|
Post by F.A.S.T Racing on Dec 28, 2006 10:06:56 GMT -7
Alright, I'm the first to admit that the whole alignment thing is my weakest area.......
I've read Stan Pope's chapter on the wax-paper shim method of alignment several times. And I'll be completely honest with y'all... having a hard time making sense of it.
Been reading anything I can find about "tweaking" or putting a slight bend in the axle. Haven't tried this method yet. Seems a little easier than pulling the axle in & out, less opportunity for the hole in the body getting "wallered" (that's Redneck for enlarged)
Now with the screw & dowel cars (Royal Rangers) if the body 'Dado' (slot) is carefully cut at exactly 90 degrees, and the dowel is drilled in the true center it is virtually perfectly aligned. I might have to wedge a thin strip of paper or business card between the body slot and the dowel,then hot-glue it. But that is very rare.
Seems that if the hole is drilled exactly perpendicular (wow, thats a long word- ain't it?) and the axles are inserted straight, alignment should be on the money!!!
Guess what I'm afraid of is over-tweaking an axle that I've spend hours on prepping and polishing.
Oh Great and Powerful Builders, please guide my feet down the path of Enlightenment.. (How you like my Obi Wan reference/suck-up?)
|
|
|
Post by docb on Dec 28, 2006 12:17:56 GMT -7
To be honest, I dont use either method. I'm in the camp of get the holes drilled straight and get the axles inserted straight. I've been working on my own methods of getting the axles to go in straight.
|
|
|
Post by Cam-Car Racing on Dec 28, 2006 12:18:42 GMT -7
Hey Fast Racing,
This is what I do. I don't mess around with shims at all. I drill all of my axle holes perpendicular to the block of wood and parallel to the bottom of the block. Do this before you start shaping the car body. The only alignment I try to adjust is the front wheel that is making contact with the track. (Assuming your other front wheel is raised.) Take the front axle that is in the contact wheel and make a slight kink in it about 3/8 of an inch from the nail head. Make a reference mark on the head of the axle and then start making some runs and testing for the best results. When turning the axle, just make small adjustments until you get the car to run straight. Gentle rail hugging works better than hard rail hugging...less resistance. Hope this helps.
|
|
|
Post by JOKER on Dec 28, 2006 13:29:29 GMT -7
The above posts have good suggestions.......(Assuming you are setting up a 3-wheel RH): - drill axle holes perfectly straight/perpendicular before making modifications to the body
- put slight bend in dominant front axle (.002") - do this by inserting the axle into an old wheel....then mount the axle/wheel into pro-body tool that is secured in a vise....get your spacing the way you want it & gently push in the direction of the desired bend...(this gets your bend in the right spot - very important)
- mark the bend direction on outside of nail head with a permanent marker - then you can adjust how hard you want the car to steer into the rail by twisting the axle.......make sure your car is set up to keep the rear wheels off the rail......(DFW rubbing only = good..........DFW & rear wheel rubbing = bad)
- track/rail condition, type of track & length determine how hard you want to steer into the rail
|
|
|
Post by johna745 on Jan 16, 2007 10:29:17 GMT -7
Thanks Cam-Car and Joker for the alignment tips.I have been trying to fix a friends sons car for two days now.Whatever could have gone wrong did!I was almost to the point of having them build a new car.I finally got the weight fixed, and the wheels(the Dad had reversed the wheel positions) put where they should be and then OF COURSE!! it was way out of alignment.I tried the shim method but had little success,so I tried the bent axle,worked great! The kid races this weekend so we will see what happens.Thanks again guys
|
|
|
Post by Young Guns on Jan 20, 2007 9:48:20 GMT -7
I just started to adjust my alignment. I put a slight bend in the front axle like suggested above. Do I need to do anything with the rear axles and wheels to help with alignment?
|
|
|
Post by Young Guns on Jan 20, 2007 21:24:07 GMT -7
Thank you for your help.
