Got my Formula 34

hogjowlz · Post by **hogjowlz** » Thu May 15, 2003 4:39 pm

the high rpm teal gearset helps you coast somewhat as well.

midget_man1387 · Post by **midget_man1387** » Thu May 15, 2003 4:41 pm

yeah i noticed this as well.... I can turn much better now with my dual cell..... holy crap, I've never heard a car whine that high before!!!! Now, I simply let off the gas and turn much betetr than I would think it would with another motor... I can actually handle my bit relatively well now, lol

midget_man1387 · Post by **midget_man1387** » Thu May 15, 2003 4:59 pm

here she is....

another

last one

midget_man1387 · Post by **midget_man1387** » Thu May 15, 2003 7:25 pm

man....... I'm really sad...... i fucked up my shen..... that deserves the word f**K in it, i don't care....... the steering wire broke, it won't turn to the right, but the thing is, it broke in the middle so its unrepairable.... damn, I'm really upset..... I can't keep a dual cell for nothing....

Post by **CaboWabo** » Thu May 15, 2003 8:03 pm

that blows man, what happened that the steering wire broke?

SuperFly · Post by **SuperFly** » Thu May 15, 2003 8:06 pm

It's not unrepairable! You can fix it!

I snapped one of my steering wires right at the firewall, and I was able to fix it just fine. Here's how:
Get some enamel-coated wire (the same kind as the steering wires) from RS or from a donor car (I used a Nakamichi racer that I scavenge for parts). Cut yourself a piece about 2 inches long and strip the enamel off the last 1/4" of each end. Also strip the enamel off the end of the piece that broke that's still attached to the spool. Then bend a 180 "hook" on the broken piece and one end of the new piece of wire. Pull the "hooks" together and dab the smallest amount of solder where they meet. Solder the other end of your new wire piece onto the PCB and you're good as new.

midget_man1387 · Post by **midget_man1387** » Thu May 15, 2003 8:07 pm

I fucked around wit it too much, i dunno exactly, I juss look down at one point to see it broken.... I was having so many problems tho... the whole negative terminal was out of the car at one point, and attached to nothing, not the wire leading to the PCB, not the wire to the second battery.... man, that gets me heated.... also, the plastic of the chassis melted on the bottom cuz the negative terminal got so hot, so it's all fucked up.... I may be buying another chassis, prolly from QFM

midget_man1387 · Post by **midget_man1387** » Thu May 15, 2003 8:10 pm

thats for the tip man, but I don't think I got the heart any more..... I am never going under a PCB again unless something else gets fucked up....I need to stop talking about it, i'm gonna hit something

SuperFly · Post by **SuperFly** » Thu May 15, 2003 9:42 pm

Try not to get too worked up over it. If it was your first dual-cell, chalk it up to learning how to do it. One of the best things about these cars is even if you destroy the whole chassis, you haven't done more than $20 worth of damage.

I'm not some expert or anything, but if you want to send me a chassis and an extra battery I'll make you an internal dual cell for the cost of postage ($5.00?). I've made 3 or 4, and they all kick ass! I've had some terrible problems along the way that I had to walk away from for a little while, but in the end I was able to fix all of them. My favorite thing about dual cells is that all those yellow and orange motors I have laying around have become useful again.

midget_man1387 · Post by **midget_man1387** » Fri May 16, 2003 7:27 am

well, the dualcell works finenow, its' just the steering wire now

crazydave · Post by **crazydave** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 9:20 am

I'm constantly seeing people thinking that it's all over because a steering wire broke, well I'm here to tell you that with proper soldering technique, they are just as simple to fix as any other wire. Here's how:

First of all I like to use my 40 watt iron for this. The higher temp helps out in this case, and I think the wire is too thin to transfer too much heat to the PCB.

Second make sure you have a wet sponge to wipe your tip on often. Every time you clean your tip re-tin it with some solder. It's essential to have a decent amount of rosin flowing when soldering these wires. Also some soldering tweezers are mucho handy here.

