3573 replies to this topic

[Bill from NH]

Double post, sorry!

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

I have done a few RX "franken motors". And stock, the stacks I played with were 510s. When the local club went "all stock NC1s all the Time" I managed to convince a few of them, this 10 years ago, that as the RX was just junk, the ought to GIVE them to me.

I got a few freebies out of them until they got paranoid about what i might be doing! I beat up schleicher on his club/home/magazine track with one of the the motors. His power and controller issues are, well, just not what I would do, so I built custome RX franken motors specifically to beat up his races with. Track records and so on.

Anyway, John, Horses for Courses. I am in the middle of restoring some old 1/32 club cars from '69 and 70. The first ones were Dynamic anglewinders. And I lost an arm as I described. So, built two new motors, monogram cans, unknown endbells, unknown aftermarket mags, 32 s winds. That is about as hot as these old chassis will handle with their 3/8ths wide tires.

Fate

[havlicek]

Yeah Rocky, there should be a bunch of these motors floating around since they went from the RX42 to the RX42B and I wouldn't mind if they gave a bunch to me. Heck, they're worth it for the arms alone, besides rewinding and building stuff with them.

Anyway, I finished off the SCX arm as a #28:


Got it into the can and revved it up and I'll be darned if the thing doesn't sound strong. I have a bit of tweaking to do with the brush hardware as both of the brushes are getting a bit hung-up in the hoods, but I'm really happy with this little guy. I'll tuck it away and wait for an appropriate project for it, but this has been a fun build:



-john

[havlicek]

Final notes on the SCX build. I've tweaked and aligned the hoods so the brushes move freely. After a little bit of break-in, the motor draws about 1.75 amps and doesn't get very warm at all, pulling nicely all the way up to 12V. The only other thing I would do is that if the motor winds up as an inline, I'd cut off the bussbars and make a set of overhead "tabs" for the leads. Final tally...motor $10, Pro Slot endbell $10, salvaged com...freebie. Not bad for a $20 investment so if you're looking to do some winding, this would be a good way to go. OR just use the motor as-is and rewind it for a total cost of $10, they run great that way too.

-john

[havlicek]

Here's a trio of FT26D motors for a blogger. After a bunch of elbow grease, they all cleaned-up nicely. All three setups are done and ready for winding. Brush hoods soldered off / bottom of brush tubes and endbell relieved for com clearance, magnets installed, post protectors installed (using Pro Slot spring cups inverted and screwed to the cut-down posts with #0 x 3/16" tapping screws), bearings , cans cleaned and polished, NOS Champion endbells (with NO cracks around the bearing cup!!! ).



-john

[Slotgeezer]

AAACCCKKK!!!!!

3 - 26d's???

All together ????

It's a miracle !!!!

Great job, John.....

I ran so many Chanpion 601's & Orange-can Classic's, "back in the day", that I really enjoyed these motors...

On the old American Raceways tracks that used the 10 cent / 25 cent timers & power paks, those motors seemed pefectly matched for the available track power....

Onward, John... Thanks for the sano photos!


Jeff Easterly

[Champion 507]

John,

You're tuggin' at my heart strings, big guy. A stock 26D was the answer to every kid's dreams back in the day...a go-fast motor for only $3.00. The favorite at our track was the Champion 601. Chamblee was only about 200 miles away, so we got stuff when it was pretty fresh. I still have my original 617. I'm gonna build a 4 1/2" inline brass rod chassis for it and put it under one of those repro Lexan Dubro Ford Torinos or Mercury Cyclones...someday. I'm not to that point yet, but I'm trying to get there.

Nice work! Build on maestro!

[havlicek]

Hi Jeff,

yeah...I was thinking the same thing, but miracles DO happen

Hi Doug,

Champion made some really nice stuff alright, especially after the Mabuchi period. The little chrome 16D-sized one is a great motor and I'm going to build one for myself someday with ball bearings on both ends and a spicy arm

I just finished the setups for the other two motors for the same blogger. A apir of big honking 36Ds and speaking of Champion, the Champion one has a really nice looking bearing in the can that seems as though it was original (?) but is not at all like the aluminum ones that don't have an inner race. Biggest problem with setting these two up is that I couldn't use the method above for post protectors as new springs won't be long enough. So if I'm using regular 36D springs, I needed a narrower "tube" for the springs. I cut off the plastic spring posts and drilled a teensy weensy hole in the middle of where they had been. I then cut short lengths of chrome antenna tubing so I could screw the tubes down to the endbell with #2 x 3/8" tapping screws. So far so good...BUT...the screw heads were too fat for the springs to drop over them So I had to turn down the screw heads until they were about the same diameter as the tubing. Finished them off by cutting the screws down to the right length and all was good. I installed Arcos in one of these setups Tradeship magnets in the other one...the Arcos read much stronger than the Tradeship ones which are only marginally better than the stock Mabuchi ones. These motors will also have to be wound bu just holding them in my hand since I don't have a clamp fixture for these arms. Anyway, the two big guys are ready to dewind/rewind.



