Proper use of an erector set for slot car tires

[mattb]

Thanks to Lee (The Lancaster Tornado) for his post about using Permatex windshield sealer for coating sponge tires and really making the easiest and stickiest silicone tires possible. These tires are every bit the equal of the Protrack tires we have been buying for home and commercial racing.

At first I put an axle in a drill and rotated it to apply the silicone, one tire at a time. When done, I put the axle in a hole in a 2X4 and chucked another in the drill. The speed was not consistent and I could only do one tire at a time. Figured my old Erector set motor would be good for this. I came up with this Rube Goldberg setup to do several pair at one time and allow them to spin slowly until the silicone is cured.

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[waaytoomuchintothis]

Its been about ten years now, but when we were doing 1/24th Modifieds on a D-oval, we used to chuck the wheel and tire on an axle in a drill press, and use Permatex black Adhesive Sealant, part 16B. My method was to dab the tire in three places, then start the drill press (set for the slowest speed, just like you did), then get a glob of saliva on my thumb (no, the silicone never gets on your thumb, and when you do the next tire it doesn't taste like silicone), and turn the silicone smooth and even using my saliva between the stick and my thumb. We got mirror smooth tires every time, with no need to ever re-true them. The result was that the stickiest, best condition of the tire had 5 or 6 times the life of the same application that was sanded when dried in place. So it stayed essentially brand new for a very long time in hard racing (similar to the RTR tires and wheels from H&R.

On the old HRW site, there were at least two posts that demonstrated this method, one by me and another one that came later, but both failed to come up with an alternative to using a drill press. Some of the guys many years ago smoothed the silicone on a piece of glass (it looked funky because in those days silicone only came in white), which takes a knack, but when you get it, the results are just as good as mine. What you have done opens up the possibility that guys can "Rube Goldberg" a satisfactory rig to do the same thing without the need for learning a clumsy new technique, or buying a drill press. You even got the low speed turning figured. Good job! You know we love inventors around here! Just look at Dave and his various motor jigs, simplified chassis, all kinds of stuff. Jon and his Tire Razor we all seem to have one or two of, lots of resin casters, etc.

[HomeRacingWorld]

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Harry's video brings up another important point I forgot. When he is mashing the silicone into the foam, he is making up for the fact that the foam isn't brand new from the box. I only ever did the method I talked about before when the tires were brand new. For tires that had been in stock for a while, or had been trued a time before, mashing the foam to soak it in was very important.

[Cincyslots]

See they're not just toys but tools too!