The whole world was holding its breath waiting to know how the coated hard tyres perform on bcg... :D
Well... as said in previous post I coated hard tyres with nails enamel but they had no grip at all (as expected); removing the subtle enamel coating from tyres leaves them softer.
I suppose they could be now considered a softer grade than hard tyres and an harder grade than medium tyres !
Those intermediate tyres works very well, they offer enough grip to race and they helps to drive good lines too.
After a good one hundred laps I decided to work the tyres in a "home made" tyres lathe (simply a dremel with a rear axle attached !!) to true the tyres and to round the wedges.
I destroyed a good couple of tyres !! the coated tyres had been destroyed by the nails file I used to grind them. I suppose those files are too aggressive to grind tyres, next time I'll use a softer sandpaper :D
27 February 2011
22 February 2011
Tyres tweaking for a better world... ehm for a better drive !!
In slot car's days we were used to coat front tyres with nails enamel to reduce front grip.
Sometimes it looks like less grip on the rear axels will aid our little bcg to perform better on our track.
So, several moons ago, I coated a couple of medium rear tyres with transparent nails enamel.
As expected coated tyres have no grip at all... so the experiment is a failure !!
But... if you remove the nails enamel from coated tyres you will discover that tyres are extra grippy now !
They looks like a "softened" medium tyres, a middle between medium tyres and soft tyres.
You can drive very nice lines with them, neat laps even if high grips tyres force you to make wider turns and reduce your top speed so you need a high revs motor or an acceleration gear setup.
On the other side rear hard tyres help to drive better too, hard tyres reduce spinning and lets you to accelerate hard without loosing the little car.
I coated hard tyres with nails enamel and they softened a bit too, I'll drive with those rear tyres and I'll write a report asap !!
Stay tuned
Sometimes it looks like less grip on the rear axels will aid our little bcg to perform better on our track.
So, several moons ago, I coated a couple of medium rear tyres with transparent nails enamel.
As expected coated tyres have no grip at all... so the experiment is a failure !!
But... if you remove the nails enamel from coated tyres you will discover that tyres are extra grippy now !
They looks like a "softened" medium tyres, a middle between medium tyres and soft tyres.
You can drive very nice lines with them, neat laps even if high grips tyres force you to make wider turns and reduce your top speed so you need a high revs motor or an acceleration gear setup.
On the other side rear hard tyres help to drive better too, hard tyres reduce spinning and lets you to accelerate hard without loosing the little car.
I coated hard tyres with nails enamel and they softened a bit too, I'll drive with those rear tyres and I'll write a report asap !!
Stay tuned
New "old" Stuff from Germany
Last week I received a shipment form Germany...
I bought some broken cars from a guy in a bcg forum.
Cars are quite crappy but I bought them for parts !!
A quick exam realeved that car's pcbs are without transistor, so I cannot recover transistors to modify other cars' pcb... too bad for me and my trains :S
Bodies are very crappy, usually they sits strange on the chassis and wheel rubbers on bodies :S they are brittle too, I broken a Toyota BB Deck when I separated body from chassis...
So, a very bad purchase ? well... it could be but,
but... but... all of them have hard tyres, front and rear ones... and they are pretty good too !
Nice hard tyres and they react very well when I coat them with nails enamel.
Motors looks strong too, they are the wired ones so I'll check them asap in a standard chassis (I'll solder a wash on the + wire and I'll try to mount it in a standard bcg).
Last but not least BATTERIES ARE GOOD !!! and it is a very good news because I was in need of good batteries !!
So, I think that it has been a good purchase !!
And the guy sent me a gift too... a wall climbing car with an IR remote... ;)
I bought some broken cars from a guy in a bcg forum.
Cars are quite crappy but I bought them for parts !!
A quick exam realeved that car's pcbs are without transistor, so I cannot recover transistors to modify other cars' pcb... too bad for me and my trains :S
Bodies are very crappy, usually they sits strange on the chassis and wheel rubbers on bodies :S they are brittle too, I broken a Toyota BB Deck when I separated body from chassis...
So, a very bad purchase ? well... it could be but,
but... but... all of them have hard tyres, front and rear ones... and they are pretty good too !
Nice hard tyres and they react very well when I coat them with nails enamel.
Motors looks strong too, they are the wired ones so I'll check them asap in a standard chassis (I'll solder a wash on the + wire and I'll try to mount it in a standard bcg).
Last but not least BATTERIES ARE GOOD !!! and it is a very good news because I was in need of good batteries !!
So, I think that it has been a good purchase !!
And the guy sent me a gift too... a wall climbing car with an IR remote... ;)
16 February 2011
A day at the races !!
