[Ralph31]

We went over this in the warped chassis thread, which probably started with talk about the NSR chassis flattener. Why can't they just make a flat chassis to begin with? The answer is always money. How much are people willing to pay in order for a profit to still be made on a product that now costs more to produce. Slow down the machine to make better tires? More expensive tires. Most people would complain just as much, or more, about having to pay more for tires that are slightly more likely to not need truing before other preparations prior to racing. But, again, this is why some makers actually do produce glued and trued wheels with tires. I'll say it here like I said it there.... if you know of a way to keep production costs from rising while increasing consistency and quality in the end product, I'm sure they'd LOVE to hear about it.

It doesn't have to be an either or condition. I get it, they have an 8 or 12 cavity tool and just pump these tires out like Tic Tacks; no process control or quality control, just max profit. They could do a run right after the tool maintenance with added over sight and charge more. The customer would drive the market.
As for NSR's chassis; that's a more complicated tool, requiring stricter process control and mold consistency. I fought these battles at Apple, with the added complication of color, texture and reveals, one thing for sure, there's always a solution.

 

[MrFlippant]

Exactly. Max profit. Yes, there are solutions. I never said there were not. I'm saying that the solutions cost more than the slot car makers are willing to spend. I mentioned that there are glued and trued products on the market. Do you buy only those products for all your cars? If not, then you've just proven why it's not worth them doing. Even if you did, it wouldn't be long before you realized that you'd save money in the long run by doing it yourself.

 

[Ralph31]

What I meant by solutions is there are cost effective solutions to the existing tools. My thinking is the solution is between the expensive glued and true and something that isn’t out of round by over 0.3mm. Perhaps I'm wrong and the market is an inverted bell curve; most people buy either really expensive round tires or suffer with ovals.
The people in the middle buy the trueing machines.
I think I got my answer... thanks

 

[MrFlippant]

I love innovation and product evolution as much as the next guy. Like I said, if you have any insight to acheiving what you're suggesting, it certainly can't hurt to offer that expertise to your favorite slot car maker or two.

 

[Ralph31]

Yeah, agreed!
It would take a cooperative effort. They would have to share tooling files and I'm not sure they would embrace the effort.

 

[MrFlippant]

Yeah, agreed!
It would take a cooperative effort. They would have to share tooling files and I'm not sure they would embrace the effort.

Having no direct experience in the industry, I don't understand why collaboration would be necessary, but yeah... that's a non-starter unless you managed to get a job with them.

 

[Arkay]

Tire truers sometimes look like space or sci fi techniques.
What for ?
The only important requirements are

• absolute straight axles
• a grinding plate or drum that is fixed perfectly parallel to the axle
• bearings / bushings that are totally free of play.

If one of these requirements isn't correct, even the one million bucks truer doesn't provide useful results.

And IF these requirements are all fulfilled,
building your own much cheaper truer is no problem.

Roland

 

[Kevan]

Tire truers sometimes look like space or sci fi techniques.
What for ?
The only important requirements are

• absolute straight axles
• a grinding plate or drum that is fixed perfectly parallel to the axle
• bearings / bushings that are totally free of play.

If one of these requirements isn't correct, even the one million bucks truer doesn't provide useful results.

And IF these requirements are all fulfilled,
building your own much cheaper truer is no problem.

Roland

How do you make this cheap truer if you haven't got machinery to make it accurately enough?

 

[Qcar]

Back in the early 70's an electric drill held in a vice, initially carving, lathe like with a modelling knife finished off with sandpaper on a block, didn't get my first proper trueing machine (2nd hand Hudy) until 2019

 

[MrFlippant]

And lots of people still are perfectly happy with out of the box wheels and tires, or scuffing them up a bit on a piece of sandpaper on their track.

 

[MrFlippant]

Added a new machine that just hit the market:

CincySlots Tire Truer for 1/32 and 1/24 Scale Slot Cars -$150
- Sliding plate, built-in reciprocator, special brackets for Carrera 1/24 axles

CincySlots Tire Truer for 1/32 and 1/24 Scale Slot Cars.

CincySlots Tire Truer for 1/32 and 1/24 Scale Slot Cars. Please watch the video for more infomation. https://youtu.be/QxRq-xA0hfg

race.cincyslots.com

 

[KensRedZed]

Time is money. If you owned a money printing machine. How fast would you run it? Full speed 10 out of 10? How many hours a day? 24? Something has to give somewhere. Usually the QC.

Hey, got change for an $18 dollar bill? "Sure, you want three 6's, or two 9's?"

 

[Wankel Ickx]

Time is, indeed, money. And that's a 14.22-minute video of pure excitement and energy. 😱

The only saving grace was no heavy metal intro and I surely appreciated that. 👍

 

[Kevan]

Time is only money if you're selling something, I'm sat here with a glass of red, reading posts on a Slot car forum in my own time and money is irrelevant.

 

[merkit the grof]

I'm sat here with a glass of red.

Ah well, that explains it

Joel

 

[beardy56]

I'm sat here with a glass of red,

Shouldn't that be a half empty or empty glass 😂 😂