MAGracing Forum

Is it possible to have the wire below a plastic layer of 1-2 mm? Does the wire have to be thicker then?

there are many options to built a track. you have to test new ideas, but i think the guidemagnet has to be as near as possible to the wire to get the highest magnetforce. every mm more distanz will smaller the hold on the line. best wishes markus

Yes it is possible, but you need to test how much thicker wire you need to have the same magnet force.

I can't remember how close it should be without anything between, but lets say that it is 0.7 mm between magnet and wire under normal circumstances.
Then test a magnet with some weight hanging upside down in the wire to see magnet-force using som spacers to give the same distance

And do the same with plastic between

offcourse this is a great job to do, it will take some time to test it.

It may be possible to have the wire below a plastic layer of 1-2 mm but you'll drive yourself crazy trying to get it to work right. The diameter of the wire, the size and mass of the lane change plates, the size and grade of guide magnet in the frontend of the chassis, the mass and center of gravity of the car, the power of the steering coil, and the distance from the bottom of the guide magnet and the top of the wire, as well as the distance from the bottom of the guide magnet and the top of the lane change plates all interact to create an enjoyable and realistic racing experience. Did I mention the traction between the tires and road surface? Plan to spend many hours experimenting, perhaps 100s of hours!

In my case, I use standard magracing cars with the exception of better tires. My track has 0.032” diameter steel music wire. The bottom of the guide magnet of my cars is usually running about 0.005" to 0.010” above the top of the wire, and 0.002” to 0.006” above the coating/paint that is covering the wire.

You have to be concerned with lateral forces as well as vertical forces exerted between the guide magnet and the wire and the guide magnet and the lane change plates. If you try the 1 mm plastic layer, please let us know how it turns out. Best of luck.

thx for your reply.

The question about the usage of a plate was related to my ideas of a modular track, see:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=297&p=2921#p2921

I suppose that one could also use some softmaterial to put the wires on with some sticky tape and then put a plexiglass plate over it. I think not having some easy way to get a track is what is preventing a lot of guys trying out magracing.

The top of my wire is embedded flush in 1" thick XPS rigid foam insulation board. The wire and track surface is covered with a coating/paint about 3-5 mils thick. Most masking tape is about 4-5 mils (0.004" - 0.005") (0.10 mm - 0.13 mm) thick. Changing the gap between the wire and guide magnet by the thickness of masking tape often significantly affects performance of a car on curves and lane change points. In fact sometimes 0.001" makes a difference! That's one reason the height of the guide magnet in the car is adjustable.

A portable light weight sectional track made of 1" thick XPS rigid foam insulation board would be inexpensive and easy to make.
See viewtopic.php?f=5&t=293 and viewtopic.php?f=5&t=511