6 replies to this topic

[rmjlmartin]

I picked this controller up on eBay recently, mostly as a curiosity, since it looked interesting, though I'm sure it's nothing particularly great compared to current controllers. Does anyone know where it came from, or who might have built it?

 

It's obviously built on a Parma Turbo frame, and the wiper board is a cut-down Omni Cidex part. It has a ball-bearing trigger pivot, a hinged wiper arm, and a pair of small plug-in heatsinks, each with different transistors. The one that says "POS" on the plug has a pair of TIP35s, and the other, that has a minus symbol on the plug, has a pair of NTE393 PNP transistors. I haven't had time to really trace the circuit, but the white track lead is connected to the collector on both pairs of transistors, so I'm assuming the one with TIP35 transistors is for a positive-wired track, and the other is for a negative-wired track. It has a nice feel to it, and from the workmanship, I'd say it was either built by a pro, or an amateur who does nice work. It works on my power supply, at least with the TIP35 heatsink, but I want verify the circuit before I hook it up to anything with the NTE393 heatsink, to make sure I don't fry something by hooking it up backwards.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

[Ramcatlarry]

You nailed it.  It is a custom hotrod  homebuilt controller with optional polarity transistors.   Most commercial tracks are now wired with the (+) on the right braid or (-) to the right braid.

[Jim Difalco]

Jason, you must really love controllers to buy a one off home made controller like that. 

[rmjlmartin]

Jason, you must really love controllers to buy a one off home made controller like that. 

Of course! What's not to like? They help us make our slot cars go around the track!

 

Seriously, though, I like building and tinkering, and taking things apart to figure out how they work. It's how I learn. I do my best to try to be able to do as much as possible on my slot cars myself, so I hopefully understand how they work, and can improve what skills I need to. I won't pretend that the results are always amazing, but hopefully I'm at least learning. Building and tinkering with controllers lets me get a little more in-depth.

 

This one caught my eye because of the couple of design things that I hadn't seen before, and I wanted to understand how it was put together and wired. I know it's an early electronic controller, and definitely not on par with anything recent, so certainly not race-worthy, but still interesting.

[NSwanberg]

Hinged wiper and a very small button. Might it be a Timmy Hawk?

[rmjlmartin]

Hinged wiper and a very small button. Might it be a Timmy Hawk?

Thanks Nelson. What's a Timmy Hawk? I don't know if I've ever heard of them before.

[NSwanberg]

it was a guy in Michigan that made a few controllers. Most were quite happy with them. I think his name was Tim Burton.