[Swissracer]

Ok, you know the old quandry...

You ONLY have 300 cars but there is ONE MORE YOU REALLY NEED and YOU NEED to true the tyres on them all so you REALLY NEED a tyre truer.....

You ALL been there right?

Ok..You can go TOP END - BIG BUCKS (loads of cars worth ) all singing all dancing tyre truer with attached performance software and motor analyser *...

You can go a little less top end but still a few cars worth HUDY jobbie...

You can go Lower end, maybe two or three cars worth of Quality German ReifenschleifMaschine ( probably spelt wrong and lost the Internet site for now.. more on it later

)

OR !!

Thanks to the wonders of Swiss' technology and willingess to adapt if it saves a couple of francs.......

You can build one of these. Actually I jest above for effect but I am serious when I say this is a wonderful idea and it works well...

It sits on top of your track, either way round but experience shows me truing tyres in reverse works best.
Apply Power, hold car on plate, lower tyres and true away!

Wood by - well anyone in the wood business I guess,
Nails and Staples and Glue by 'Useful bits for the great unwashed Inc'
Braid by Ninco in this case.

* = Kelvin Light Test Bench..damn fine machine...

 

[SJSlots]

RadTrax in the US have these for under $20.00. You just clip on your favorite power supply like this:

Then you can break in your gears on one side:

Or true your tires on the other side:

 

[jonny s]

There are a lot of gadgets out there to do the job but they all rely on the power of the motor to provide the rotation. This means that you are taking life off your motor and more importantly the gear, you have to be really careful. I saw Paul Darby (AKA The Guvernor and winner of T.V. series `Short Circuits ) do a much better and quicker job with a Dremel drill (£8 at B&Q on offer) . Insert the axle into the drill and power away with one wheel and tyre fitted at a time and sanded on a flat board with good sand paper stuck to it. Now you can get your tyres down a lot lower (great for magnet cars!) and no wear on the gear! Same idea for the front tyres and the guide is gonna sit lower in the slot on most cars.

 

[Mecoprop]

A very good point about wear and tear on motors and transmissions.

But the minuses for the Dremel method are

• 1. Axles must be removed from the car
• 2. At least one wheel must be removed from the axle and mounted on another
• 3. More difficult to get pairs of tires evenly matched
• 4. MUCH more difficult to sand evenly flat across the tread

Not to say it can't be done - it's just more difficult.

 

[jonny s]

It`s not more difficult. You don`t need to remove an axle either. Just use a blank standard axle spare and place this in the drill end. Same with the hub if you have a spare. Yes you have to watch the amount you take off but this method spares the axle wear and you can take a lot more off the tyre. Trust me, if this was more complicated then the lads at Phoenix Scalextric Club wouldn`t do it on a club night where they need to get sorted out quickly to race. I get over 200 racers a week thru the club..want to know how many gears I see stripped by over sanding? Trust me it works and can transform a car, e.g. the Scalextric MG Lola. With this treatment it sticks to the track like glue and is very hard to beat.

 

[Tropi]

QUOTE Just use a blank standard axle spare
Of course it then helps if you actually mount your wheels on this spare axle, one at a time.

Which means taking them off the original axle and presumably putting them back on it again afterwards. All a little bit fiddly and real opportunities to at least slacken and at worst damage the wheel hub.
I very occasionally use a Dremel equivalent, but only for a major grinding operation.
I wouldn't dream of using it for a fine levelling operation, because it IS more difficult to accurately trim both tyres separately and it is virtually impossible to know the car's final ground clearance unless the tyres are actually mounted on the car. But both methods have their place and all knowledge is useful - each to their favourite method.

 

[jonny s]

In the training world they say never assume knowledge. Well I have learned from, this post that I need to explain more fully. It goes without saying that you need to mount the tyres on a hub one at a time. No need to remove hubs or axles from a car .This does not ruin a spare hub or else I would not have suggested this process. In fact it`s best to use an aluminum wheel. Nor am I decribing something which I just dreamed up! I use this method as do a lot of my club members. it goes without saying that you dont attack this with brute force and a Dremel is not exactly nuclear powered! We are not talking about fine sanding clearly. Nor are we talking about non magnet cars so much. You need to take the tyre down in stages so that the chassis or sidewinder gear does not bottom out.A car that has it`s rear tyres sanded down a fair amount brings the magnet closer to the track and therefore `fine work` is clearly not necessary. Hope this helps those home racers that struggle with cars that crash too often. Try it on a Nascar for example and you will not believe the difference! Want more proof? Watch Paul Darby in the final of the `Short Circuits` series...he not only stays on the track but destroys the opposition, all of whom are racing the exact same car without any added modifications. It`s on Discovery Home and Leisure at the moment. `Seeing is believing`.