Ok, now your ready to solder. As in soldering any wire it's easier if you tin the tips of the wire first. The wire is enamel coated, so you'll need to scrap the tip of the wire with a hobby knife. I just scrap off a couple millimeters, it should be a brighter copper color where you scraped. Now your ready to tin the tip. I use a penny to hold the wire flat against my soldering surface, and act as a heatsink. Press the tip of the soldering iron against the wire for a sec, touch the solder between the tip if the iron and wire, and get a little solder flowing, kinda wipe the tip against the wire as you you remove it, and because the wire is so thin it's kinda hard to see, but it should have a bit of a silvery surface. Repeat this process to the other end, and leave that end under the penny. Then take your tweezers, (I prefer soldering tweezers, as they have to be squeezed to released, where as regular tweezers have to be squeezed to grip, and it too easy to accidently let go when your thinking about something else, but at any rate either should work, you just need some tweezers.) anyways, take your tweezers, and take the end that you tinned before, and hold it against the end under the penny. Get the tip of your iron good and clean, press it against the two wires, and then melt a liberal amount of solder over the wires. Pull your iron away, count to 3 then let go, and they should be attached, if not, try, try again.

I got extra detailed just to make sure that no one has any problems, but really it's not as complicated as I make it sound. Basically your just tinning the tips and smashing them together.

If you break the wire off at the coil all is not lost in that case either. You just have to find the end of the wire on the coil(that is the tricky,often impossible part), then once you find it, scrap at it with your hobby knife to get it pulled up, then use you tweezersto pull at it. Unwind a coil or 2, and voila, you have a new lead.

***Forgot to mention to make sure you cover the solder joint with some tape or something so it doesn't short on the battery, and fry your board like I did before.

midget_man1387 · Post by **midget_man1387** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 2:45 pm

thanks for the tutorial dave, but unfortunately, the car's been trashed and I've used some of the battery-to-PCB wire as wire for my internal dual cell in my new ZipZap... lol I know I swore I'd never do one again, but I couldn't help it lol!

noxorc · Post by **noxorc** » Sun Jun 01, 2003 8:41 pm

crazydave wrote:I'm constantly seeing people thinking that it's all over because a steering wire broke, well I'm here to tell you that with proper soldering technique, they are just as simple to fix as any other wire. Here's how:

First of all I like to use my 40 watt iron for this. The higher temp helps out in this case, and I think the wire is too thin to transfer too much heat to the PCB.

Second make sure you have a wet sponge to wipe your tip on often. Every time you clean your tip re-tin it with some solder. It's essential to have a decent amount of rosin flowing when soldering these wires. Also some soldering tweezers are mucho handy here.

Ok, now your ready to solder. As in soldering any wire it's easier if you tin the tips of the wire first. The wire is enamel coated, so you'll need to scrap the tip of the wire with a hobby knife. I just scrap off a couple millimeters, it should be a brighter copper color where you scraped. Now your ready to tin the tip. I use a penny to hold the wire flat against my soldering surface, and act as a heatsink. Press the tip of the soldering iron against the wire for a sec, touch the solder between the tip if the iron and wire, and get a little solder flowing, kinda wipe the tip against the wire as you you remove it, and because the wire is so thin it's kinda hard to see, but it should have a bit of a silvery surface. Repeat this process to the other end, and leave that end under the penny. Then take your tweezers, (I prefer soldering tweezers, as they have to be squeezed to released, where as regular tweezers have to be squeezed to grip, and it too easy to accidently let go when your thinking about something else, but at any rate either should work, you just need some tweezers.) anyways, take your tweezers, and take the end that you tinned before, and hold it against the end under the penny. Get the tip of your iron good and clean, press it against the two wires, and then melt a liberal amount of solder over the wires. Pull your iron away, count to 3 then let go, and they should be attached, if not, try, try again.

I got extra detailed just to make sure that no one has any problems, but really it's not as complicated as I make it sound. Basically your just tinning the tips and smashing them together.

If you break the wire off at the coil all is not lost in that case either. You just have to find the end of the wire on the coil(that is the tricky,often impossible part), then once you find it, scrap at it with your hobby knife to get it pulled up, then use you tweezersto pull at it. Unwind a coil or 2, and voila, you have a new lead.

***Forgot to mention to make sure you cover the solder joint with some tape or something so it doesn't short on the battery, and fry your board like I did before.

nice write up....do you smoke? ever say just two words?
Just playin with ya .
Keep them coming.

-nox

bitPimps.lixlink.com

Got my Formula 34

Fixing broken steering wires...

Re: Fixing broken steering wires...