Slotcar System

[ER0L]

Hi all,

another aspect of the town layout planned by Altezza and me, based on the already known SNOT road and pavement system (see http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=83287). Our idea was to have more street life within the city, so we thought about possibilities to get the cars moving (Altezza’s San Francisco Cable Car was the first step in that direction, see http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=83761).

This prototype of a slotcar system is chain-driven. Of course it will be improved and enlarged, but what you can see already is that the system as such is working.

Bird's view:

The cars must be modified to do this, of course – you need a self steering front axle and a suspension with spring at the rear since you can’t keep the roads completely plain:

2 videos:

More pics here.

C&C welcome as usual, thanks for looking.

Edited November 22, 2013 by ER0L

[alois]

This is a very cool idea! It reminds me of the old Schuco cars. The speeds are still a little bit low, but it would be great if a larger town layout could be filled with moving cars. Now only trams can move...

[lightningtiger]

Now that's what I call....cable cars !

Fantastic designing again from you 'ER0L'........keep going with your Lego version of American Graffiti and Brick On Drive On 'ER0L' !

[Kristel]

Awesome! A little slow, but a great concept. I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

[dr_spock]

Cool idea.

[ER0L]

This is a very cool idea! It reminds me of the old Schuco cars. The speeds are still a little bit low, but it would be great if a larger town layout could be filled with moving cars. Now only trams can move...

Thank you! Yeah, we think this will change the character of a Lego town. Often there isn't even a tram - you only see trains moving. We are increasing speed step by step, but we think it's no matter of speed for several reasons - one of them being the short distances within a Lego city.

Now that's what I call....cable cars !

Fantastic designing again from you 'ER0L'........keep going with your Lego version of American Graffiti and Brick On Drive On 'ER0L' !

Thanks LT, glad you like it. Yes, you could call them cable cars.

Awesome! A little slow, but a great concept. I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

Thank you! Cars aren't slow though - ask the figs. They are used to much slower vehicles than these.

Cool idea.

Thank you!

[timmyc1983]

Awesome idea, it would be fantastic to see a large layout with cars moving all around it!! Like you say, the trains shouldn't be the only things moving in the city!

I can't wait to see updates and larger scale versions, happy driving

[JopieK]

very nice job! not only the slot cars, but also just everything!!!

[eurotrash]

Ingenuous solution. I can't wait for v2.0, but you better build some seat belts to strap those minifigs in.

[ER0L]

Awesome idea, it would be fantastic to see a large layout with cars moving all around it!! Like you say, the trains shouldn't be the only things moving in the city!

I can't wait to see updates and larger scale versions, happy driving

Thank you, glad you like it! Yeah,at least the figs are quite happy now ...

very nice job! not only the slot cars, but also just everything!!!

Thank you! It's all older stuff, but we needed something to spice up the whole thing a little.

Ingenuous solution. I can't wait for v2.0, but you better build some seat belts to strap those minifigs in.

Thank you! Seat belts - how could I have forgotten about them? They would've been nice indeed - there were quite a few serious accidents with the test drivers ...

[Hoexbroe]

VERY impressive!

I suppose that this solution is also 100% pure Lego¿?

It will look absolutly fantastic at a show. I aggree; The cars dont have to move much faster.

When will we get to see photos of the insides¿?

I fear that this system will be too part-intensive (=expensive) for most builders, though...

[Altezza]

Many thanks at all for the positive feedback!

Version 2.0 to 40% complete

We hope to 100% in this year!

[Heppeng]

I was just wondering, If you put a train magnet under the car instead of the string, and again had a train magnet on the chain, would the system work with the magnets pulling the cars along, and thus no need for a slot? The standard base plates are pretty thin so it might be possible to use them without much reduction in magnetic strength.

Its something I might experiment with after seeing your inspiration, but it is some way down the 'to-do' list!!

[JCbuilder33]

Nice idea however if you started using multiple cars in a city the road might end up looking a bit odd. With all the slots

[ER0L]

VERY impressive!

I suppose that this solution is also 100% pure Lego¿?

It will look absolutly fantastic at a show. I aggree; The cars dont have to move much faster.

When will we get to see photos of the insides¿?

I fear that this system will be too part-intensive (=expensive) for most builders, though...

Thanks a lot! Yeah, pure Lego. The inside isn't presentable right now, looks quite chaotic, we'll post pics of that later, for sure. But the mechanism as such isn't very complicated, it's just the big chain http://www.bricklink...tem.asp?P=57518 driven by an m-motor with worm screw.

Regarding the costs: Those roads will be a main feature of the planned town layout, so considering the limited space we'd rather spare a building instead. Plus we have buildings that aren't fully equipped and have open backs. For the substructure you may use some old bricks. So costs are okay for us.

Many thanks at all for the positive feedback!

Version 2.0 to 40% complete

We hope to 100% in this year!

Still quite a lot of work to do, but as long as that means so much fun for us, I think it's bearable!

I was just wondering, If you put a train magnet under the car instead of the string, and again had a train magnet on the chain, would the system work with the magnets pulling the cars along, and thus no need for a slot? The standard base plates are pretty thin so it might be possible to use them without much reduction in magnetic strength.

Its something I might experiment with after seeing your inspiration, but it is some way down the 'to-do' list!!