 

[Mecoprop]

QUOTE In the training world they say never assume knowledge
Good advice!
So, to clarify, we are talking two quite different operations here.

One is truing a tire and the other is deliberately grinding it down to a smaller size.
Can we agree that this is not the same thing?

Even after a severe regrind, I would strongly recommend that a fine truing, with both tires mounted on the car is going to be more accurate and considerably more easily achieved by the average slotter. Grinding the treads of two tires flat and perfectly parallel to each other, to exactly the same diameter, in two separate operations, is definitely beyond any but the most superbly experienced of hands - it is hit and miss. Some people have these gifts but, realistically, most of us don't.
Of course, you could use instrumentation to check dimensions, but that's expensive.

 

[jonny s]

That`s about the size of it. If you just touch the tyres on the paper with the Dremel then you only take a little off. More pressure for longer and a lot more will be removed. It`s not difficult and you dont need instruments, I`ve got kids at my club doing this. I`m not into the micro dynamics of all this, a basic job to improve the car performance is good enough, in particular where magnet racing is the game. Of course it`s no use worrying about tyres if your wheels are not true and if your axle isn`t straight and .......Can be quite complicated all this cant it but it doesnt have to be. I recently saw at another club event guys truing tyres to the camber of a circuit with mostly left hand curves! Makes you think.

 

[thomas]

...just use the "famous" Reifenschleifmaschine Swiss mentioned - it works great - and I use it on all my 1/32 and most of the 1/24-cars - as long as I'm not driving on routed tracks - but that's an other story. Swiss has lost the link to the webpage - but look by yourself!

 

[Jamie]

Hi Jonny S,

Thanks for the tips, the Dremel approach sounds rather good IMHO. Also the offer for acquiring a cheap Drill at B&Q, brilliant, will check it out.

 

[Intergrali]

erm.. dremel is a bad idea.. centrifugal force throws the tyre off.. it could get you in the eye.. absolutely no past ezperience of this of course!

 

[Tropi]

YEs, 30,000 rpm at the tyre (equivalent to 90,000 rpm from a slot car motor!), not many rubbers will stay in place!
Use a variable speed model and don't exceed about 1/4 speed and all is well.

 

[Guest]

QUOTE (Tropi @ 23 Sep 2003, 07:23 PM)YEs, 30,000 rpm at the tyre (equivalent to 90,000 rpm from a slot car motor!), not many rubbers will stay in place!
Use a variable speed model and don't exceed about 1/4 speed and all is well.

Advice well suited to most any guy, eh!

 

[Swissracer]

What was that you were saying about MALE testosterone Thomas?

 

[thomas]

...should I really a a comment? Better on phone or whilst havîng a drink - otherwise I'll be banned from this forum

 

[Wankel Ickx]

Ooh. A piece of wood with some holes cut in it.

I seem to remember getting into a whole load of trouble on another board once when commenting on one of those

Joking aside, I too have a version of this, just a bit of sandpaper stuck on a Scalextric crystal case base for that last minute trackside fettle. However at home I have a big eff off pillar drill replete with a selection of various axles with different hubs. Gets the job done very nicely, balloon tyre to elastic band in a jiffy. More power! Ugh, ugh!

Oh, nice one Tamara!

 

[Jimmy in Greece]

Swiss,
Is there suddenly a massive epidemic of out of round tires and wheels? I commented on a tire post over at Harry's and now I see this thread here.

I very seldon use a Dremel for tire work for the exact reasons stated by others here. I'm kind of spastic and sometimes increase the speed when I really want to stop the tool. Got the skid marks on my forehead to proove it. Also I've found that truing on the cars is better than off simply because you can balance with the whole drive train attached and small iregularities there can also be added into the equation. I don't usually swap wheels/tires between cars so this is the best solution for me. As for motor load. Light sanding shouldn't cause any significant problems. In fact, for us magnet guys there's probably allot more brush damage caused using brakes and then re-accelerating.

Jimmy

Oh Oh I just noticed that the people on this forum have to know how to spell (no spell check) Damn the bad luck.

 

[Wankel Ickx]

QUOTE Got the skid marks on my forehead to proove it.

Like it, like it!

QUOTE Oh Oh I just noticed that the people on this forum have to know how to spell (no spell check) Damn the bad luck.

You mean folks on other boards used to use the spell check? Not on the one I used to frequent they didn't!

 

[Tropi]

And a quick look there would certainly 'proove' that!