[montoya1]

An interesting few weeks playing around with Mega-G magnets.

What is clear is that the chassis comes in a neutral downforce setting. Offer a magnet up to the traction magnets and both will react the same, both will repel or both will attract. I now have one of those telescopic jobbies with a magnet on the end, with a North face, in my pitbox so that can be checked quickly.

What seems less clear is which magnet to flip to get other settings, and what those settings do.

This is something I was provided with from the designer of the Mega-G himself:

Flip the drivers (US) side traction magnet over and this will give the car more downforce. Flip the passenger (US) side magnet over and you will get more speed.

There are other theories out there, but if anyone is going to experiment mark the magnets so you can return the car to stock at will.

 

[asjwood]

Interesting, I am fairly sure that the two I got in my AFX set didn't both have the same polar traction magnet arrangement so I had assumed they were put in at random! Since they appear unmarked I guess it would be easy for the odd one or two to slip out the wrong way round though.

Since getting my Martech and noting that the magnets had been coloured and purposefully arranged I had been pondering on the various possible effects of their arrangements. One of my hypotheses is that you should be able to arrange the traction magnets to enhance the motor magnets' field and improve your speed. I have yet to set out to try to prove this or investigate other effects though.

 

[montoya1]

The theory seems to be that if you make the right hand magnets the same, ie both attract or both repel another magnet, and do the same on the left hand side, you enhance the motor field and increase RPM. If you make it so that the motor and traction magnets are opposite you decrease this field and the traction magnets do a better job of creating traction.

From the factory one traction matches the motor magnet on the same side, the other is set the opposite, and that is a neutral setting. This is the theory anyway. With you magnets marked by Martin you can play around and easily go back to his settings if you get muddled. Don't bother trying to change the motor magnets around, they are handed - and the fact that the rear axle can only go in one way would mean there would be no point anyway.

 

[woodcote]

That's the simple way to do it from stock factory setting. Just mark the bottoms with a permanent marker (like a CD/DVD pen) and then flip out the magnet you want to change with a small screwdriver. Replace it un-marked side down. So the car in the pic is high-down-force.

The Mega-G is nice & simple as the arrangement of both the motor and traction mags has a consistent factory-setting.

 

[Jimb0]

Cheers woodcote,

Great info as always.

Jim

 

[montoya1]

Interestingly, it looks as if the Life-Like T chassis is set in low downforce as far as I can tell.

Be interesting to see if anyone picks up on this before Sunday and tries the neutral or HD setting in Nascar.

It is possible to get the magnets out without rendering the chassis illegal, but it is quite tricky and also not easy to explain. Basically flip the motor up part way out of the chassis at the pinion end, the look for a slight grove in the pockets the magnets sit in. With a small screwdriver you should be able to work the magnets up and out...

 

[woodcote]

The motor mag set-up for the Life Like T chassis is different to the Mega-G, so the diagram above doesn't work (in fact it is the reverse).

 

[montoya1]

The principles are the same though?

High downforce is generated by setting the traction magnet opposes the motor one, low downforce by making them the same, and the neutral setting so that the traction magnets are the same as each other...

 

[woodcote]

There are principles - and they are complex, involving the interaction of several magnetic fields (with the traction magnets' fields perpendicular to the motor mags) plus the electromagnetic field in the motor. All of which is completely mind-bending

But it's the end result that interests us - whether we get increased magnetic attraction on the track or an increased pull on the armature. The former gives a car higher downforce and the latter higher horsepower (and lower downforce).

Different racers in the US (and in the UK) have different ways of setting up a car for high downforce or high horsepower - and they use different words to describe what they do, like a 'shorthand'. But ultimately, the car is set up the same way, with the same magnets in the same places and the same way round.

So, yes, the polarity of the motor mags and the polarity of the adjacent traction mag is the key thing. But it depends on how you describe the motor mag, because the polarity is not an up-and-down thing, it's inside-and-outside

And it can - in principle - be done with any car that has two separate traction magnets.

 

[montoya1]

Gary Beedles recent video, which I posted in the tips and tricks thread, clearly show how to change the downforce settings on the BSRT cars.

 

[montoya1]

Bumping this for Lee Taylor.

 

[LeeH]

U sure you mean Lee Taylor??

 

[montoya1]

Yep, but handy for you too.

Clive will already have set your Mega-G up this way I suspect, but as the video in tips and tricks makes clear it works for all cars and I am happy for everyone to know about it...

Be sure to put paint marks on the magnets in some way that means something to you, so you can quickly go from LD to factory to HD just by looking at those.

 

[pne4ever]

Ok so quick answer please can life like mags be flipped to provide more downforce??????? God knows I need all the help I can get to stay on the track!!!!!!

 

[RobinRacer]

QUOTE (pne4ever @ 14 Jan 2012, 17:35) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Ok so quick answer please can life like mags be flipped to provide more downforce??????? God knows I need all the help I can get to stay on the track!!!!!!

Yes they can as I've done it. You just have to be delicate when removing the magnets and it involves taking out the can motor to get to them.

 

[pasiro]

QUOTE (RobinRacer @ 14 Jan 2012, 18:49) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>...and it involves taking out the can motor to get to them.

It can be done without touching the motor

 

[RobinRacer]

QUOTE (pasiro @ 14 Jan 2012, 19:49) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It can be done without touching the motor

You can get to them by drilling through the top of the chassis but that would make it illegal for WHO Racings NASCAR class. If you remove the motor and push them out then the chassis stays legal for our Nascar class.

 

[pasiro]

QUOTE (RobinRacer @ 15 Jan 2012, 10:09) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>You can get to them by drilling through the top of the chassis but that would make it illegal for WHO Racings NASCAR class. If you remove the motor and push them out then the chassis stays legal for our Nascar class.

They can be got out without drilling and without moving the motor

 

[Gareth]

QUOTE (pasiro @ 15 Jan 2012, 10:16) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>They can be got out without drilling and without moving the motor

Ok I'll bite. How?

 

[pasiro]

QUOTE (Gareth @ 15 Jan 2012, 16:15) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Ok I'll bite. How?

Find the slit with a small flatbladed screwdriver, push it hard against the magnet and slide it up, it'll probably take around a dozen attempts to get it moving but it does work.