9 replies to this topic

[Ted Bier]

Hi all!

 

Been looking around in my box of stuff from the closet! Found these two chassis.

 

The aluminum one is 1/24 adjustable and on all four corners those axle houses are rotate!!

 

The other I think is also 1/24, slimline and funky! Look at that magnet in the back, and oh ya.... it runs!!

 

Anybody know what they are?

 

Thanks!

 

Ted

 

 

 

[Cheater]

Ted,

The upper chassis is a common Dynamic chassis, in the version they termed Dynaflex. What you call rotating axle housings are actually attached to the main chassis part via springs. The idea was to provide a form of suspension but in all honesty, it was a terrible design and worked poorly. These Dynaflex chassis worked a lot better if they were epoxied solid like the earlier Dynamic chassis.

Here's a couple pics of a Dynaflex chassis design, including one that has a hinge between the rear motor carrier and the guide tongue and front axle assembly.

 

Dynamic Models was a very prolific manufacturer of slot car chassis parts and cars in the '60s. To get an idea of the vast variety of stuff they produced, click HERE to see a series of posts made here by Sweden's Bertil Berggeren in 2010.

 

The slimline "chassis" is actually just a motor with a built-in rear axle carrier. Never knew much about these, as they were already obsolete when I got involved in the hobby; there were several companies than made motors like this. One of the other sharp slot car historians here will have to ID it for you.

[Dave Crevie]

The motor is an Altlas from the early/mid '60s. I used these quite a bit since the Pittman motors of similar design were mostly five pole, and had a lower RPM.

 

The brush system on the Atlas motors was the weak point. The coil springs could go limp if the power arched through them, so keeping the brush holders clean inside was critical.

 

By the time Pittman started supplying their motor with three pole arms, can motors had taken over.

[don.siegel]

A couple quick corrections on the motor: that's the Atlas AT406, designed for 1/24 scale cars, and has ball bearings. From the mid-'60s, in 1965 or '66, when Atlas released their two sports cars, Lola T70 and Ferrari P2, with these motors. The smaller version of this motor, the AT206 or 208, was used on their 1/32 cars and their 1/24 F1 cars - and is still very popular in vintage races! 
 
In fact, Pittman already released a three-pole arm motor in 1963, the original DC196, and that was the "hot" motor for a couple of years, and it was soon rewound or modified with a five-pole DC65X arm (hi, Rick!). 
 
Don

[Steve Speedway]

Hello. I'm an Altas motor fan. I have read about the AT-406 and I have a few of them, remagnetized, ready to go into 1/32 slot car chassis and a couple of 1/24.

However, Im have having trouble with giving one motor a tune-up. 

I bought an Atlas tune-up kit off ebay.  Each spring allows the carbon brush to fit inside, but the springs are too wide to fit inside the brass retaining screws.

 

Wanting to know why, I pulled down another one of my Atlas motors, which has thinner brushes.

Can I drill out the brass retaining screw so that it will accept the spring?

Otherwise, where can I find a pair of new replacement (thinner) motor brushes?

 

If anyone can tell me the names of each Atlas motor I would appreciate it. 

I'm curious to know why Altas changed the brush size width? The motors sure looks the same.

 

One more question, if I may. I have an armature with green wire. What is the difference between that and those with plain brass wire?

 

  Thank you. 

Steve, from Brisbane, Australia   (3 pictures attached)

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[don.siegel]

Hi Steve,

 

It's all in the numbers! Atlas made two versions (actually 3...) of their small motor, the original AT208 (rated at 8V), and then the AT206 (6V, with ball bearings). The  AT208 first came with Pittman style brushes, and a spring across the top, which you can find in the earliest kits. They then converted to the version you have, with the coil springs, and the brushes and springs as you measured. Your kit is marked "conversion", not hopup, so I assume it's to convert these earlier motors...

 

... except for the larger brushes. The AT406 used larger brushes and springs: the brushes measure about 3.5 mm x 5.5 mm, and the springs go with them; I assume that's what you have in the larger brushes, but not sure why there would be a conversion kit for the AT406, since it only came in the one version.

 

Anyway, I picked up a couple replacement packs with complete brush setups if you need one; I may have just the brushes and springs too, have to look a little more!

 

The AT208 had red wire and the AT206 green wire.

 

Don

[don.siegel]

PS: while I was at it, I also tached the three motors:

 

AT208: 37K

AT206: 44K

AT406: 40K (very surprising, since this bigger motor is usually not too great on the track, but it is much heavier, altho I would assume it has more torque too, given the arm size).

 

Don

[Steve Speedway]

Thanks, Don. Yes it appears that I do have the bigger brushes and bigger springs.

Strange, that the springs will not fit inside the brass retaining screw. Not even the new brass screws that came with the (new) kit.

 

It appears I need a smaller set of brushes/springs so that I can get my Atlas AT-208 running. 

If you could advise me please, I would apreciate it. 

 

Am I correct in suggesting that I can not tell the difference between the AT-208, AT-206 and the AT-406 just by looking at them?

 

  Steve   

[don.siegel]

Nope, they're very different Steve: the AT406 is much bigger, in width and length. The brass brush holder is bigger too, so maybe your kit got them mixed up. The 206 and the 208 are the same size, but the 206 has green wire with epoxy and two ball bearings; the 208 has red wire and plain oilite bearings.

 

PM me for the brushes & springs. Not easy to find, but I've got a couple extras.

 

Don

[Mark Johnson]

I use .010 ho motor brush springs as helper springs on my at206 with

good results .Wizzard ho sells the.