-john

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

John, in the day, for me summer of '66, the "trick" set up was to use the aluminum endbell of a pittcan for the really hot winds. I think I still have some silver wire 26 winds that I have never run. End of summer with the Pactra Hemi...I had parts sitting there that didn't get used because I went to "solving" he hemi issue!

In a couple hours I will be running those rebuilt dynamics I talked about previously with the rewound second gen 16ds. I noted that my cans have aftermarket mags. They are not tradeship or champion, and I just do not remember WHAT they are.

In another thread, some of the guys were talking about the joy of FK motors for the hobby and "growning" same. And, I appreciate the need.

But I think WE have more fun playing with motors. My cars aren't legal for any racing class I know of for a thousand miles. but I am having a Blast with them.

Fate

[havlicek]

In another thread, some of the guys were talking about the joy of FK motors for the hobby and "growning" same. And, I appreciate the need.

But I think WE have more fun playing with motors. My cars aren't legal for any racing class I know of for a thousand miles. but I am having a Blast with them.

Rocky,

I'd love to see more people running cars just for the sake of running them, but people being the competitive animals that we are, it's racing that puts the money in the register. The days of "run what you brung" seem to be gone for sure by now.

I finished-off the first 36D motor and it's wrapped-up waiting for it's friends to get done so I can send them all off. I wound up making a clamp fixture for this size arm figuring I could always use if for future 36D motors when they come up. This one was a Champion arm originally and the shaft was super straight...always a plus. I installed a Tradeship 36D com (also very nice) and did a #29 wind. The motor came out really nice and sounds strong, but very driveable. It's a big step up from stock, but there shouldn't be any melted endbell problems. I'm pretty sure this is the first 36D I've ever wound and they sure do feel big!

The arm:


The assembled motor:


-john

[Bill from NH]

Nice! Plenty of space to wind wire on a 36D arm. Once I can come up with a chassis design, I got a Rambuchi kit to throw in one.

[havlicek]

Thanks Bill. There's enough room on there for the wire and me and you to hang out and watch the ball game I forgot to mention that I also removed two lams from the stack and it was an easy wind. I was shooting for somewhere around 1 amp total current draw and this is a bit below that, but with the right gearing it should go nicely.

-john

[havlicek]

I finished-off 36D #2 of this group of motors for a blogger. The #29 wind I used for the first one seemed about dead-on (strong, but not so hot as to make me worry about longevity), so I used the same wind for this one. Same details...Tradeship com (these 36D coms are very nice), light advance, removed two lams from the stack. Result is the same electrically...about .6 - .7 ohm and a bit less than 1 amp current draw. This one actually sounds just a bit stronger than the first one and that could be due to the very nice can ball bearing. In any case, I have a new appreciation for the big Mabuchis. I never much cared for them as a kid, and while there's more ultimate performance potential in the 26D and 16D sized motors, these things are smooth and powerful but run cool.

The arm:


The completed motor:


-john

[Bill from NH]

Another nice one John! I had thought the 703 & 705 came from Champion with ground balancing like the 707, but apparently not. Now you have to do a can for some of the HO guys!

[havlicek]

Hi Bill,

The original arm may well have been balanced, but all I got in this bag o' parts that was sent to me was the can and a not-too-pretty endbell . I gotta say that both shafts on the 36D arms were really straight which makes balancing the arms MUCH easier (especially since I don't have a reliable way to true-up shafts that are out). This Champion can with the ball bearing produced a really smooth and strong-sounding motor...should be really nice in the right car. Now I got the first of the 26D arms cooking in my easy-bake oven so I can balance it (or at least try since it's a Tradeship blank and I have yet to get one of those with a straight shaft).

-john

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

As it happens, John, one of the local tracks is trying to start (in summer?) a womp series and decided that my dynamics are "close enough". They have fatter tires and super 16ds...

so, a dynamic with an old Russkit 23 type with a 32 wind doesn't scare them. The cars are smooth!

It probably doesn't help that the locals are complaining that my womps are too fast and "run like I-32s"...or maybe it does help me get the dynamic's nose in the door.

Fate

[havlicek]

As long as they let you race them Rocky, it doesn't matter what the outcome is. You'll be running real period cars...and that's a good thing!

