188 replies to this topic

[MSwiss]

After waiting for a couple of years for someone to come up up with ready-to-use hypoid gears for Retro racing, I finally gave up and designed a low-profile straight motor bracket for those who aren't whizzes at using a lighter to reform straight Parma King crown gears.

1" wide, .040" brass, 4.4 grams
Slightly better thickness to weight ratio than the .0335" thick, 3.7 gram JK hypoid bracket.

Versa-bracket, .040" brass - $9.50 each.
Brackagra for above, .040" brass - $10.50 each.
Combo - above two pieces and a 1.400" pre-cut 7/32" bearing tube - $19.95 set.
Taking orders now. Will ship in 7-10 days.

Questions and comments are welcome.

For orders, please PM, email, or call me.


Combination straight or hypoid bracket with adjustable height axle tube slots.


Virtual perfect fit with new Brackagra bracket brace/weight.


Unique design with flat bottom axle bearing plates and angled motor mounting plate. The motor at it's highest point is only raised approximately .030".


Angled motor plate allows "straight" arm shaft/axle alignment for smooth gear meshes 99% of the time.


"Straight across" motor plate design allows over .500" of solder area for TonyP style top piano wire bracket brace.


For those racers like TonyP who think World domination can only be achieved by mounting the motor hypoid, the slotted holes in the face plate allow the motor to slide down even with the bottom of the chassis for the lowest CG possible.


The only small compromise in mounting the motor hypoid is that with the angled face plate, the motor must be soldered in. The top must be tacked in first.


Once the top is tacked in, for maximum strength, you must flip the chassis over and add solder to the slightly angled opening at the bottom.


The slightly raised motor mounting plate facilitates soldering the motor on the bottom without having solder flow below the bottom level of the chassis.


For those not wanting to use the Brackagra bottom plate, a hand-cut piece of 1/4" X .064" brass to brace the bottom of the bracket is available for $1.00.

[Pablo]

Mike, you are a genius.

[Andre Acker]

Hi Mike!

Beautiful parts!

I think they will be useful to build a 1/32 F1.

Are they already available?

Will you send the kit to me in Brasil?

Best regards,

André Acker

[MSwiss]

Pablo,

Thanks for the compliment.

Since you posted, I've added the pics and explanation on mounting the motor hypoid.
I was in the midst of doing it late last night when Slotblog "went down".

[MSwiss]

I think they will be useful to build a 1/32 F1.

Are they already available?

Will you send the kit to me in Brasil?

At 1.000" wide, I'm not sure they would be ideal for 1/32 F1.
If this part is well received, I will come out with a .750" wide version ASAP.

I am taking orders now for 7-10 day delivery. (I've added that info to the original post.)

Yes, I ship to Brasil.

[Andre Acker]

Yes, I considered just the motor bracket wideness, I forgot the Brackagra ...

I hope the 1/32 model will be available very soon.

Best regards,

André Acker.

[tonyp]

Mr. Swiss sold me (at three times the normal cost) serial # 001 and demanded I build it up and post pictures...

So her they are. All I did from stock was shorten the back up a little.







Motor mounted inline. The front of the can is even with the bottom of the chassis, it does not hang down like it looks in the picture... just the angle of the shot.



Bracket is perfectly square.
Best feature is the oval rear axle tube holes which allow a little tweaking to get the jig wheels perfectly flat.

[MSwiss]

Tony,

Thanks for posting the great pics.

Nice looking chassis.

I'm pretty sure guys wouldn't also mind seeing at least one pic of the front of the chassis to see how everything went together.

When I get some bracket sets in tomorrow, I'll post a few pics of your terrific observation/idea on how to use the bracket hypoid and still be able to screw the motor in normally.

[Duffy]

Pretty cool. Always an adventure, this engineering thing.

I'll post a few pics of your terrific observation/idea on how to use the bracket hypoid and still be able to screw the motor in normally.

I was wondering about that. Seems like developing the bottom of the bracket so as to sit flat when tilted, then bending normal right angles, would allow the thing to set flat when built inline, and in hypoid mode the faceplate'll still sit flat against the motor - you just have about 1/64" of angled sideplates hiding up inside the Backagra. Most of us build things that look like that anyway, we'd never know the difference!

Duffy

[MSwiss]

Duffy,

You guessed correctly. Good job.

The undercut of the motor plate, while designed to facilitate the bracket laying flat, (why have three bottom surfaces to deal with to keep flat, when you only need two?) also allows you to push the bracket back .040" and have that undercut sit on top of the front of the Brackagra instead of butting up against it. That combined with the oval holes for the motor mounting screws, motor bearing and axle tube still allow the motor to lay flat with the bottom surface of the chassis and the axle tube to be jigged at the proper height.

