Anybody Doing SSD? Let's Talk

[btaylor]

Well, I took the bait. I made an offer on Ebay for a Digital race set that was opened but not used. I actually won the offer to my surprise, as it was far under what the "buy it now" price was. Sooooo, It looks like I will be attempting to follow Nor cal Mikes footsteps in this vintage /digital journey. No, I don't know where I am going to put this track? I have all current spaces filled, and no way will I be taking any of them down. so some very creative space usage is in my future! It may turn out to be that I convert the current road course to an Analog and digital set up, don't know yet. I have a lot to learn about digital,so it may be a temp track to learn all the whistles and bells.
After talking to mike, and looking on the web at all the cool conversion tracks, the temptation to have multiple vintage cars running at the same time, with fuel stops and actual pit stops and such, was just to great. We have been using just a fuel stop program on the road course, and it alone has added so much fun to the racing, that I cant imagine what the digital thing will be like!.
To ease the costs of this venture, I went with Scalextric due to the either/or functions of their system ( analog/digital) and also the chip size, and the remote sensor for running non mag.
Kinda looking forward to this, even with my very limited tech skills, it looks do-able. I will keep you all posted on my venture.

Bob

[Nor Cal Mike]

It will be neat exchanging info as we find it Bob. I have only scratched the surface. Did you get any cars with your track? If so, what kind?

[btaylor]

There are three Cars, Mclarens I believe, but they are the super resistant models.

Bob

[Nor Cal Mike]

Chassis donors!

[btaylor]

[Nor Cal Mike]

The early 4 car power supply will work with the late C7042 base. But the middle issue, C7030 6 car power supply is different and will not work. You will need 2 identical power supplies to do what we want to do. The best way for the money to get them is to buy 2 laptop chargers for Toshiba computers. They are the right voltage (15v.), have 3-5 amps each depending on which one you buy and have the right plug to fit the ports in the PB. You can find them cheap on ebay.

[btaylor]

Got the 6 car base ordered today. I found a great deal on a new one removed from a set. I thought I should start there, as it will be the foundation for all else as I see it. Now I just need more track! I played with a Scaley Guide last night seeing where I could put the sensor where it would clear some of the older bodies. If you shorten the guide blade a bit and drill a small hole in the base, a sensor can be mounted there instead of in the front, Might save ordering the special guides?

Bob

[Nor Cal Mike]

Cool Bob, That PB is the one that you want. Here is another thing that might help. I learned yesterday that the front ferrite man can be moved further away from the guide. As supplied, Scaley mounts it right over the top of the guide. This is problematic in cars with small frontal height/ area such as in the Strommy TR250. Armed with this information, I am going to start extending the ferrite man away from the guide whenever there is the slightest issue.

I agree with you about the desirability of the LED being in the guide. The LC sensor is in the bottom of the slot about 4" or so before flipper. The LED must shine directly over that sensor to activate the LC. With the LED mounted in the chassis, if the car is drifting when it crosses the sensor, the signal from the LED will not be seen and the lane change will be missed. That is why it is recommended to have one full straight track before the LC's. That is a problem if you want an LC in a twisty section. If the sensor is in the guide, there is no way, other than the car being out of the slot, for that signal to be missed and an LV can be mounted anywhere in your track.

[CVGshadow]

I think You guys know about the sure change guides, but just in case:

http://route1racing.com

then you do not have to drill any holes in the chassis. Just plug and play.

[Nor Cal Mike]

Yes and they carry the illusive ferrite men too which Scalextric does not supply at the motor end of their universal chips. You need one at each end of the chip to filter out all of the static noise created by the arcing braids in the guide and brushes in the motor. Good info!

[Nor Cal Mike]

I have been working on some major repairs in my house lately so haven't been to get back to working to my track lately. I thought I should give a recap on my experience with using the ridged foam sheets as a base for my lightweight tables. If I had it to do over, I probably wouldn't have used that method to build my tables. My reasons for this conclusion are that:'

1) The foam panels available to me locally is the type that is an assemblage of little styrofoam beads rather than the closed cell type. It isn't ridged enough for my liking and required more wood structural support to make it useable to my satisfaction thus negating it's purpose.

2) Foam board insulation panels give you no hard surface to attach anything to leaving no other method other than glue to attach your track to. I wound up gluing 1/4 inch plywood over the upper surface. This added weight and cost to my project. If you are satisfied with gluing your track down directly to the foam insulation then perhaps this method would be OK for you. For me it is not.

If I were to do this project over, I think I would use cheap, luan type, hollow core doors. I checked pricing at Lowes and found 36"X 80" blanks for $32.00. I could have done my current project with three of them using the same 1X4 around the edge to hold the panels together for about $98 bucks plus 1X4 wood. This is about same price as using the ridged insulation after the extra 1/4" plywood was added but could be assembled with a lot less fuss.

[seal666]

Mike, have used 2 inch owens corning insulation board both for model railroad and ho slot layouts. Did not know they usrd the pebble stuff, mime was solid. For my 1/32 layout I used metal studs for frame and 1/4 luan for the top. To your point #2, it gives me something to sink a screw into. You have me teetering on digital, but the cost of the base and 3 xover tracks will force me to stay analog for awhile longer.When you get your construction projects don look forward to your continued venyure into digital.
bob e

[Nor Cal Mike]

Bob, I don't know if you shop ebay but there are sellers there with bases in the $113 range. One was $109 awhile back and there were some a little higher than the $113. If you don't want the bells and whistles, the early 6 car PB can be had really cheap but it doesn't offer the analogue option. If you use the curved, single crossovers, they can be had pretty cheap as the double X overs are the newer and most sought after. The single curved cross overs have to have a slight modification to use them for analogue but that is as simple as removing a cover and snipping a ribbon to separate the two lane's power feed. There is a video with instructions on Youtube.

I like your metal stud idea. It is ridged strong and lightweight at the same time. However I am concerned about the sharp edges for my purposes. My 1X4 framework doubles as a guard rail surrounding the table as it extends up into the field of play.

Well, gotta go back to work. The sun is shining and I have my front porch all torn up for dry rot repairs.

Best Regards