Tom-375600

I do like to fiddle with the cars, but not sure I'm up for replacing gears yet. Seems like a good way for me to end with broken stuff! Its getting close to the point where its running well enough to invite the neighbor over and run some cars with another person, not just solo or with a pace car.

I finally cracked it. I've trued (sanded the tires) already. But what really helped, of all things, is to use the damp cloth and wipe it down before I use it, even if its only set for a couple of days. Do that, and wipe down the tires and all of a sudden, they have grip. The second thing I realized, for some of the digital cars, you gotta run it through an app so you can set a throttle profile. The Ford GTE is driveable now. Its still the most challenging, but its not a nightmare any more. I have some digital cars that I can just drop on there and they run/control fine without. But that Ford, the throttle profile did it. So now its just down to the small details to try to get worked out.

Finally had time to do some experimenting. I think the majority of my issues are car specific. I have a Ford GT GTE that is just too much. When I calibrate the car, it makes a full lap at 11% and deslots at 13%. That seems a bit tight on the tolreances. For my test today I wiped down the track and then ran about 120 laps in each lane with a variet of analoge cars. Fired up the Magic Arc App and calibrated the Ford as above. Then set it for a 40 lap race with just the one car. And on the normal profile it was hair trigger still. The diffence in squeeze between stop and too fast is minute. I did try to change the throttle profile in a second race, but that made it worse. I may have to go back to that. But its not good to have to have a throttle profile for one car. And this car still has the worst "connection" to the track causing surges over the lane changer. I ran another digital car after it, and the calibration spread was a bit higher. And the surges, while not completely gone, were a lot less and a lot less harsh. Thinking maybe its time to pull the plug out of the Ford and just run it analog. I still think my track is too slipery.. but maybe the Ford is just too light in the backend, even with the magnet?

Thanks for the thoughts, Andy. I don't have any classic track, maybe I can try rounding the tire edges a bit. I have read about that. I may end up having to break things down a small oval. Really hoping to avoid that. The digital cars.. I did some more experimenting last night. I think I am having power connection problems between the track/braid or braids/pickup. Some of the digital cars run really well. Ironically, my two best ones are dallara indycars (old) that have been converted to digital. The cars that were actually DPR seem to have the most issues. I will keep working at it. I did play a bit with throttle profiles in the Magic Arc App. The Scalextric App is buggy for me.

I've had an Arc Pro set for around 4 months now. Combined it with an old sport set to make a decent track. Couple of things I was hoping to get some clarity on: 1. The track seems slippery. I have sanded the tires down so that there is a lot more tire contact to the track. It made a difference, but its still hard to control. Does this get better with time as the cars get broken in and rubber builds up on the track? 2. Digital cars are hard to drive. Analogue cars are really nice. Good throttle control. Digital cars on the other hand, I'd say I can't use more than 15-20% of the trigger travel, and on some its less than that. The range is so narrow it makes it hard to slow down for a corner (without stopping) and then trying to accelerate again, if you go to far its screaming. Its like a hair trigger. Now, I don't tend to use the APP or the Magic App because I haven't found a great way to set everything up. I just want to go upstairs, turn the the thing on and run some laps. But is the only way I'm going to get better trigger control is to always run the app when the digital cars on on the track? 3. I get power surges. From what I read, this is where the braids lose contact and the chip reverts momentairly to analogue, which means full blast. The worst area is right around the XLC after crossing the following lane change triangle bit. Is my only option to move the XLC to someplace with a larger straight after? Oddly enough, I do not have this problem on the pit lane pieces, nor after crossing over the inside to outside crossovers I have in the corners. Its mostly just the XLC piece. I was stoked to get the digital set. But now I'm thinking I made a mistake. Changing lanes is cool, but driving is so much more difficult, even with practice, that I don't know how I can just casually fire it up and do laps with anyone else.

Andy, In Chatham, now. About an hour east of where you grew up! Right now, I only have 3 controllers, so the power thing isn't a priority. But shipping in Canada is $$$ so I was hoping to be able to buy 1 power supply and then turn it up to 30v/10amps and then just go for it. But I can probably purchase some cheap ones and send them to relatives in Michigan and get them in a month. As an aside, I just dug up an old thread on making your own Ferrite Man. Also found a supplier that has the components. Might make a few of them as spares. Going to eventually turn my fleet of indycars into digital.

Thanks Andy! Living in Canada the right power supplies are hard to come by. But its really a matter of impatience. I will take your advice and just round a second power supply and play it safe.

Thinking about getting a second power supply for the arc pro. Was wondering if it's possible to get a variable supply and just use that in one of the power ports. Or maybe a bench supply. #1, I don't know if this would work #2, would I have to double the volts and the AMPs or just volts or AMPS A new Scalextric supply is about as expensive as a cheaper bench supply. Just looking at options.