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My build 3 never quite reached the performance of the previous builds, so let's make the leap to piano wire.



Assembled some pieces including Retro Racer's home made slimline motor bracket and some .055 piano wire for the main rails.

Game on.

Dan

Hi Dan
Two questions from rookie :

Is solder stick 40w powerful enough?
What solder you guys use to solder piano wire to brass?
How to prep piano wire to solder better?
Ups that is more questions.

Regards Dariusz

Hi Dariusz,

I'm a rookie too with piano wire so take my experience with a grain of salt. I use a generic variable heat soldering iron with a max of 60 watts from my local Princess Auto store set at three quarters. Solder's the 60/40 variety of thin 22 gauge. Wire and brass surfaces are sanded and wiped then Lucky Bob's liquid acid flux is brushed on before soldering. The latter's really helped produce a cleaner soldered joint.

Some progress today.



The home made bracket proved problematic being out of square and with little room for the pinion/crown gears to fit. Managed to solve the problems with lots of filing, soldering the 10t pinion very close to the motor, installing flat head motor mount screws and using a small diameter 24t crown gear that needed some trimming of the boss.

Got the chassis reasonably "flat and square" as emphasized by Chris W. Runs well with what seems like better exit speed out of corners.

Side pans are next.

Dan

Thanks Dan

Your soldering looks very clean.
Looking forward to side panels.
What wire size you going to use to attach side panels and what diameter of brass tube you used for the front axle? Is axle sitting quite precise in it or is there a wobbling?
Regards Dariusz

Thanks Tin. Will do.
That what I did yesterday. My first wire chassis.

Dan, is your motor bracket made from three pieces of brass butt-joined & soldered at the corners to form the "U"? That's how the photos appear. Is that .062(1/16") thick brass you used?

Dariusz, that's a fine looking wire sidewinder chassis you built for your first. My opinions on some of your questions are: 1.) A 40W solder iron will do much of your chassis building. The exception will be if you work with a lot of 1/16" thick brass or piano wire bigger than 1/16" diameter, you'll need more heat. At that time, you could choose to get a bigger iron or one of the mini-torches. Generally speaking, "more heat is better" when chassis building. 2.) The 60/40 solder Dan mentioned is what to use. I've used others & some of them will stiffen a chassis to the point it takes several race sessions to get chassis flex. Use an acid flux for chassis building. Not only is it necessary for soldering piano wire & other iron to brass, it can also be used on brass to brass joints. Only on electrical connections do you want to avoid acid flux. Three good brands of acid flux are Lucky Bobs, Stay Clean, & Oatey's liquid flux. Hardware stores may sell Oatey's. 3.) To prep brass & piano wire, you can clean the pieces with fine sandpaper, steel wool, synthelic steel wool, or a wire brush. Also, something that helps prep piano wire is to pre-tin the wire with solder & acid flux & wipe it down while hot with a rag. Pre-tinned piano wire can usually be soldered by adding acid flux & heat without adding more solder. And pre-tinned piano wire doesn't rust because it has a thin coating of solder on it from the pre-tinning.

Sidepans installed with .032 wire as hinges and cross member fitted in 1/16" round.





All flat stock is .032 thick except the .064 guide tongue. Keith's home made motor bracket was milled from brass 3/4" square stock what looks to be .064 thickness.

Grabbed a slimline of unknown origin that has no shaft splines so you can rule out Scalextric or MRRC. Gear ratio is 3:1 with a BWA 8t pinion and SCX Pro 24t crown.

Will have the opportunity to test on three different tracks this weekend.

Fingers crossed.

Dan

Best one yet Dan!!!

Cheers
Chris Walker

Very nice build. Looking forward to some test results.
Regards
Radarek

Body's mounted with single posts, front and rear.



Will try side pan mounts and pins later to see if there's a difference.

Dan

Fits like a glove.
What clearence you have there for chassis?