And, yes, the side plates now angle down slightly and yes, it's not enough to matter.

The only minor compromise is the opening for the gear is now .040" forward so you might have to file the back of it (the opening) a bit if you use a 29t gear or not a problem at all if you do your build without the Brackagra.

[MSwiss]

As mentioned in the post above, if you commit to run hypoid, you can build your chassis with the bracket face plate at 90 degrees which will allow you to screw the motor in normally. You have to build your chassis with a motor screwed in as shown.

Just hold the motor firmly against a flat surface and once you tighten the screws, the bracket side plates will wind up sitting at a slight angle as shown above.

Of course, once you have your main rails or Brackagra soldered into place, you can remove the motor if you wish.



The undercut of the motor mounting plate is slightly higher
than the .040 thickness of the Brackagra.



That undercut will allow you to either mount the motor/bracket in the "normal" fore-aft position on the Brackagra...



... or the slightly cleaner look by pushing it back with the bracket face plate sitting above the Brackagra and the back
of the motor up against the front edge of it (the Brackagra).

In this position, you might have to notch the gear opening slightly larger in the back for larger diameter gears.

[Jairus]

Truly a scratchbuilder's perfect bracket.

Bravo, Mike!

[tonyp]

Mike, add another 20 cents on royalties for figuring that out for you. LOL...

[MSwiss]

I'm still glad you built #001 with the bracket "normal" so you can hear any improvement in the gear mesh or notice any loss of handling with the motor mounted angled up/NON-hypoid.

I'm sure a semi-smart guy like you will start in that position with a new virgin crown. Once you run it awhile that way, go to hypoid and defile the crown with your cigar lighter if necessary.

In our Hot Rod class, with using 1" tires, most car are built with the JK straight bracket and a pc of 1/16" brass under the motor. These races, if the marshals aren't chattering, are eerily quiet. The cars are like Whisperjets. Unless the reason is the larger diameter crowns we typically use with these (30-34t) are inherently quieter, a straight aligned motor shaft to axle has to be a way to reduce friction.

[tonyp]

The trick is of course to start hypoid with a new crown, not one messed up by inline meshing gears. LOL...

[DOCinCanton]

I like the piece shown in post #1 above for retro builds. I had to bump this up. Mike, I will call you. And Tony, great looking chassis as usual.

[HarV Wallbanger III]

Beautiful, Mike!

[MSwiss]

Congrats to John Clow in winning the Dixie Retro Can Am race this past Saturday at Viper Pit in Thomasville, GA, with the C/R Versa-bracket/Brackagra combo, running non-hypoid.

[MSwiss]

Minor announcement.

Geary has revised his prices a bit to me.

The price of the Versa-bracket and Brackagra bottom plate have flip-flopped.
The Versa-bracket is now $9.50 (was $10.50)
The .040" Brackagra is now $10.50 (was $9.50)
The combo of the above (with a precut 1.400" long, 7/32" diameter bearing tube) is still $19.95.

Thanks to all who have purchased these in the past. The sales on these have exceeded my wildest expectations.

[MSwiss]

By the distinctive bending reliefs in the corners, it appears the C/R Versa-bracket swept both classe sat the Retro East™ opener/ John Gorski Sr. Memorial Race, at SpeedZone.

Congrats to Ed Sohl and Jay Kisling.

[MSwiss]

Congrats to Sano Dave Fiedler on his TQ and win at the inaugural IRRL race at Chicagoland Raceway, using the Versa-Bracket/Brackagra combo, along with a steel Versa-tongue.

[MSwiss]

Congrats to Cap Henry on his TQ in GTC-FK at R4/5 using the C/R Versa-bracket and Brackagra.

[MSwiss]

Not sure if he used it "straight" or hypoid, but congrats to SpeedZone's Mike Iles on his podium finish in GTC-PD at Retropalooza 3, using a Chicagoland Raceway Versa-bracket (and coined steel guide brace).

[MSwiss]

Congrats to Kevin Van Pelt on his second place finish at the Summer race/Sano Warm-up yesterday at Chicagoland Raceway.

After he was convinced at the recent ROC race that modifying his bracket and angling up his arm shaft/pinion, more in line with the axle, "woke his motor up", and contributed to his podium finish in F1, he removed the hypoid bracket from his Ray Price Z-Rail Can-Am chassis, and retro-fitted it with a Chicagoland angled Versa-bracket.

At the race yesterday, along with only falling one lap short of knocking off Sano Dave, he ran fast lap of the race and fast lap on six of eight lanes, including being a full 2 tenths (.20) faster than anyone else on Black, and .16 faster than the field on red.

Attached Images

• 

[MantaRay]

WTG, KVP!