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Post by GTS on Mar 6, 2018 10:12:15 GMT -7
Power supply sounds like lamination buzz??? I remember some power supply transformers being mounted on rubber mounts to quiet them down but your solution should help. Thanks for the input, Dave. I'll do a google search and see if any diy repairs come up for the "lamination buzz", maybe I could just tighten the bolts that hold the lamination's together? I'll get back to you on this. It is kinda old but hoping it can get me down the road till a better one can be acquired.
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Post by ecbill on Mar 6, 2018 15:00:02 GMT -7
I was expecting the Nomad's speed and magnetic downforce to roll up the cable behind it.
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Post by GTS on Mar 6, 2018 16:15:01 GMT -7
I was expecting the Nomad's speed and magnetic downforce to roll up the cable behind it. It fits in the slot pretty snug, really, but I'll definitely be gluing it in. Did some testing with different glues. CA holds the best but I'm not good enough to use it without makin' a mess and eye sore. So I decided on Titebond II yellow glue. It works good believe it or not. Easy to clean up and holds well. Takes a lot of effort to pull it out of the slot after 24 hours. I took a 1" x 1/2" neo magnet and laid it on the glued in cable, pulled it straight up and the cable never budged (did this a number of times). So in my judgement, I'm thinkin' a couple slot car neo's shouldn't have a negative effect on it. But then again, I've been wrong a lot .
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Post by GTS on Mar 6, 2018 16:49:49 GMT -7
Okay, here's another video testing some cars. You can still hear the power supply but it's not quite so over powering. I think it gives a pretty good representation of the noise level of the cable and I find it tolerable for my needs, ymmv. dave632, I looked on line and found some possible remedies for the buzzing but when I opened it up, it looked like a prop for a Frankenstein movie (no pun on your Mustang intended). The 4 capacitors in it are 3" x 4.5", geez. All the lacquer on the transformer looked intact visually. I did slip a couple inches of foam underneath it and that helped some but it's basically a hummer.
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Post by jjwallace on Mar 6, 2018 19:21:42 GMT -7
A good stereo with some Soundgarden at about 7 or 8 on the volume knob will clear that buzz right up
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Post by dave632 on Mar 7, 2018 13:49:47 GMT -7
Those are some big Capacitors. Sounds like the ones I got Frankenstein's heart going with!!!
Looks like the track is running good, power supply is much quieter now.
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Post by GTS on Mar 8, 2018 16:58:38 GMT -7
A little bit more got done today. First thing I did was fill this 15ml bottle up with shellac. Coated the bottom of the guide slot and it soaked up into the sides. Wanted to seal the slot in case of accidents. I use this shellac all the time on different mdf projects. It's thin, drys fast and seals the mdf so I can rattle can those other projects. I thought it would work good for this, we'll see. This shows roughly what I did for the voltage taps. Used some copper desoldering braid, folded it three times and stuck it in the slot & hole. It's not ideal but easy. I checked with an ohm meter after I glued and all the connections were less than 5 ohms, I can live with that. This is what I used to glue the cable in the slot. Another 15ml bottle and I added water to this about up to the top of the straight side of the bottle. Gave me lot's of control and there was very minimal clean up. All the cable is glued and laid. I had considered putting in steel strap for the slow down area but decided not to. The cable gives quite a bit of magnetic pull and I'm hoping it will be enough. Heck, when I was testing stockers the other day, they never even made it to the sweat shirt I had there, lol, and there wasn't any temporary cable there either. This 50' roll of 10 gauge showed up today along with a 100' roll of 22 gauge. The 10 gauge will be for the track power and voltage taps ( gawd that stuff is huge) and the 22 gauge is for the sensors and maybe enough for light bridges later. Well, that's it for today. I'm gonna go play now, as I'm sure that glue has set up good enough by now.
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Post by dave632 on Mar 9, 2018 12:13:32 GMT -7
Moving right along. The #10 wire is what I used on my track.
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Post by GTS on Mar 9, 2018 18:34:47 GMT -7
Moving right along. The #10 wire is what I used on my track. Thanks Dave! Yeah that #10 is humongous, should carry lot's of current some day Well, as far as progress goes, I got good news & bad news: the good news is I'm done, after all these years, fantasizing about building a track using 1/16" cable. The bad news is, it don't work, like I want it to. I mean it works okay but impossible for me with my limited abilities to hold any tolerances with rail height. I think it must have to do with the flex of it, don't know for sure. I ran a car down the track at 7 volts and it was extremely intermittent and then at 20 volts you could see where it would hesitate if you knew where to look. I could go on and on.Anyways, all done with the cable fantasy. Someone else's mileage may very well vary. Now onward. Went to HD and got a 200' roll of 16 gauge steel wire. They carry 100' of 14 gauge too, which is what I thought I was gonna get but I took my calipers and the 16 gauge was .063" d. According to what I've read, 16 g is supposed to be .05 sumpthin' and 14 g is supposed to be .063 sumpthin'. Anyway glad I took my calipers . Cut two 18' pieces of wire, did some backwoodsy straightening/stretching on them and super glued them down in one lane. Ran a car down at about 6 volts and it ran smoothly. Ran it at 20 volts and wished I'd had more towels at the other end . The track doesn't look pristine anymore as the super glue can be a little unforgiving but at this point I'm not concerned with the looks near as much as the function. .....to be continued........
