Problems with wire and magnetism

[Bernd W]

Hi,

during my first track creation i am realizing that it is not easy to find to best thickness of plastering the lane. Is it too little, then the wire is higher than the whole lane, so the car "glues" with its magnet and does not drive anymore. Is the thickness of plaster too much, so you don`t see the wire, then the car has got no contact to the wire and drives where it wants. But also sometimes, if the wire is in "one line" with the whole lane, the car stops... So my question is: do you have a special trick or anything else?

PS: I have seen some videos where you test the car directly on the wire (without plastering). That does not work with my cars. The magnet contact is "too" hard and the cars glues on the wire. Or the wheels have too little grip. I don`t know...

Thank you,

regards

Bernd

[Keld]

Hi Bernd
The magnet can be adjusted in the car, this is NOT like faller car system, the magnet are not supposed to touch the track.
(I don't have my cars home, but i guess that I have around 1 mm between the magnet and the wire/track)

I had one car out of my 11 where the magnet was loose in it's holder and therefore the magnet touch the wire and the car had problems to drive, but a little glue in the holder and the magnet was placed correct.

I don't use plaster on my track I just make a 'slot' to the wire and glue it down in the track, and then paint it over.
I guess that when you use plaster you must be sure to removed almost everything over the wire, the wire must be in level with the track surface.


Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Keld

[Double Naught]

Hi Bernd, Glad to hear that you have built yourself a track! A couple of things would be noteworthy. You can go a little bit above the wire with the plaster and then sand some of the plaster away to get the height just to the top of the wire.
Also the self locking nut on top of the steering arm is adjustable (forgive me if you all ready know this), if you have a 2 mm nut driver (or pliers work too) turn the nut clockwise to lift it up and counter clockwise to lower it. If you would like to test your wire before you plaster you would have to turn the nut all the to lift the arm up as high as it would go. Each track you run on may have different high spots and you may have to adjust the arm height for best performance.

Hope this helps,

Paul

P.S. the bolt that goes though to the steering arm can sometimes stick in the up position, keeping the magnet on the steering too far away from your track.

[Raudi1]

Bernd

Both Keld and Double Naught give you good advise. Height of the magnet is very critical. Even 1/2 to 1/4 turn of the adjustment screw can make a difference in the handling of the car.

If you are still having trouble after trying this, then my guess is that your track surface is too uneven and as DN suggests you may need to build up the surface and then sand down even with the wire using a wide ( 4-6")level sanding block.

To assure a more level track surface we used the "Keld Method" and simply used a putty knife to push the wire in even with the track surface. This was both fast and easy and eliminated the need for sanding the surface flush.

Having said this I will caution that you need to take great care when cutting the grooves "freehand". Any slight wander of the groove will also cause the car to come loose from the wire. Because of this, glueing the wire to the board has its advantages as the wire will take a natural curve and eliminate this problem. I think if I were to build another track that I would use the glue down method for just this reason.

Good luck and hope these suggestions help you solve your problem.

[Bernd W]

Thank/Tak you all for your answers and tips! I will come back after testing it tomorrow.

[WesR]

All pretty good advice here. Plaster does tend to shrink as it dries although
a couple of coats of paint will probably bring it back up. Plastering is very
quick (if you know what you are doing!) Excess can be scraped off with
the straight edge of the trowell or a steel ruler before the plaster dries hard.
You must have a proper plastering trowell.
The card method may seem slow but success is guaranteed.