gear ratios with having to adjust anything. From memory,
the gears are all 15mm in diameter
and in 64DP come with 35,36,37,38 and 39 teeth.
Correction -
I should have mentioned that Slot, it employ the same principle,
which is great for Scalextric, Fly, Ninco, etc. cars and can of
course also be used for scratchbuilt cars.
The Slot.it ProAxle sidewinder gears are made from an aluminium
alloy. They are 48DP and are available in 34, 36 and 38 tooth.
All three gears have the same external diameter, making it possible
to change gear ratio without
moving the motor, which so far has not been possible on plastic
cars.
The Slot, it gears are a direct replacement for the plastic gears
which come with the home-set cars and for best results should
be used along with Slot, it pinions, rear axle and bearings. They
mesh superbly.
I see, in these parallel threads, a lot of ideas and outright
statements. Some are theory, some practical, and usually, no differentiation
is made. I have, however, chased a lot of bad ideas, gone down
blind alleys because of a Theory that did not account for all
the variables in place. Since then, I have developed an approach
when going to a new track(those that know me know that I like
to go visit some new track.) The first thing I do is check the
Contacts. First. Talking about the differences between Scaley
and Revell, the first thing you will notice is that Revell is
largely a flush steel rail, and Scaley is slightly raised. This
changes EVERYTHING. Remember the bit where Pete and I chant that
slot cars are a TRIPOD defined by the guide and the rear tires....
This is a real case in point. It is common for someone with a
car that works well on Scaley, to be tricky on Revell. The Revell
will feel slippery and the car will seem to suddenly go off nose
first with little warning. Why? Well, what is happening is that
the car which was riding on the guide, is now being dropped slightly
and the front wheels are carrying the car. The contact will often
be flaky, and the driver pulling the trigger and not getting the
expected response will sub-consciously adjust and give a little
more...too much and off nose first! Going to a routed track produces
a similar set of problems with the guide. Most modern routed tracks
have braid slightly depressed, usually .025 inch, but I have seen
as little as .01 and as
much as .o40. Anyway, this recessed braid reduces track maintenance.
On Jim HTs famous magnetic braid tracks(what a neat idea!), this
means that the magnitraction will be slightly reduced from a flush
rail Revell, or a raised Scaley. Anyway, older routed commercially
made tracks will be flush, being another variable. When I go to
the Vegas con, one thing I have to do is put a spacer on my guides
depending which sort of track I have run on recently. Being that
I have some cars that I have been running for decades, even my
ôcollectiblesö have screw mounted guides with plug
in braid to make it easy for me to change the guide set up from
track to track.
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11 guides & braids