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Post by Mr. Slick on Feb 23, 2009 9:56:40 GMT -6
The BLUE ESS worked like a charm!
The starters enjoyed having a button to push rather then having to pull the lever and times were more consistent too!
The first pack had 39 cars and the second pack had 54 cars. With the initial test runs it went 113 starts in a couple of hours and was very smooth.
I only came up with a couple of items. A. Make the switches a momentary contact switches - don't allow the ESS to be activated for a long period by someone holding down the button. B. Use a couple of lock nuts on the bolts that hold the ESS to the track. By the end of the day the ESS was loose and only being held in place because the heads of the bolts were catching in the channels. Which is easy to understand if you have ever tried to slide a bolt down one of those channels.
I'm going to find/make a foot pedal for the switch too. This will allow the starter to simply step on the start switch rather then looking around and grabbing the remote start button. Neither of the starters liked the option of using the button on the ESS unit since it was getting to be a stretch and they tended to bump the starting lever when reaching for the button. . . not the intended result.
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Post by beakerboysracing on Feb 25, 2009 15:10:14 GMT -6
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Post by Mr. Slick on Feb 25, 2009 22:02:21 GMT -6
It is fairly close when you are standing on the ground. I'll try to remember to get a side photo for a better explanation. Raised track, starter up on a ladder/platform. Besides, I discourage the use of the button on the unit since it might cause a shake for the track. picky - way too picky!
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Post by 2fast4u on Feb 25, 2009 23:16:28 GMT -6
The BLUE ESS worked like a charm! Thank you for you wonderful comments...
The starters enjoyed having a button to push rather then having to pull the lever and times were more consistent too! yes it is...
The first pack had 39 cars and the second pack had 54 cars. With the initial test runs it went 113 starts in a couple of hours and was very smooth. yes it is, great to here... we get the same results after 2 years and over 10,000 pulls...
I only came up with a couple of items. A. Make the switches a momentary contact switches - don't allow the ESS to be activated for a long period by someone holding down the button. It was designed this way on purpose, you can not hurt the ESS by holding the button down... some people may want to hold the ESS open for a longer period, so it does not spring back while the cars are going down the hill...
B. Use a couple of lock nuts on the bolts that hold the ESS to the track. By the end of the day the ESS was loose and only being held in place because the heads of the bolts were catching in the channels. Which is easy to understand if you have ever tried to slide a bolt down one of those channels. What did you do finger tighten the nuts, if you snug them with a wrench the nuts will dig into the aluminum housing and stay tight, we have not had a problem with this one... at pddr it has been tested for 1000's of pulls and has never come loose...
I'm going to find/make a foot pedal for the switch too. This will allow the starter to simply step on the start switch rather then looking around and grabbing the remote start button. Neither of the starters liked the option of using the button on the ESS unit since it was getting to be a stretch and they tended to bump the starting lever when reaching for the button. . . not the intended result. The switch on the unit is a great place to have one, so you can start the race with out the thumb switch. the push button switch on the ESS unit will not jiggle the track, pulling the lever with you hand will... if I was running a race, give the Switch to the kids and let them start the race, so they can have fun being the starters... the foot switch would work great as well, with the 50' cord, just remove the hand held switch and plug your new floor switch on... of course you will have to make one, but that would not be hard to do...
Thank you for your comments
Glenn
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Post by Mr. Slick on Feb 26, 2009 14:09:46 GMT -6
I didn't want to scratch the nice blue surface, hence I didn't tighten them with a wrench. Besides, it was only 4 hours till race time and I was getting mighty sleepy. I'll have it nice and tight for tonight's races. . . unless they get canceled due to blizzard.
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