Darko running some laps with Memersmann's new car !! Speeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedy
15 February 2011
a quick recap summary and a 15th Feb racenight preview !!
well, lot of things to do and done and very little time to write about them !!
our racing tuesday is going on, we raced last tuesday and we are going to race this evening !
Last tuesday, 8th feb, a new driver showed up, mr Todd with his brand new 40Mhz Honda S2000.
a very good start for him, even without too much tracktime he was able to give solid laps and, with a proper car's set up will be a tough one !!
The good ol' Memermann improved his lap time with a pair of hard tyres on his Lambo's back axle, he purchased a very good 57 Mhz Ferrari 512BB, white with red trimming. very fast and easy to tame car, he will be a runner up for tonight race (actually last time he was in A final and won a heat with now repainted green lambo).
Darko, track record's holder, is everytime a fast guy, but with a wrong setup was not fast enough to reach A final but, in the next race, he changed its Lancer Evo's setup and gained the B final versus myself... and he beated me 2-0 !!
V3g4 showed up and drove a lot of laps in he free practice but was forced back home before the qualification heat, he too was a good driver even with not so much practice.
I hope that Kuki will join the frag this night, he rented his car to V3g4 but it is not a problem to borrow him a car !
In the meantime I finished a 4 + 4 battery charger, now it can hold 8 bit charg cars and can charge 4 cars with a precise discharging/recharging automatic cycle and can charge the other 4 cars with human supervision.
Every single car is charged individually so I hope to optimize battery lifes.
Next time I'll mount a timer and an automatic switch off on the charging bank !
our racing tuesday is going on, we raced last tuesday and we are going to race this evening !
Last tuesday, 8th feb, a new driver showed up, mr Todd with his brand new 40Mhz Honda S2000.
a very good start for him, even without too much tracktime he was able to give solid laps and, with a proper car's set up will be a tough one !!
The good ol' Memermann improved his lap time with a pair of hard tyres on his Lambo's back axle, he purchased a very good 57 Mhz Ferrari 512BB, white with red trimming. very fast and easy to tame car, he will be a runner up for tonight race (actually last time he was in A final and won a heat with now repainted green lambo).
Darko, track record's holder, is everytime a fast guy, but with a wrong setup was not fast enough to reach A final but, in the next race, he changed its Lancer Evo's setup and gained the B final versus myself... and he beated me 2-0 !!
V3g4 showed up and drove a lot of laps in he free practice but was forced back home before the qualification heat, he too was a good driver even with not so much practice.
I hope that Kuki will join the frag this night, he rented his car to V3g4 but it is not a problem to borrow him a car !
In the meantime I finished a 4 + 4 battery charger, now it can hold 8 bit charg cars and can charge 4 cars with a precise discharging/recharging automatic cycle and can charge the other 4 cars with human supervision.
Every single car is charged individually so I hope to optimize battery lifes.
Next time I'll mount a timer and an automatic switch off on the charging bank !
02 February 2011
A really entertaining racing night !! – part one
It’s 01:36 AM, I’m back home and I’m going to sleep...
a very good racing night is just finished, and I’m happy about it :D
Darko, Memersmann and myself spent last night to race with bitchar; Darko showed up first, after a working shift, we chatted a little, waiting for Memersmann and charging the cars.
Meanwhile we started the practice session, I tested the “battery moved car” (actually a white Nissan Skyline) with four hard tyres and a 2.6 orange motor... satisfying car but useless because Memersmann’s only car has the same freq, 27 Mhz!
Darko tested a Mini Cooper 35 Mhz with medium/soft tyres and a very fast black motor... at first the car was a very good one but, after some laps, it was steering loose.
We exchanged Mini’s body with a S2000 but the problem was still there; a quick inspection revealed nothing wrong or mismounted in the steering.... a real mistery, so the blue Mini was replaced by his red Mitsubishi Lancer with medium/soft tyres and a solid 2.6 orange motor.
Memersmann left his body at home so I borrowed him a Nissan Gloria body without rear wings but he exchanged it with yellow and blue Lamborghini Countach while I was away to solder a charging pad !!!!
31 January 2011
do not mess with Tomy lap counter...
Yesterday I tried to enhance Tomy lap counter's triggering distance in a easy way...
This lap counter is a simple and reliable item, but we are experiencing a bit too much missed laps... it is not its fault, our track is too large and we do not use the mandatory reflecting pad shown in the picture.
So we are moving to a computer based lap counter with photo resistor triggered by passing car; it will use home made sensors wired to parallel port and the software is a very good and simple to use win-based free program made by Gregory Braun for slotcar timing (more info on his website hoslotcarracing.com).