My son and I have been working on this technique. We are starting to get so good results. The one thing that I am have a hard time with is knowing if the rear wheels are pulling to the axle head. I don't know what I should be looking for. The car is running straight down the mirror to the end (about 6').
|
|
|
Post by NinjaRabbi on Jan 24, 2007 12:17:34 GMT -7
Last year we used wax paper shims to align our rear wheels and I about went blind after an hour. This year I am going to try some .001" metal shim stock from www.smallparts.com/products/descriptions/shss.cfm. I got .001", .0015", and .002". It comes in a metal sheet and will cut easily with scissors. We'll be aligning in 2 weeks, so I'll update on how it went.
|
|
|
Post by King Of Hearts on Jan 24, 2007 16:58:34 GMT -7
Ninja the only problem I see you having with the steel sheet is cutting the excess off when you are done shimming.I would assume that you will still need to leave at least a small piece sticking out of the axle hole to fold back towards the body to keep the shim(s) in place while you are inserting the axle.After you are done you will need to trim these tabs out of the way,other than that it sounds like a great idea.
Did you check the dimensions of wax paper and choose those sizes accordingly.I know that I had one axle that needed 5 wax paper shims,1 shim is a folded piece of wax paper as per LBW by Stan Pope.So 5 shims would be equal to 10 sheets thickness of wax paper.I think I may have ordered some of the thicker sheets just in case,or this process might be as tedious as wax paper.
KOH
|
|
|
Post by Rail Hugger on Jan 24, 2007 19:43:44 GMT -7
From shim stock experience , use caution those little strips of shim stock are just like little lances they like fingertips.
|
|
|
Post by 94 GT Laser RC on Jan 29, 2007 20:26:16 GMT -7
If you use the mirror (I use a smooth grade of plywood) use a sharpie or pinstripe and mark a straight line so you can observe more closely the left to right alighment.
I too would like to know the best way to have the rear wheels "spin out"
RC
|
|
|
Post by King Of Hearts on Feb 9, 2007 19:20:02 GMT -7
If you use the mirror (I use a smooth grade of plywood) use a sharpie or pinstripe and mark a straight line so you can observe more closely the left to right alignment. I too would like to know the best way to have the rear wheels "spin out" RC 94 There are 2 ways to make the wheels migrate to the axle head.Shim or install the axles so that they are canted up,shim or install axles so they are toed out. KOH
|
|
|
Post by 94 GT Laser RC on Feb 12, 2007 5:04:32 GMT -7
Im guessing the first is better?
If I use a drill press for the axle holes, would it help to tilt the table a few degrees, so that when I drill the holes, the point of the nail enters and ends up a tad bit LOWER on the car than the axle head??
I think that is what you are referring to! RC
|
|
|
Post by Hillbilly Kustoms on Feb 20, 2007 10:17:16 GMT -7
I bent the front dominate axle on my sons last car and aligned on a 4' board. It seemed to run great until the night of his pack race. I definately had it steering into the rail too hard. It was bouncing down the track all night and looked similar to this. We borrowed the track and spent an hour or so dialing it in. I learned that the slightest adjustment of the bent axle makes a massive difference in speed. Wish we had borrowed the track before the race, the results might have been different. When riding the rail on a 3 wheeler do y'all suggest that the rear wheels be canted to ride on the axle head? I've always been under the impression that the wheels were better off riding in the center of the axle and not touching the carbody or the axle head.
|
|
|
Post by King Of Hearts on Feb 24, 2007 21:05:19 GMT -7
When riding the rail on a 3 wheeler do y'all suggest that the rear wheels be canted to ride on the axle head? I've always been under the impression that the wheels were better off riding in the center of the axle and not touching the car body or the axle head.
HBK,Seems to me from what I have been reading that a lot of the builders are doing exactly that,my guess is that the sacrifice of letting the wheels contact at the axle head is far better option than having the wheel hub contact the body.Now that we have a few cars to test with and a track we can investigate some of these things for ourselves ;D.
KOH
|
|