I finished-up 26D #1 of this batch of 5 motors. I installed the period ball bearings in all three of the 26Ds and while they're not "super precision", they do make a nice difference. That's one of the nice things about using the Champion endbells with the big bushing/bearing carrier. This one has the stock magnets, so I went a little on the mild side with the wind, but it does sound lovely anyway and a huge improvement over stock. Post protectors, shunted brushes, unknown springs I had here and set for almost no endplay.

The arm:


The completed motor:


...next arm is in the easy-bake oven getting prepped for winding, but I'm getting tired.

-john

[Hworth08]

Viewing the picture of 26D, we used to bend the spring where it fits in brush tube so it nice and aligned with the brush and comm. There's enough play in the brush holders ( or a modern non-blueprinted hood) so that the brush can twist a bit and not wear correctly if the spring is pushing it sideways.

[Slotgeezer]

Wow!

Lovely arm, John....

If it's only a bit more than the stock wind, it'll probably be great...

Keep up the great work...

Onward!


Jeff Easterly

[havlicek]

Viewing the picture of 26D, we used to bend the spring where it fits in brush tube so it nice and aligned with the brush and comm. There's enough play in the brush holders ( or a modern non-blueprinted hood) so that the brush can twist a bit and not wear correctly if the spring is pushing it sideways.

Correct Don. On both the 36Ds for this set of motors where I had to use the original springs I of course did just that. That little "kink" in the end of the spring makes all the difference. On the 26Ds where I'm using modern springs that already have the angle built-in on the end that contacts the brush, that's a differenmt story.

Wow!

Lovely arm, John....

If it's only a bit more than the stock wind, it'll probably be great...

Keep up the great work...

Onward!

Howdy Jeff Yes, all the motors so far are a solid step up from factory but that's about it. They all draw less than 1 amp and run cool. The next 26D I'm doing for this batch will be a little warmer because when going over all the bits, this next one's setup felt a little tighter so I used the set of Arcos I had. It still won't be HOT though...just a bit on the "spicy" side

-john

[Champion 507]

John,

Nice pair of 36-D's

Sorry 'bout that, couldn't resist the opportunity for a cheap, bad joke.

Seriously, nice work on the "monsters". There is a certain sound those motors make after they've been souped up that is music to the ears and like no other slot car motor. Over on another thread Jairus built a couple 36-D JD chassis that went under some beautifully painted vintage Nascar bodies that are just stunning. I hope these 2 will find equally as nice homes.

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[havlicek]

Thanks Doug! and it was an easy setup...I don't think many people would have missed that one

Seriously, nice work on the "monsters". There is a certain sound those motors make after they've been souped up that is music to the ears and like no other slot car motor

Yeah...the big guys ARE cool motors and I had fun working on them since I had never done any before.

Over on another thread Jairus built a couple 36-D JD chassis that went under some beautifully painted vintage Nascar bodies that are just stunning. I hope these 2 will find equally as nice homes.

Everything that Jairus touches turns to gold, and he seems to keep topping himself with every build. I don't know where these 5 motors are going, but the person I'm doing them for says he has big plans for them...who knows, maybe Jairus will be involved? It's all very hush-hush/black ops right now No seriously, he says he has some really nice projects lined-up for them.

As much fun as the 36Ds were, the 26Ds are right there as well. The "middle Mabuchis" (not counting the 13UO things) seemed to have gotten less attention over the years...or maybe it's just me. These are cool motors as well, and the orange one above sounds awfully nice. The next one I'm working on (almost finished...some balancing and final assembly) should be a little more to the "pro motor" side of things, but hopefully still very reasonable (somewhere around a .4 - .5 ohm #28).

-john

[Jairus]

Gold?
If that were so I would not be so much in debt and totally unable to pay.... but, thanks for the thoughts my friend

[Prof. Fate]

Hi

John, I don't get the fashion trends that collectors go through. About 20 years ago, 26ds were in such demand that motors were going for 45 bucks each. Guys were paying me MONEY, serious money to wind hotter arms(and complaining on the short lifespan of the 26singsles!). This was such a work load that I ended up not racing just winding and why I don't do winds for others anymore!

But then it changed a few years ago. I have no idea why.

While I kept the dynamics, I could do better with that chassis and a modern motor, but the fun is the motors I am using which are period frankenmotors! No one locally really knows.

I am not sure what comes next.

Fate

[tjsguns]

BEAUTIFUL !!!
John,
Your work is SUPERB!!
All of these are going into VERY special projects. I just shipped a big "Box O Stuff"to Jairus today. One of the 36D's will go into a really cool old Hard body sedan with a VERY special "hunk O brass" Iso chassis by BWA. I've never seen another like it except the one he built for himself. I'm anxious to see what the J-man can work out for this body, chassis and motor.
One of the 26D's has an original STP Turbine Indy Car project planned around it and should be very cool as well!