Meanwhile I made a last chance mod to Tomy lap counter... I opened it and soldered an external battery case to boost power feed from 3,0 V (2 x AAA) to 4,5 V (3 x AA).
Well, it simply doesn't work... with higher power the lcd screen flickers a lot and triggering distance is REDUCED and not enhanced !!!
Epic fail this time, mr Icandoit !!
So I unsoldered the battery pack and restored it to its original status... everything is fine now, lcd screen doesn't flicker and triggering distance is back to almost 10 cm... I'll try a small mirror to enhance triggering distance, stay tuned !!
------------------------------
Edit
------------------------------
I solved the problem with a small cd piece, it reflects IR light very well and now it doesn't miss a lap !!
Everything is fine but I'll work on pc based lap counter ;)
This lap counter is a simple and reliable item, but we are experiencing a bit too much missed laps... it is not its fault, our track is too large and we do not use the mandatory reflecting pad shown in the picture.
So we are moving to a computer based lap counter with photo resistor triggered by passing car; it will use home made sensors wired to parallel port and the software is a very good and simple to use win-based free program made by Gregory Braun for slotcar timing (more info on his website hoslotcarracing.com).
Meanwhile I made a last chance mod to Tomy lap counter... I opened it and soldered an external battery case to boost power feed from 3,0 V (2 x AAA) to 4,5 V (3 x AA).
Well, it simply doesn't work... with higher power the lcd screen flickers a lot and triggering distance is REDUCED and not enhanced !!!
Epic fail this time, mr Icandoit !!
So I unsoldered the battery pack and restored it to its original status... everything is fine now, lcd screen doesn't flicker and triggering distance is back to almost 10 cm... I'll try a small mirror to enhance triggering distance, stay tuned !!
------------------------------
Edit
------------------------------
I solved the problem with a small cd piece, it reflects IR light very well and now it doesn't miss a lap !!
Everything is fine but I'll work on pc based lap counter ;)
26 January 2011
A new track record
Hi guys,
last night my friend Darko made a time attack session to broke my track record...
well, he did it, the new track record is set to 6"19 !! AMAZING
team's engineers are at work to make a new setup and let me battle again !!
last night my friend Darko made a time attack session to broke my track record...
well, he did it, the new track record is set to 6"19 !! AMAZING
team's engineers are at work to make a new setup and let me battle again !!
25 January 2011
Bitchar G Track
This is my latest bcg track.
current lap record is 6"71 set by a battery modified Shen Qi Wei Skyline GT 27 Mhz (click here to know about this mod)
It is a nice heavy cardboard track with a narrow lane and good curves, you really need to drive clean and cannot drive hitting barriers if you want to lap a decent time.
Barriers are cardboard and they slow down the car very much.
measure: 170 cm x 110 cm - lane 15 cm
current lap record is 6"71 set by a battery modified Shen Qi Wei Skyline GT 27 Mhz (click here to know about this mod)
It is a nice heavy cardboard track with a narrow lane and good curves, you really need to drive clean and cannot drive hitting barriers if you want to lap a decent time.
Barriers are cardboard and they slow down the car very much.
measure: 170 cm x 110 cm - lane 15 cm
24 January 2011
Another attempt to revive old batteries !
As you know, I'm restoring old bitchar-g cars, clone bullets were on the bench this evening.
A lot of my old bcg have broken batteries so the "job" this time was to check half dozen cars and related batteries; as usual 5 of 6 batteries leaked acid !
I polished both batteries poles and cars contact with my Dremel; then I decided to recharge dead batteries with a charging current of 220 mAh for 20 minutes.
The four batteries has been marked C01 to C04 in order to trace their results; all of them were slightly warm after charging for 20 minutes.
C01 and C02 gave me more than half hour of solid running, I used them to check several motors and to battle with Darko who joined the party later; I left C03 and C04 sit overnight on the bench without connecting them to cars, I will try them tomorrow. I wonder if those two will retain the charge.
Good news about motors, I checked some good motors, only two were stuck;
I discovered a very good chassis too, that car has a good steering and has been promoted officially to be a "race car" :D
I hope that those batteries could be saved, stay tuned to discover if I need a tons of new batteries :D :D
------------------------------
Edit
------------------------------
The day after those batteries were discharged almost entirely but after a quick charge they have been used in two cars without problem.
I have not enough data to make a statement but MAYBE I saved those four batteries!!
A lot of my old bcg have broken batteries so the "job" this time was to check half dozen cars and related batteries; as usual 5 of 6 batteries leaked acid !
I polished both batteries poles and cars contact with my Dremel; then I decided to recharge dead batteries with a charging current of 220 mAh for 20 minutes.
The four batteries has been marked C01 to C04 in order to trace their results; all of them were slightly warm after charging for 20 minutes.
