Building a Slot Car Test Bench

Part One
By Matt Agnew

The following is a brief overview of my testing and tire truing stand. I've constructed this
mostly from junk materials, though I've had to purchase the electronic components. I
haven't given any dimensions, as I've chosen some of them based on scrap on hand. I
pulled the MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) scraps out of the dumpster at a furniture
factory. The VDO voltmeter is from a junked Volkswagen. This isn't necessary, but I've
had it in my toolbox for ten years, so in it went. Plus it looks cool.
It goes without saying that opening a PC power supply can be dangerous. Unplug it
from the wall before opening it! Even unplugged, the capacitors in a power supply can
store enough juice to put a severe hurt on you. If you are at all unsure of what you are
doing, have someone skilled in handling electricity do this for you.
The PC power supply doesn't have to be anything fancy. Mine is an old AT-style. Brent
Carlson (mrbugs) suggested I put a 15 ohm 10 watt wire wound resistor across the
unused 5v rail (black and red wires) as these power supplies don't like to run unloaded.
I used an 18 ohm as the store was out of 15 - seems to work fine. In the picture above,
you can see the resistor silicone-glued to the inside wall of the power supply (center
top - the white thing). Note the black and red wires running to it - that's the 5v rail of the
PS. The black and yellow wires are the 12v rail - note how they are exiting through the
grommet. All other wires were trimmed and heat-shrink tubed together. The inside of
this PS was filthy as it was from an old computer that spent most of its life in a toolgrinding shop sucking in airborne oils and grit.

Don't forget a fuse. I used a 3 amp fuse. In testing, I accidentally shorted out the
outputs and heard a click inside the PS - I shut it off and then turned it back on and it
was fine. There must be some sort of internal protection in the power supply, but fuses
are still a good idea.
I used a piece of aluminium as my front panel. Rough out the layout of your
components, center-punch their locations, and write down the size hole they require
with a black permanent marker. If you need to drill and then cut to a diamter (ie the
gauge hole), mark the diameter with a compass as after you drill the center hole it will
be difficult to measure how far to nibble or file. My panel had protective film on it, but
you can always wire wool or sand with 600 grit to remove any marks left on it.
Remember when doing your layout to account for all wires and mounting hardware - I
neglected to account for the clamp that holds the voltmeter in and it almost didn't fit.

Here is the panel on the drill press. The half-inch bit is too big to use on my 1/3
horsepower drill press, but I got away with it by working up to the diameter with smaller
bits and feeding really slowly. I used a hole saw (for wood) to drill the hole for the
voltmeter. This was entirely the wrong tool for the job - I should have used a circlecutter - but it worked, stalling the drill press a dozen times. Another option for the big
holes is to drill a hole and then use a metal nibbler to enlarge it - these are available
from electronics stores (Rat Shack, etc). Notice the clamps. Don't ever try to hold
anything by hand when using a drill press, even a gutless little Chinese one like mine.

The drill bit can bind, ripping the work out of your hands and spinning it at whatever
RPM the drill press is set to, cheerfully and efficiently removing all flesh in its path. Yes,
it's a pain to line up the drill, put on a clamp, have the work move, re-clamp, etc.
Stitches suck more. USE CLAMPS ALWAYS. De-burr all edges with a file so you don't
cut yourself.

The speed control is based on the idea by Philippe Marchand . Basically it uses a 12pole rotary switch with a diode on each pole - as the switch is turned down, the power
runs through more diodes, dropping the voltage more. His plans call for 1N4001
diodes. My local electronic store only had 1N4004 diodes, but they seem to work well.
Note that these are one amp diodes - this is just enough for 1/32 cars, but if you're
running anything hotter than stock motors (I'm not), you should upgrade to 3 amp or 6
amp diodes. I was tempted to do so myself until I saw the size of the 3 amp diodes they are quite large and looked a lot more difficult to attach to the 12-pole switch. When
I went to solder the diodes to the rotary switch, I noticed that my switch only had posts
rather than the loops that Philippe's had - this makes soldering two diodes to the same
post a bit tricky. I tapped a brad into a piece of scrap wood and nipped the head off,
then wrapped the leads of the diodes around the brad to make a loop. The loops fit
over the posts on the back of the switch and now I don't need five hands to solder!
Note that diodes are directional - put 'em in backwards and they won't work.

All wired up and ready to go. Note that the power switch is the push on/ push off style
from the computer. I'll need to find a knob that fits the speed control.

Here is a simplified wiring diagram, masterfully drawn with Microsoft Paint. Really not
much to it. Fuse and speed controller are in series, voltmeter is in parallel.

The partially-finished test stand. The table is a piece of Formica-covered MDF - the
stuff they use in cabinets. I cut a slot down the middle with a Dremel in a router base
and used some copper foil leftover from re-taping our club track.

To true tyres, lay a piece of 150 or 220 grit sandpaper on the table, set the voltage
around the middle, and slowly lower the rear of the car onto the sandpaper. Move it
side to side slowly, never pushing hard enough to stall the tyres. Periodically lift the car
off and check to see if the whole tyre surface is being sanded. Also take this
opportunity to check the temperature of the motor. If it's uncomfortable to touch, let it
cool before continuing. When finished, use a fingernail emery board or sandpaper to
knock the sharp edge off the tyre. This helps keep the car from flipping as it slides.