Have you ever tried ?

[speedie4u]

I have had some interesting ideas that have been stirring around in my my head lately.

1, what about taking a piece of tape and taping it to the wheel bore where the axle shaft comes out ?

would this help keep the graphite in it longer ? would there likely be more friction from the axle due to the piece of tape? or would this be a plus, due to holding more graphite in the wheel for a longer period of time ?

2, What about some bent copper tubing in the car body at a downward angle to the outside of the car just above the axle ? during racing it might just trickle out graphite to the wheel area through out the race.

3, What about magnatized axles ? using a screw driver mangnatizer at menards for $4.

would the graphite stick better to the axle ? stay on the axle a little bit longer ?

Speedie4u

[roosclan]

Jan 14, 2009 22:56:30 GMT -6 speedie4u said:

I have had some interesting ideas that have been stirring around in my my head lately.

1, what about taking a piece of tape and taping it to the wheel bore where the axle shaft comes out ?

would this help keep the graphite in it longer ? would there likely be more friction from the axle due to the piece of tape? or would this be a plus, due to holding more graphite in the wheel for a longer period of time ?

Many pack/council rules prohibit this. You might want to check yours to make sure it will be legal. If it is, it should work.

2, What about some bent copper tubing in the car body at a downward angle to the outside of the car just above the axle ? during racing it might just trickle out graphite to the wheel area through out the race.

This is not necessarily a good thing. Packing the wheel bore with graphite will actually slow the car down until most of it vibrates out. You don't want too much graphite, and your idea could likely end up with results opposite of what you're looking for.

3, What about magnatized axles ? using a screw driver mangnatizer at menards for $4.

would the graphite stick better to the axle ? stay on the axle a little bit longer ?

Graphite is just carbon. There is nothing ferromagnetic about it at room temperature unless you do some really funky things to it to make it magnetic (or it has magnetic impurities in it -- molybdenum might be, but I'm not sure).

[speedie4u]

I know that toner dust 1 micron, has magnetic properties, not for sure about graphite / molly.

Pack and council rules, would be interesting to see what they would say about the tape.

I also thought that the graphite tubes could do that also. seeing how I added to much earlier tonight.

I just figured someone has thought and tried some of these and wondered what the results were.

[JustaDad]

Speedie4u, your questions having me asking one as well. The graphite is used to reduce the friction between the axles and the hubs, but what if you reduce the hubs material? What I am thinking about, and I'm sure someone has tried this, drill holes in the hub? This would lighten the wheel and allow you to squirt graphite into the hub. then place tape over the holes in the hub to keep the graphite in.

It seems like a win win.

[andylester]

I have never done what you said, but I would think holes and tape would lead to balance issues that may offset the benefits of the reduction...

Might be wrong though...

Andy Lester
Florence, KY
www.mpp-models.com