C01 and C02 gave me more than half hour of solid running, I used them to check several motors and to battle with Darko who joined the party later; I left C03 and C04 sit overnight on the bench without connecting them to cars, I will try them tomorrow. I wonder if those two will retain the charge.
Good news about motors, I checked some good motors, only two were stuck;
I discovered a very good chassis too, that car has a good steering and has been promoted officially to be a "race car" :D
I hope that those batteries could be saved, stay tuned to discover if I need a tons of new batteries :D :D
------------------------------
Edit
------------------------------
The day after those batteries were discharged almost entirely but after a quick charge they have been used in two cars without problem.
I have not enough data to make a statement but MAYBE I saved those four batteries!!
23 January 2011
A new hope… and a different approach ! :D
Today, after a quick lunch with my friend Darko, I was restoring some old bitchar-g cars while he was testing some restored cars on the track after fixing the crono.
Those restored cars are very good so we lowered the track record, lapping it under 7 seconds; I was the first to lap it in 6”88 but Darko, in the evening, lowered it again to 6”74... amazing !!
Our previous record laps were a lot higher, ranging from 7”35 to 7”90....
The cars we were running are Shen Qi Wei, called “bullet clones” in the good old days; nowadays those cars have a common problem... internal batteries are broken and some batteries leaked acid too, corroding the battery contacts in the car.
Sometime the acid leak is a minor problem and you can fix it with a quick Dremel run, removing oxidation from metal contacts and polishing battery’s poles... but sometime acid literally destroyed the car’s metal contact and it is a major problem !!
In the past I tried to restore metal contacts with a solder job or using hot glue and similar methods but today I used a different approach.
It is hard to find micro batteries 1/3AAA with the correct height and diameter (15mm and 10mm respectively), locally I can find similar batteries but slightly bigger (18mm x 10mm), big enough to not fit in the bcg battery’s compartment.
A car with broken metal contacts and a too big to fit battery... not a pleasant situation !
After some head scratching I decided to mount the battery in a different position, moving it toward the front of the car and putting it just after the steering compartment.
So I soldered a couple of wire from battery to charging pads and from battery to bcg board so the electrical connections are restored; I cannot swap the battery without desoldering the whole stuff but who cares, I rarely changed batteries even it the old days...
The car has now a different weight distribution and, surprise, cornering ability is improved !!!
Improved even a bit too much, this little car now perform very sharp turns and cornering radius is decreased; it has an habit to spin out if you do not ease on the throttle when cornering...
A “jumpy” car with a good 2.6 motor is not easy to drive and it is not a fast car on my track so after a dozen laps in the high 10” a pit stop was needed !!
In the pit I mounted hard tyres on the back wheels and started to tame the beast.... lap after lap the car was a solid runner and, thanks to the discharging battery, was easier to drive (I charge batteries with an external charger so we have almost 20/30 minutes of running).
The final result was a stunning 6”71 lap, new track record !! ;) and, last but not least, I can use that easy to find batteries to restore broken bcg with corroded metal contacts and transform them in sharp turner !!
I’ll take some picture to show what I have done, those batteries are used in cordless telephone so every consumer electronic store should stock them.
Another experiment will be to mount a battery along car’s middle line and, maybe, moving it forward or backward you can change car’s turning and accelerating behaviour... like you do with ballast in real racing touring cars !
Stay tuned, maybe I’ll experiment this solution this evening !!
17 January 2011
Project List - Lista progetti
Currently I'm working on several projects... as usual I'm a jack of all trades and master of none... so let me introduce you to my project list !
Project list - old stuff, started at least in 2010
to do list:
Project list - old stuff, started at least in 2010
- Finishing my Slot car track
- layout defined
- track pieces and cork borders temporarly layed and fixed with tape
- electrical power supply and controller connected - you can race !
- mounting track pieces and borders definitely with ahesive/screw
- build border's external barrier with bristol cardboard
- build and install computer lap timer with phototransistors /photo diodes or photoresistors
- add scenery, bells and whistles !
- Revamping micro RC track and restoring bit char g cars
- track built last year, finished painting road stripes - just adding bells and whistles
- tried many bcg
- restored a dozen cars
to do list:
- need to buy replacement batteries
wow... the firts post ! - capperi, il primo post !
mmm... the first post... not a simple affair !
I'll try to write this blog both in english and in italian language.
Usually I'll write the first part in english and the second part in italian. both parts will contain the same information. If I do not have enough free time I'll post in english only !!
I'll try to write this blog both in english and in italian language.
Usually I'll write the first part in english and the second part in italian. both parts will contain the same information. If I do not have enough free time I'll post in english only !!
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