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by Julius (lordjw) |
Real racing world uses lightweight materials such as carbon fibre and kevlar extensively. Slotcar world is just beginning to discover these materials with introduction of PinkCar carbon body and Cartrix carbon fibre chassis plate. Since I like to always try something new I decided to have a go and build myself carbon fibre slotcar chassis.
Study of materials revealed that carbon fibre is very hard and lightweight, but will be shattered on hard impact. Carbon needs to be laminated with more flexible material for maximum durability. Kevlar or glass fibre can be used to protect carbon fibre. I chose glass fibre for its price and processability. I had also some kevlar, but it's very hard to cut kevlar - you should have very sharp ceramic scissors for this purpose. Chassis plate was laminated by using fiberglass and carbon fabrics. High quality epoxy resin was used.
From left to right, glassfiber, carbon fibre, kevlar |
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| Select clear plastic surface as laminating surface. Cover with mold release wax |
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Mix epoxy resin according to instructions. I used Elephant epoxy system 105.
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| Cover laminating surface with epoxy. |
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| Place sheet of carbon fibre fabric on resin, start pressing resin through the fabric. |
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| Soak fabric in resin fully |
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| Place glassfiber fabric on top of carbon fibre, add resin if needed. |
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| Place waxed mouse pad and piece of wood on top of carbon-glassfibre. Apply heavy pressure. |
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| Wait for 10 hours until releasing the piece. Time depends on resins used. |
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| You can achieve very rigid piece by having carbon fabrics in 45 degrees angle in relatio to car body. Chassis plate is cut to shape with sharp scissors. |
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| When constructing composite chassis you should have at least three layers of material in order to achieve hard, inflexible piece. Laminated carbon/glass fibre sheet was glued with epoxy to modified Revell EasyKit plastic chassis. |
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| You should be very careful when gluing the composite plate to kit chassis. Both pieces were placed on even surface and heavy pressure applied. |
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| Produced chassis is very rigid and lightweight. |
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| Ball bearings were installed to rear. |
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| Plastic guide holder was welded to chassis with acetone. Note that I have left plenty of plastic to frontal part of the chassis for protection. |
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| For alignment of the rear axle the chassis was placed on PCB plate. This gives about 1.6mm of ground clearance. Rear axle was glued with epoxy. Note that a sheet of carbon fibre has been glued to chassis to lift the motor about 0.7mm. |
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| Motor was glued to chassis with epoxy. |
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| Standard Scalextric gear and pinion were used. Ball bearings are from electronics surplus store. |
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| NINCO guide was attached (not glued). |
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| Revell EasyKit Audi body was assembled according to instructions. Driver figure was salvaged from another car and placed inside the Audi body. It would be nice if Revell provided driver figures with their kitcars in future. |
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| Finished AudiTT with ball bearings and carbon fibre chassis. Carbon fibre is clearly visible and gives the car chassis very distinctive looks. |
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| I was getting really anxious to get the car to the track. How would carbon Audi perform? |
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This car is really the best slotcar I've ever driven. Carbon chassis and ball bearings really make the difference. With very thin 0.7mm composite chassis you are able to achieve very low center of gravity. Ball bearings eliminate any free play on rear axle. The result being very quiet car with extremely good handling.
This was just a test project where body weight was not optimized at all, motor is low RPM low cost, tyres are thin EasyKit ones and gear and pinion are standard Scalextric. Just imagine what real racers could do with this kind of chassis by upgrading the other components. If you are into magnet racing then there's no idea in using lightweigt chassis. |
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I can really recommend experimenting with carbon fibre and ball bearings. Carefully constructed chassis will provide you the ultimate driving experience. I have about 300 cars from various manufacturers and there is not one car that could beat the carbon Audi in driveability.
Julius |
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