23 replies to this topic

[Lone Wolf]

There was more interest in controllers than I anticipated. Here's two cool accessories from back in the day. I would guess about 1969 or so but the experts will tell. I want to rip these packages open just to get to the cool stickers Enjoy!

[Steve Deiters]

The heat sink was the most desired aftermarket accessory for the pistol grip controllers which were rapidly becomng the controller of choice after Cukrus won the Hemisfair race in '68 (?).

Not sure how much heat extraction they performed or gave drivers a security"blanket" to hold on to while racing or which was the greater benefit! The slot racing wholesaler worked for at the time stocked and sold them by the hundreds.

[TSR]

As long as the old Russkit steel frame was used, the heat sink had very limited efficiency but anything helped. The resistor heat was transmitted from its wiring to the trigger button to the blade to the steel trigger, and to the operator's finger.
The solution from custom builders was to cut part of the trigger off and replace it by a wooden or plastic piece. This did nothing to stop the added brackets that held the micro switches to come undone, the solder holding them to the steel frame often... melting!

[zipper]

That's what comm solder was for, in addition for comms, ofc. I still have some, it's good in preventing G7 alu chassis pillow block to unsolder during motor change. In my most tweaked Parma controller I had 2 of those heat sinks + 2 magnesium heat sink bolts + another resistor for a little range of adjustment and later a third micro to pass the choke. Quite a monster....

[TSR]

Quite a monster....

Exactly...

High-temp solder did not help mine. After a few incidents of bracket separation and first-degree finger burns, I built my own controller with a one-piece aluminum frame and never had a problem again.

[Steve Deiters]

60/40 solder melts at 361 to 371 F. I haven't seen one of those frames in a while, but I think they were cadmium plated which would indicate a fluxing or compatibility issue and a manufacturing issue. A device @371 F in ones hand would be one hot potato. Lexan plastic has a glass transition point in the 302F range. In either cae I think serious damage would be done to ones hand for this melting to take place with the controller then falling apart.

I'll vote for a misapplication for the solder used and possibly poor technique.

[TSR]

Steve,
certainly true. In the meantime, one bought a controller, got in a race on a track where the power was not too clean and the controller became a furnace. Does hardly matter why now, it did. When, at a race in Tucson, my "Double Micro", Russkit-based controller with all the bells and whistles and more heat sinks and "Green Bolt" that put its weight close to that of a brick, purchased in the day for pretty good money (I am thinking well above 50 bucks in 1971), fell apart and took me out, this is when I made my own.
1/2 the weight, less than 1/2 the heat, cold trigger and at last, a solid base to work with.
I never needed another.

When I came back 21 years later, things had changed but most controllers, now full of new bells and whistles, were still using the same one-piece aluminum frame, meaning that it was not such a bad idea after all...
But finding one of these old double or triple micro controllers is still fun.

Restoring them to working condition today is just as much a pain as was to keep them up then!

[DOCinCanton]

I bought these products from Ken. I am thinking 1968 or even as early as 1967. My memory is shot!

[TSR]

Dan,
The Parma controller heat sink was first issued in early 1970.

[Gator Bob]

Getting closer to a complete kit That is a Russkit molded handle set.

[TSR]

First Lexan handles...

Unlike M&Ms...

"Melt in you hands, not in your mouth!"

[tonyp]

The pre-lexan handles were fun, when or if your controller would fall off the panel during a lane change you would have half a handle for the next heat and your controller would run cooler. Lol...

They used to toast in a five minute heat. I remember having to run them when mains were 40 minutes 10 minutes on 4 lanes, talk about heat.

[Gator Bob]

Those big heatsinks looked "cool" but trying to pull heat from ceramic and the through bolt floating inside didn't work very well.
The metal trigger never seemed much cooler to the touch.

[Bill from NH]

There was a reason why Parma used to sell that rubber trigger insulation. Today it's called liquid electrical tape & it comes in colors other than black.

[tonyp]

The black junk did very little when the controllers were getting hot enough to melt apart. Lol.... The blisters would take 1/2 a heat longer to form.

[TSR]

Hot subject...

[zipper]

The first thing was to glue some synthetic chamois onto the trigger - no blisters.

[Gator Bob]

Like ShamWow^TM ?

[TSR]

Is not that the name of some fat chick on MTV or some other worthless waste of teenage hormones?

[Gator Bob]

Almost, SlapChop too. The names do seem to sound like rappers.

[zipper]

Something like this:

[Champion 507]

A friend gave me a blue metal flake Parma "Tiger" controller back in 1979. I used it in FCR and flexi races in the late '90's and early '00's. I accidentally left it at the track one night and I never saw it again. Since then I found another blue controller from one place and a heat sink from another and I'm going to combine the two to duplicate what I lost. That controller was a good one.

[Jairus]

Wow, we have not talked about analog controllers in a long time! I like the history lesson Joe. But daily is too often. How about weekly?

[Dan Ruddock]

What was needed back in the day was to get rid of the ceramic barrel and replace it with a barrel of anodized aluminum to improve heat transfer to heat sink.

Maybe parma should consider doing this today as the koford external wire resistor controller has made the parma turbo obsolete. Dan