In Slot Sensors

[daufderh]

I'm thinking about installing photo sensors at the bottom of the guide slot in my routed track. To do this with the sensor I have, I'm going to have to drill a hole in the 1/16 guide slot to widen it enough to fit the sensor.

If I do this about a foot from a turn exit, will it cause any issues with hanging up the cars guide pin? My concern would be the car fish tailing or not being centered in the slot and getting flipped over by the far edge of the drill hole as it tries to pass through.

Thoughts?
Thanks
Dave

[mike SoCal]

Dave,

One option would be to take a scrap of MDF and route the curve. With this you can experiment with the opening for your sensor to evaluate if any interference will occur.

Mike

[smalltime]

what is the diameter of the hole?

[RichD]

If you drill up from the underside of the track you will not have a problem. Use a sleeve on the drill bit so that you do not drill too far. If you drill all the way through that will leave notches in the slot that would be likely to cause trouble.
It would be better to locate the sensors further away from the exit of a corner. Mine are 2 feet from the exit of a corner and I see a missed lap once in a while if a car deslots.

[daufderh]

Okay I'll give it a hot from underneath. That seems like the general consensus. I have other options, but they include pulling up part of the rail which I'm trying to avoid.

Good point about deslots around the corners. I plan on putting in 3 sets of sensors for segment timing and HO analog pace cars. For the pace cars the sensors need to be closer to the turns, but I'll make sure the priority for the S/F line is to keep it a bit away from the turn.

[daufderh]

I ended up putting the sensors just outside the power rail. I went top down with the correct sized drill bit, then partially through bottom up with a larger one to make it easier to install the sensor. The sleeve kept me from going too far and so far the sensor is flush to the track surface and so far no missed laps or any issues...

Thanks for the help!

[tonesua]

leftover power rail

I am looking for flat stitching wire for power rail. If you had to order way too much and want to sell one of the 5lb rolls to me, i need 200 ft. Just let me know the size of wire (.05 x .80, .15 x.103 etc.)
thanks

[Phil Kalbfell]

Part rolls of stiching wire can sometimes be picked up from a local print shop that has a stick line.

[slotking]

if you are aiming up the slot, it should not matter except for slot clearance.
if you trying to shoot sideways in the slot, the guidepin may be to thin to trigger it (unless you run a slide guide or afx flag.

[RichD]

If the guide flag is white plastic it is transparent to IR and it will not register. I have never heard of anyone using emitter/sensor pairs that looked across the slot with HO cars of any sort. I ran on a 1/32nd track that had them and some cars did not trip the counter.