42 replies to this topic

[MSwiss]

Shown are a couple hastily, 3D made, prototypes. I'm just trying to gauge the interest to move forward.
 
If you always poke your body pin holes at the correct height and correct fore-aft placement, and level, this probably won't interest you, but if not, it might.
 
It's pretty self explanatory.
 
The fixtures can be adjusted to any practical pin hole height, and is bolted to the brass strip, which is double stick taped to the pans, ans provides a nice, level ledge, to rest the body
 
Should work with virtually any chassis with a flat surface on the bottom.

 

Please post if it's something you would consider buying.
 

 

 

The brass ledge should prevent the front of the body from drooping.

 

 

 

 

The JK rental body is a bit narrow, especially with thick strapping tape on the inside, but this pic show how well the body conforms to side of the chassis.

[fohoover]

Yes.

[Gambler77]

Great idea, Mike!

[DE38]

Absolutely, Im constantly having trouble pinning bodies to my Retro chassis, if you produce it I would buy one.

[Racer36]

That should be a good seller. Price point?

[FVracer]

I'm in.

[MSwiss]

That should be a good seller. Price point?

 

Probably typical, semi-fair, C/R-Backtrack priced.

What that is, I have no idea.

The question is do you want 1 or 4.

You can get by with 1, but 4 is ideal.

[Racer36]

I would want one and I am sure three of my flock would jump on the bandwagon.

As in one set for me, three more sets for the horde!

[Kim Lander]

That is slick as hell, Mike.... I would like one or two.

[Eddie Fleming]

At least two but four would be best.

 

Looks like a great idea.

[MSwiss]

Thanks for the positive feedback.

I'll try to get Geary to move forward on this.

It works great as is, but a few slight dimesional changes will be made, and hopefully can be made from aluminum.

PS: I'm really not looking for suggestions on "improvements" or add-ons.

This has been pretty well thought out for what I envision it to do, which is to work with scratchbuilt chassis, where the height can be anywhere.

Some other more complicated items, to accomplish something slightly different, are already on the drawing board.

[olescratch]

Should be sold as a set (4) and priced that way. 

 

As per your pics, the best way to do this requires the positioning of all four pins at the same time, IMO!

[Samiam]

Sure beats holding the car up to a bright light and poking around the dark spot with a pin.

[Racer36]

You are right, Sam. At my age the bright light makes me think I am dying!

[MSwiss]

Chicago got hit with it's first significant snow fall of the season, so I've had time to play around a little bit more with this today.
 
I'm impressed how well the double stick taped, .032" K&S brass, holds to the bottom of the pan, even after multiple installations and removals.
 
I'm also impressed how easily and quickly everything moves into place.
 

I'm also think that having two units will work about 95% as well as having four.

 

 

The JK hotwire cut bodies, while probably better than any work I could do with scissors, aren't quite perfect, with a tiny problem being the melted plastic sticking to the cut area.

 

 

Despite the comment above, the body is mounted nice and level. The melted plastic is more evident in this pic.

[MSwiss]

Works terrific with a Retro F1 body, which in this case, has the pin tubes mounted on the low side, directly on top of the .062" pans.
 
It's looks like it would even work with the pin tubes mounted on top, of pans, as thin as .047".
 

 

 

 
Note: as not to confuse anyone, the top set screws are only a shorter length on the back fixture, because Heart ran out of long ones.

[Half Fast]

"Is there a market for this?"

 

Yes, indeed.

[glueside]

Mike - I would take one set also.

 

Jeff

[C. J. Bupgoo]

Mike;

 

  One set of four, please...

[MSwiss]

The revised ones came out great and things are firmed up for production.

 

I have a birthday party coming up shortly, but will post details and a few new pics ASAP.

[Dallas Jackson]

I really like the pin helper.  Put a price on it. Great ideal,  save's having two or three holes in the body!!!!

[MSwiss]

We raced last night and got hit with some snow and cold weather here.

And today, my wife and I have party at the house.

Quickly, the revised, beefier 3D printed ones came out great.

I'll post pics of them, the great results they produced, along with an explanation why I specifically did not do a block like the one Precision(disc.?) sold, when I get a chance on Monday.

Also, the explanation why I think 2 works 95% as well as 4.

Price will be $25 retail for 2 blocks, with a normal Backtrack/CR discount available to raceways.

I am so convinced you'll like these, I'll give a full merchandise credit, along with your shipping costs back to me, to anyone not fully satisfied.

[MSwiss]

Shown below are revised, slightly larger blocks.

 

They are now sleeved with .062" brass tubing.

 

They will come with steel cap screws the same size as the nylon ones shown in the so you can adjust them with your finger tips.

 

Price as mentioned, $25 for a set of 2. Explanation (will be) listed below under the 3rd pic explaining why 2 is probably enough.

 

Traditional Backtrack/CR discount available to raceways.

 

For those who do not have double stick tape, I am also going to offer a 54 ft. roll to retail customers for only $3.

 

Geary will start 3D printing them immediately, for shipping within approx. a week.

 

Sleeved with .062" brass tubing, units will come with steel cap screws for hand adjusting/tightening.
 

54 ft. roll of double stick available to retail customers for only $3. I will also get some of the .032" x 3/4" brass strip that works well as the "ledge".

 

When I got back into slot racing in 1981, early on, I made myself a pinning block to accurately pin bodies.

It was adjustable, using a bunch of Du-Bro 3/32" set screw collars, 3/32" piano wire, and .062" K&S brass tubing. What I discovered early on, along with holding the chassis securely down being a slight pain, the main problem was you couldn't see under the body, for visual references, to square up the body. This is the main reason I went with compact ledges, vs. trying to use a block. Also different width cars don't need separate blocks with my system. Shown above is how I was able to square up the JK Cheetah, with it's rocking/floating pan.

I did one side, removed the blocks, and inserted two kinked pins to securely hold down the punched side, and the moved the same 2 blocks to the other side. I adjusted them to allow just enough space to fit the body in, and then being able to see underneath the body, I slid the body back and forth until it was square, and then punched the last 2 holes. The results above were accomplished just using the back of the stamped chassis. It will be even easier on a "finished" chassis, with the rear tires installed.
 

 

 

[Half Fast]

Mike:

 

- what are the dimensions of the block and the slot in it?

 

- what is the minimum pin hole height (from the bottom of the body) that the block will accommodate?

 

Cheers

[MSwiss]

Bill,

That was sort of discussed in post #16, but it will handle lower than you would ever want to go, or higher than any production chassis I know of.

 

IOW, approx. a pc. of .062" pin tubing soldered directly on top of .047" brass, or higher than a JK C21.

 

You could also open the slot with a file or Dremel for something abnormally low(a bad idea) or abnormally high.

 

The backside width was doubled for increased stiffness.