New Build: Start Gate

Hi Eddie,

I have a Spool Heads start gate that operates exactly as you've described, and I haven't noticed any wear issues.  The gates are 3D printed plastic and drop straight down very quickly. Operated by a 12V car door lock actuator.    They also sell a manual start gate that could probably be easily adapted to your pinball post coil assemblies.  The neat part of buying the automated one is the wireless remotes you get with it.   Good luck and keep us posted!

Chris 

Welcome to the party!

I don't think you will have a problem with paint.

what I'd worry about is the lane sync

I'd use one to drive both lanes

slice the plastic thru the centerline,

add thick brass strip for a pair of "tabs" (one for each lane)

also the "thump" on release can bounce your track/camera, 

so support it well.

Good Luck!  Keep us posted/pics

and again, 

welcome!

dr

Welcome to RedlineDerby newcomer!

Hey welcome! I agree that there is no real concern of wear n tear from the gate action. I've been using the Slanman gate for a year in manual mode and a month ago moved to a solenoid under manual control and just upgraded to automatic start gate. The biggest cause for wear n tear on your cars will be from racing - flying off the track - ramming other cars. Below is the solenoid I used - good luck.

www.adafruit.com/product/3992

First things first: welcome to diecast racing madness!

Pinball machines? Wow, this is going to be interesting, for sure. I think if you go to use pinball machine parts, Dr. Dodge's suggestion would be the best one to use, as you would have one solenoid for both lanes. You could also mount the solenoid parallel to the track, and have it be the "latch" that holds a drop gate in place.

(On a side note, I was a pinball junkie back in the day. I once played the Space Invaders machjine for 2 1/2 hours on a single quarter--I just kept hitting the replay loop over and over again, and racked up tons of free credits. Some of my other favorites were Captain Fantastic, Black Knight I&II, Nitro GroundShaker, WhirlWind, Party Animal, and High Speed.)

Thanks everyone for all the info.

Chris, I came across that Spool Heads start timer and agree that is a great option.  I sent a message and email to the creator to ask a few questions and waiting to hear back.  

Regarding using the solenoids from pinball....dr._dodge, that is what I started thinking about, the thump\force from those coils is strong as well as the other things you brought up as I initially was just going to use two of them, one for each lane, and just wire them together and to a power supply that would be connected to a remote plug, so when you activate the plug via the remote, it would give power to the coil assemblies and in theory would both drop the same time as long as they were the same model coil.

I then thought about doing the traditional hinge\spring dropping mechanism and still might go that route, but would then have to wire up a servo and get an RC remote as I want to activate this remotely.

At this point, I will probably go with Spool Heads, but I do wish he would reply to my message.

Another thing I am curious about if anyone can help.....I noticed ElevationDiecastRacing on YT has a Slanman starter but is using a Derby Magic timer and it looks like it connects via plug and play to Slanman's start gate, is this a custom setup as I was under the impression that the Derby Magic timers only come with a cord connected to a micro switch that activates the timer when the switch is open?  I would also be interested if Spool Heads timer could also directly connect to a Derby Magic timer in the same fashion.  The micro switch is a simple open or closed switch, but the real question is knowing where to tap in on the board (assuming Arduino) to have it open the switch exactly when the timer starts.

Thanks again everyone for all the help and info, I'll keep this thread updated once I get everything setup, I do have a Derby Magic timer on the way, so I'll definitely include what I had to do, to get it to work if I get a Spool Head's starting gate.

Solenoid on Slanman gate

Eddie,   If you are familiar with Arduino, you could make your own timer. Thats what I did. It was very easy to tap a signal wire into the Spool Heads gate to start the timer.  Message me if you need more info.

Chris

as an fyi

I bought a pair of these  



they seem to work good on some lighting stuff, plan on using the second one on billy goat falls with a reverse moto gate (opens out, and up) outta clear lexan

dr

I figured I would provide an update for those interested.

I did create a prototype start gate using pinball parts\mechs.  Initially I was going to use a post solenoid mech, but I had some old Pop Bumper mechs and tried that.  It did work, but the posts were not aligned together, there was some slack causing the cars not to line up level with each other, so I was back to square one.

Luckily Russ from Spoolheads responded to my message and I ordered one of his electronic start gates and couldn't be happier, it works perfect and I like that it's serviceable and the parts can be replaced since it's just a door actuator and those are a dime a dozen on Amazon.

My next challenge was getting the Derby Magic timing system to work with his start gate.  The DM timer just uses a simple switch to start the timer (closed the start gate is up and open, start gate down).  At first I tried and tried to find a place for the switch inside the housing, but that proved to be extremely difficult due to the limited space available inside as he designed the start gate extremely efficiently with hardly any unused\open space.  So then I turned to tapping into the voltage that the DM timer switch receives.  Although the DM timer power supply is 12 volts, the actual switch just receives 5 volts.  So I ordered a step down converter from Amazon for 12v to 5v and actually did this beforehand so I had it just in case I wasn't able to position\install the switch.  So after some trial and error testing, I was able to find the postive\negative wires that would allow the timer to start when the gate was activated to lower.  

After all that, all that was left was to put everything together and ensure consistency with the track and so far, it's very consistent as I did the calibration recommendations I found on this site by using the same model cars and just ran them stock together and they both kept their times extremely close or within hundredths of a second.

I'm sure I'll do a better build in the future or perhaps might splurge and get one of Spool Head's custom prefabbed track, but this will do for now and my 5 year old daughter had a blast and thought controlling the remote was amazing (Spool Head's electronic start gate uses a key fob since they are essentially door locks).  

Thanks everyone for all the help and tips and perhaps I'll do some racing videos and post to YouTube.

Pics of the prototype start gate with the pinball Pop Bumper Mech:

That seems to be a nice set up!!  I have a homemade setup myself, activated with a relay and switch to prevent getting bad times on the Audrino unit.  The start gate has an extremely fast drop with no wear on the cars at all.  You seem to have a very good transition from hill to flat which is usually a problem spot.  Good job and good luck with your track!  

Great job and thanks for the update!  Thats exactly what I did with my spool heads.  Tapped into the power the door actuator gets to drop the gate. That becomes the "start" signal for my Arduino timer to start the clock. 

Chris