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Post by ecbill on Mar 30, 2024 18:56:42 GMT -7
A few thoughts that may possibly help. The bodies can be a factor. Have had some where the shoes hang up on the sides of the dragster bodies. If they do, adjusting shoe alignment or trimming the body should help. You can run the chassis down the track without the body to test it. Front wheels are not necessary. A guide pin is.
The pre-assembled cars are lubed from the factory. The pit kits are not lubed from the factory and will require some sort of lubrication at every friction point or point of rotation.
Since you have a car with missing pieces, you can use its remaining parts to troubleshoot the other cars. Swap out suspected bad parts one at a time and see if it helps. Or borrow parts from the cars that don't run well, to see if you can get the one that's missing pieces going.
Having successfully assembled the pit kit, should give you the confidence to go ahead and tear into the cars!
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Post by pete on Mar 31, 2024 10:42:54 GMT -7
In discussion with a fellow racer, He thought to look at the brush springs and brushes. The brush needs to be flat and most important stationary as the armature rotates. A spinning brush or one that moves at intervals will produce the sound your describing. Scoring the bottom of the brush or a groove will help keep it still. That with a bit more brush tension. Try one thing at a time.
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Post by spereira on Mar 31, 2024 12:51:56 GMT -7
Thanks very much for the tips, folks!
I’ll keep at it and let you know if I achieve some success.
smp
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Post by AJR on Mar 31, 2024 15:54:10 GMT -7
Thanks very much for the tips, folks! I’ll keep at it and let you know if I achieve some success. smp You may have already found this on the forum, but there is a wealth of information on the 4 gear chassis in Tech Tips section. I have put the link below. You should be able to go thru here and gain a lot of knowledge and tips. The majority of this information can be applied to the 3 gear chassis as well. Hope this helps. nitroslots.com/board/26/4-gear-chassisI would make sure that all of the assembly lube from the factory has been removed and use oil after that. The AW rear rims are let's say....not very good. Very rarely are they true. If they are wobbling then your are losing power. A great alternate would be the Jag DR-1 rear rims. They are much better. Take the motor magnets out and spin the car by hand. Is everything smooth and free? Any friction is lost power. |
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Post by ecbill on Apr 1, 2024 13:01:28 GMT -7
Thanks very much for the tips, folks! I’ll keep at it and let you know if I achieve some success. smp You may have already found this on the forum, but there is a wealth of information on the 4 gear chassis in Tech Tips section. I have put the link below. You should be able to go thru here and gain a lot of knowledge and tips. The majority of this information can be applied to the 3 gear chassis as well. Hope this helps. nitroslots.com/board/26/4-gear-chassisI would make sure that all of the assembly lube from the factory has been removed and use oil after that. The AW rear rims are let's say....not very good. Very rarely are they true. If they are wobbling then your are losing power. A great alternate would be the Jag DR-1 rear rims. They are much better. Take the motor magnets out and spin the car by hand. Is everything smooth and free? Any friction is lost power. Checked out that link. Lost of good info there! Excellent resource. |
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Post by sandfly on Apr 1, 2024 16:06:53 GMT -7
Screeching sounds immediately calls out lubrication as a first thought. Where the lower end of the armature shaft passes through the bottom of the chassis I apply a small amount of engine assembly lube using a toothpick. Spinning the motor will draw the lubrication in to the shaft hole. I do this with the car assembled. Your favorite oil will work here too, but I prefer the assembly lube. A needle oiler bottle is great for applying oil everywhere else. Under the armature gear on top of the gear plate especially. Hi yes oil needed, we use a silicon grease but only a very small amount, just enough that you can only just see it and apply through the top of the bottom plate when assembling the chassis. wipe any excess of from under neath. |
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Post by spereira on Apr 2, 2024 13:59:41 GMT -7
OK, folks! Thanks for all your support and assistance.
After cleaning and lubricating, as suggested, I now have the 3 dragsters working better than they ever have. They remain dog slow, but the screeching is now gone and they run smoothly all the way down the track. By dog slow, I mean 2.1 seconds for the fastest one, and another 0.1 or 0.2 for the second, and 2.6 for the last one. This is on a full (scale) quarter mile track, and running at 16 volts (as usual for me).
During all of my disassembly and reassembly (and regretfully losing another gear when I forgot to put the top strap on one time), I am now noticing a bunch of things: rear axles that aren't perfectly straight, rear wheels that don't seem to have their axle holes perfectly at 90 degrees causing an interesting wobble, top gears that don't seem to really fit properly.
Now that I've been at this for a little bit, I am finally starting to see past the beautiful bodies and frustrating performance, and finally starting to see the mechanism and what's really going on. Starting to see, anyway.
Thanks very much to all of you for helping me so far!
smp
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Post by AJR on Apr 2, 2024 18:05:20 GMT -7
There is a LOT of lost time in those wobbly wheels. More than you might think. The loose cluster rivet on the top plate is another power robber as well. Anything that's not smooth and causes vibration is not good. But I'm thinking those times still don't sound bad for a stock build at 16v and a scale 1/4 mile. What kind of power supply are you using?
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Post by Steve-E-D on Apr 2, 2024 19:56:29 GMT -7
Now that I've been at this for a little bit, I am finally starting to see past the beautiful bodies and frustrating performance, and finally starting to see the mechanism and what's really going on. Starting to see, anyway. Thanks very much to all of you for helping me so far! smp You have taken your first steps on the path to slot car enlightenment. Glad to have you with us on the journey. I will have to try running some of my bone stock AW Dragsters @ 16v on scale 1000' to get an idea of how yours are performing. I run 20v as standard on most things. |
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Post by spereira on Apr 3, 2024 6:51:55 GMT -7
There is a LOT of lost time in those wobbly wheels. More than you might think. The loose cluster rivet on the top plate is another power robber as well. Anything that's not smooth and causes vibration is not good. But I'm thinking those times still don't sound bad for a stock build at 16v and a scale 1/4 mile. What kind of power supply are you using? I have this PS from Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B0CBM2D3DW?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_detailsThanks again to all for your ongoing tips and advice! smp |
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Post by sandfly on Apr 3, 2024 10:56:43 GMT -7
There is a LOT of lost time in those wobbly wheels. More than you might think. The loose cluster rivet on the top plate is another power robber as well. Anything that's not smooth and causes vibration is not good. But I'm thinking those times still don't sound bad for a stock build at 16v and a scale 1/4 mile. What kind of power supply are you using? I have this PS from Amazon: www.amazon.com/dp/B0CBM2D3DW?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_detailsThanks again to all for your ongoing tips and advice! smp Hi we use 2x 30v 10 amp adjustable power supplies, we run 18v, 20v and 24v races. Mostly on custom tracks with continuous power rails. |
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