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Post by dave632 on Mar 9, 2018 19:43:11 GMT -7
Good luck.
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Post by GTS on Mar 13, 2018 18:38:22 GMT -7
Thanks Dave, I'm gonna need it! Had time today to wire up some sensors for one lane. That all went smooth. I just did the start & finish for now so I could hopefully do some tuning on some cars. It seems to work okay, things are kinda cobbled together for now. At least it gives me something to go by. Here's a pic of the Drag RC software, it's what you see at the start of the race. Will be just using the on screen tree lights for a while.
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Post by ecbill on Mar 13, 2018 18:59:44 GMT -7
Moving right along. The #10 wire is what I used on my track. Thanks Dave! Yeah that #10 is humongous, should carry lot's of current some day Well, as far as progress goes, I got good news & bad news: the good news is I'm done, after all these years, fantasizing about building a track using 1/16" cable. The bad news is, it don't work, like I want it to. I mean it works okay but impossible for me with my limited abilities to hold any tolerances with rail height. I think it must have to do with the flex of it, don't know for sure. I ran a car down the track at 7 volts and it was extremely intermittent and then at 20 volts you could see where it would hesitate if you knew where to look. I could go on and on.Anyways, all done with the cable fantasy. Someone else's mileage may very well vary. Now onward. Went to HD and got a 200' roll of 16 gauge steel wire. They carry 100' of 14 gauge too, which is what I thought I was gonna get but I took my calipers and the 16 gauge was .063" d. According to what I've read, 16 g is supposed to be .05 sumpthin' and 14 g is supposed to be .063 sumpthin'. Anyway glad I took my calipers . Cut two 18' pieces of wire, did some backwoodsy straightening/stretching on them and super glued them down in one lane. Ran a car down at about 6 volts and it ran smoothly. Ran it at 20 volts and wished I'd had more towels at the other end . The track doesn't look pristine anymore as the super glue can be a little unforgiving but at this point I'm not concerned with the looks near as much as the function. .....to be continued........ Too bad the cable didn't work. it seemed like a good idea. Perhaps you could put some tape along the edges of your slot to protect the track surface from the super glue. Another possibility could be to drill hoes through the bottom of the slots and apply glue from the bottom side. Gel type super glue would probably be best for that method.
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Post by GTS on Mar 14, 2018 8:39:29 GMT -7
Too bad the cable didn't work. it seemed like a good idea. Perhaps you could put some tape along the edges of your slot to protect the track surface from the super glue. Another possibility could be to drill hoes through the bottom of the slots and apply glue from the bottom side. Gel type super glue would probably be best for that method. Thanks for the tips Bill. I haven't installed the rail in the other lane yet, so am thinking I'll try to be a little more inventive/careful with the glue application and hopefully I'll get better at it . At some point I'll no doubt re-do the track surface if it becomes a real problem with performance, don't know yet if it is. I did manage to fabricate a wire straightener, using various ideas from the web and it works real good so that should help some. Plus I put together a rail height install jig, which works pretty good but your tape along the edges idea would interfere with that so-o-o-o .... I'm gonna shoot for just getting better at the CA glue application. Heck, the yellow glue worked great on the cable but of course, not so good on the wire . Right now, I'm pretty jazzed about just being able to time some cars and find out what tuning works and what don't .
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Post by dave632 on Mar 14, 2018 11:36:05 GMT -7
Looking forward to seeing some runs down the track.
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Post by GTS on Mar 14, 2018 15:01:36 GMT -7
Looking forward to seeing some runs down the track. I'll take some pics and maybe some video, here in the next couple days. I ran the 57 Chev (that I sent to Jeff's) a couple times yesterday. It was about .15 seconds slower than on Jeff's track. I didn't bother to clean tires or track but that seemed substantially slower. I doubt cleaning is gonna make that much difference but we'll see. Not to concerned about being a slower track as long as it's consistent. This week has been one of those "life is like this" weeks but after Friday things should return to normal and I'll have some time to get things dialed in and post some results. Appreciate your help and encouragement! G
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