Alt-BEAM Archive

Message #03929



To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: Richard James Zeigler rzeigle@tiger.lsuiss.ocs.lsu.edu
Date: Sat, 29 May 1999 01:47:02 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: SE-lot car races



I put an SE in one of those X-V Racers...I don't know what kind of cap is
in it but it is huge (in value not size). It takes forever to charge but
when it finally
fires up the little critter can really move. Usually right into the
nearest wall and tumping over (it never occured to me to put it on a
track). I tried using the standard 4700 cap but
the motor is too crummy to even turn the shaft with no load. I am in the
process of trying to replace the motor with a more efficient one.

Quick question: are y'all actually using slot cars (the kind with the
keeper pin on the botton of the car and a grove in the center of the
track) or are y'all just using slot car as a more generic term. I wonder
because I have not seen a true slot car in ages and was not even sure they
were still in production.

BTW I found a nice little airplane that works on same principle as the X-V
Racers (battery charges a large cap and then it flies off). It is free
flying with no RC. It has a set screw for the rudder so you can adjust it
to fly straight or in a circle. One problem...all the electronics are
packaged in the body of the plane which is made of formed styrofam making
them very hard to get at without causing more than cosmetic damage to the
plane. Does any one have any suggestions on how I might proceed without
ruining the the styrofoam body?
FYI...it is called a Skybot and the kit is produced by Cox and it cost
around $30.00

Z


-------------------------------------------------------
Samuel L. Jackson should have had a bigger part!



On Fri, 28 May 1999, James Taylor wrote:

> Whata know, I'm about to build a solar powered
> train set. First one will be DC run from a Big 12
> Volt Solar cell. The second one I hope to run each
> car from solar power....something to do over the
> summer :)
>
>
> --- Richard Piotter wrote:
> > If I see one, I'm buying it and BEAMifying the slot
> > cars and setting it
> > up by my window! I personaly would prefer fairly
> > equalized cars on their
> > own tracks and racing them. Hehe! :)
> >
> > Off subject, I was thinking of using magnets mounted
> > under roads on my
> > model railroad and place cars with attracting
> > magnets in the front and
> > back. Unfortunately, I had no clue how to run it. Of
> > course you can't
> > REALy place a solar panel on it, but maybe using
> > electromagnets.
> > Unfortunately that would get expensive. My cars are
> > about an inch long
> > and 1/4 inch tall, so motorizing them is not an
> > option. Anyway, I just
> > thought of that. Havn't worked on it for a while
> > though. No cash (rather
> > it's all to school and robots! Hehe! :)
> >
> > I wish I had some single pin sockets to solder to my
> > Nv net board for
> > Spyder. I could buy them, but I don't want to wait
> > (waiting is the
> > hardest part :) so maybe I'll just use a block
> > header socket. Or maybe
> > I'll buy the 20 pin inline socket anyway, though it
> > has terminals like
> > an IC socket. How are those at holding a wire
> > plugged in (single male
> > header or bus wire)?
> >
> > Dave Hrynkiw wrote:
> > >
> > > At 08:33 PM 5/27/1999 , Richard Piotter wrote:
> > > >Speaking of slot cars, has anyone even made a
> > solar engine slot car
> > > >race. Actualy build SEs into the slot cars, and
> > place them on a track.
> > > >
> > > >"Place your bets now!" Hehe! (:
> > > >
> > > >I want to see THAT!!!
> > >
> > > Sure, about 3 years ago at one of the BEAM
> > build-fests we had here in
> > > Calgary. Does anybody have a scan of that Equinox
> > article that had an
> > > fish-eye, ground-up pic of MarkT & ScottyDogma
> > playing with the slot-car track?
> > >
> > > It was a blast. This was shortly after the initial
> > variants of the Miller
> > > 1381 were shared with the rest of us. We invaded a
> > local toy shop and
> > > bought out his whole supply of slot-cars, about 16
> > in all. I think 9 of
> > > them got turned into various types of SE-powered
> > slot-car solarollers,
> > > which we put on a big outdoor slot-car track. The
> > speedier (longer-running)
> > > cars took one lane, and the slower (short-burst)
> > cars took another. It was
> > > great fun to watch them whizzing around!
> > >
> > > This event was one of the first inspirations for
> > the SolarSpeeder kit. As a
> > > matter of fact, my slot-car racer uses exactly the
> > same components as in
> > > the SS kit. I'll have to tear it down and take
> > some close-ups for the
> > > website this summer when I have my summer-job help
> > here...
> > >
> > > -Dave
> > >
> >
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> > > "Um, no - that's H,R,Y,N,K,I,W. No, not K,I,U,U,
> > K,I,_W_. Yes,
> > > that's right. Yes, I know it looks like
> > "HOCKYRINK." Yup, only
> > > 2 vowels. Pronounciation? _SMITH_".
> > > http://www.solarbotics.com
> >
> > --
> >
> >
> > Richard Piotter
> > richfile@rconnect.com
> >
> > The Richfiles Robotics & TI web page:
> > http://richfiles.calc.org
> >
> > For the BEAM Robotics list:
> > BEAM Robotics Tek FAQ
> > http://people.ne.mediaone.net/bushbo/beam/FAQ.html
> >
>
> ===
> Everything I say can mean one of two things...If something I say makes you mad....I meant it the other way.
>
> James Taylor
> URL: http://fly.to/springmeadows
> _________________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------

eGroups.com home: http://www.egroups.com/group/alt-beam
http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications



Home