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New Chassis Coming Soon

Posted: Sun 14. Aug 2016 21:18
by Ned
Have you been wanting to convert your favorite slot car into a more realistic magracing car with a great body and cool wheels & tires? In about 2 weeks I’ll have a new chassis kit available for sale at Shapeways.com. It will have an adjustable wheelbase from 2.80” to 3.40” compared to the standard chassis with a fixed wheelbase of 3.0”. It will be only 1.85” wide compared to the stock chassis which is 2.14” wide. The front suspension beams will be more than .20” shorter, allowing for a front track that is likewise, shorter. The design also allows for a shorter rear track. In addition, the chassis will be much thinner. Because of the low side profile, you will be able to use most or all of the body interior.

The first Chassis Kit, CK1, will consist of 3 components, a base frame, a frontend kit, and a motor pod. It will weigh 10 grams less than a stock chassis. The lower weight of this chassis will offset most of the higher weight of highly detailed injection molded slot car bodies. All of the parts in CK1 will be made from nylon plastic using a 3D printer. It is designed to use the steering coil, printed circuit board, battery, motor, gears, axles, wheels, and some of the screws, nuts and magnets of a standard magracing chassis. A few other screws and magnets will have to be purchased separately. For your convenience, I plan to offer packages of these miscellaneous items for sale directly from me.

A second Chassis Kit, CK2, will be available about 3 weeks later. It will be very similar, with two main differences. First, the wheelbase will be adjustable from 3.20” to 3.80”. Secondly, this kit is designed to use wheels & tires, as well as 3/32” front & rear axles, like those used in most 1/32 slot cars.

The frontend kits CK1 & CK2 are designed with 1 degree of positive toe (toe in) and 2 degrees of negative camber. I expect both to help reduce frontend shimmy that is common with the stock chassis. You will be able to buy the base frames, frontend kits, and motor pods separately.

About a month later I expect to have a chassis for the modern LMP race cars. That chassis will use an inline motor arrangement. By that I mean, the motor shaft will run parallel with the length of the chassis instead of perpendicular, as is the case for the stock chassis now. It also will have an adjustable wheelbase and use many of the other parts of stock magracers.

Instructions for assembling these chassis and mounting them to 1/32 scale bodies will be provided within this forum under Car building > Ned’s cars, courtesy of Keld.

If you would like some feature that is not mentioned, let me know. I might be able to incorporate it in the future. I will let you know, via this thread, when these chassis are ready to order at Shapeways.com . Please let me know if you have any questions.

Ned

Re: New Chassis Coming Soon

Posted: Mon 15. Aug 2016 20:32
by MagRacer
Hi Ned,
Good news.
Looking forward to see your chassis :-)

Re: New Chassis Coming Soon

Posted: Mon 15. Aug 2016 22:00
by HeliumFrog
Hi Ned

Good news. We are hoping that 2016 is the year for Magracing (It's been a long time coming!). The development of alternative chassis is really needed. I am particularly keen to see the longitudinally mounted motor as this will be a tight squeeze.

Re: New Chassis Coming Soon

Posted: Tue 30. Aug 2016 04:55
by Ned
Chassis Kit CK1, for small 1/32 cars, can now be ordered at https://www.shapeways.com/product/QXW7Q ... d=60568679
The version available now is the 5th one I have designed. It is the smallest. It was printed today and is in transit to me. Although I have not yet assembled and tested this one, I'm sure that it will work fine. Instructions for assembling CK1 are posted here viewtopic.php?f=28&t=614

Chassis Kit CK2, for large 1/32 cars, can also be ordered now at https://www.shapeways.com/product/LUTD9 ... d=60589113
This chassis kit was also printed today and is in transit to me. While the design of CK1 and CK2 are similar, and they share some of the same parts, there are significant differences. This kit for larger cars has never been assembled and tested but I expect it to work very well. I expect to finish posting the instructions for CK2 within a week.

If you have any suggestions for modifying CK1 or CK2 please let me know.

Re: New Chassis Coming Soon

Posted: Tue 30. Aug 2016 22:53
by BriG
Hi Ned,

I've been following your efforts of developing these new chassis with great anticipation. My question, and I don't know if it would be you who could provide me the best answer or not, is would the necessary electronics and motor/drive gear be available separately to piece together a magracer using an existing slot car and your chassis or will a complete magracer need to be acquired outright first in order to get everything needed to make the conversion? Obviously those who already have magracers are ready for action, but I have yet to join that fraternity.

Any thoughts would be helpful.

Thanks

Brian

Re: New Chassis Coming Soon

Posted: Wed 31. Aug 2016 00:38
by Ned
In addition to an existing slot car and one of my chassis kits, you need 4 critical components to make a car:
1. Stock motor with 8 tooth pinion gear
2. 30 tooth gear for rear axle (28 or 32 teeth would probably also work okay.)
3. Steering coil
4. Printed circuit board (PCB) with needed electronics

Wes Raynor, aka WesR on this forum, may have some motors and pinion gears in stock. He originally developed magracing. Wes may also have a 30 tooth gear and steering coil. These parts are unique to magracing. Keld may also have some of these for sale. In the past these parts could not be bought new in small quantities except from Wes & Keld. (You may be able to buy a 28, 30, or 32 tooth gear for a 3/32" dia axle, from a slot car shop. A stock magracer has a 2mm rear axle.)

The most difficult part to obtain is the PCB. It is unique. I'm quite sure that Wes has none of these in stock and won't be getting any. I understand that Wes sold his magracing business to Martin Price, aka HeliumFrog on this forum. I don't know if Martin bought all of Wes's parts inventory or not. I believe Martin is working on the development of new electronics for the car, probably based on the Arduino board. Don't forget you also need a transmitter/controller to control the car.

I suggest that you look at Keld's shop http://butik.slotworld.dk/produkt-kategori/magracing/ about buying a new stock chassis and transmitter/controller. He may have some in stock. If not, contact HeliumFrog about the availability of the car electronics separately. If you can get the electronics for the car and a matching controller, I'm certain that either Wes or Marin will have the motor, both stock gears, and steering coil.

Please let us know what you discover. Good Luck!