In fact we made some experiments with magnets, but they aren't strong enough for SNOT roads. This might be quite different with road plates, of course. We omit roadplates for several reasons (e. g. the fact that they are much too narrow for our vehicles), so that's nothing we'd try to do. But we're very keen to see if such a solution is working, too.

Edited October 22, 2013 by ER0L

[Hoexbroe]

I was just wondering, If you put a train magnet under the car instead of the string, and again had a train magnet on the chain, would the system work with the magnets pulling the cars along, and thus no need for a slot? The standard base plates are pretty thin so it might be possible to use them without much reduction in magnetic strength.

Its something I might experiment with after seeing your inspiration, but it is some way down the 'to-do' list!!

A guy in HispaLUG has tried to do just that. He didnt use the weak train-magnets, but strong neodyne ones.

There are a couple of problems; The baseplates are still a little too thick, so the vehicle often looses track of the guide-wire. -And the magnet against the baseplates created quite a lot of friction.

[ER0L]

A guy in HispaLUG has tried to do just that. He didnt use the weak train-magnets, but strong neodyne ones.

There are a couple of problems; The baseplates are still a little too thick, so the vehicle often looses track of the guide-wire. -And the magnet against the baseplates created quite a lot of friction.

Thanks for the hint. I can imagine that friction is a problem with magnets.

Nice idea however if you started using multiple cars in a city the road might end up looking a bit odd. With all the slots

Thank you and welcome to EB! Well, more cars don't mean more slots - au contraire you see less of the slots if there are more cars.

[Heppeng]

A guy in HispaLUG has tried to do just that. He didnt use the weak train-magnets, but strong neodyne ones.

There are a couple of problems; The baseplates are still a little too thick, so the vehicle often looses track of the guide-wire. -And the magnet against the baseplates created quite a lot of friction.

I think the system you are thinking of sounds like an adaptation of the Faller road system, what I was thinking about does not use a guide wire, but is an adaptation of the slot system above, which would use a moving magnet under the baseplate to pull the car along, as well as a magnet on the car itself. To avoid friction, the magnets could be held a short distance above/below the base plate so they do not rub. Judging by the way that my trains can pull themselves together from a couple of centimeters away when coupling up, I would expect that even with 5mm between the magnets there would still be enough force to pull a car along. The only way to find out for sure is to try it!

[Hoexbroe]

what I was thinking about does not use a guide wire, but is an adaptation of the slot system above, which would use a moving magnet under the baseplate to pull the car along, as well as a magnet on the car itself. To avoid friction, the magnets could be held a short distance above/below the base plate so they do not rub. Judging by the way that my trains can pull themselves together from a couple of centimeters away when coupling up, I would expect that even with 5mm between the magnets there would still be enough force to pull a car along. The only way to find out for sure is to try it!

With the risk of sounding too coy, I´ll state already that THAT wont work at all!

"A couple of centimeters"... Tsk-tsk. Even with a couple of MILLImeters you are in trouble.

The load-force the magnet has to apply to pull a rolling car is quite huge...

And yes; Indeed; What the guy was trying to do, is identical to the Faller Car System!

[ER0L]

I guess Henrik is right. What you should take into account is the friction caused by the cars when taking a turn, even if steered - might be an issue for (Lego) magnets, especially when kept at a distance. If you take a closer look to the videos, you'll see what I mean ...

But well, that's the way things get started. We discussed many different possibilities for weeks but then decided to start with a setup that was most likely to work - which was the case.

[peterab]

Magnets on road plates can work if you limit the size of the car. Dave Boddy uses this technique on a dogem car ride which you can see working in this video at 4:20.

[ER0L]

Thanks for the hint, an interesting video in any case. Yes, some builders seem to have done things like this with magnets. But for us this is no alternative for what we are planning. We use neither baseplates nor roadplates (at least not in the common way, in fact the prototype model itself is built on a baseplate substructure for stability reasons and in order to keep the stud measure). Things tend to get larger, and for our vehicles roadplates are too narrow. We try to keep the whole thing as flexible as possible, so snotted roads and pavements seem to better fit our purposes. Plus the slot itself offers some more possibilites which we hope to show soon.

I think somebody has to try the magnet thing sooner or later to see if it's really working. But one should keep in mind that in any case turning the cars is the main problem, rather than driving them straightforward. That's why we started with a corner.

[Brickadier General]

This is really nice. Normally, people use magnets to get this type of function...This is different! The pivoting system to make the front wheels turn is a great idea, and the vehicles are well-built.

[ER0L]

Thank you! If you have seen a similar thing made with magnets we'd all be very happy about a link, I guess.

Without the self-steering wheels there would be a lot of friction in the "curves", and turning would look quite strange. The cars as such are older stuff, though.

[ER0L]

Just an update:

There is a new type of slot vehicles which we call "freerunners" (if there's a better word for that don't hesitate to tell us ). They are motorized but don't have a servo motor - steering is done by the slot, too. The advantage of this is that these vehicles can be used on the outer circle of the road layout where distances are too long for a chain. Maybe it's more understandable now why we prefer the slot as a guiding device, rather than a magnet system.

The first "freerunner" is a school bus. Buses seem to be suitable for that purpose since it's important that there is most of the weight on the rear axle in order to have enough traction to push the vehicle through the "curve".

A video:

Thanks for looking, more to come.