# TRACk CLEANER



## 41-willys (Jan 7, 2000)

Has anyone built a track cleaner for their tracks so you can just make a few laps in each lane and have the track ready to go racing quickly? The Oscars are many time not complete or too costly.


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## beast1624 (Mar 28, 2009)

BRP Racing just came out with one:

http://www.bat-jet.com/trackcleaner.html


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

The Tyco US1 truck chassis, 
with their front and rear sets of pickup shoes,
make excellent track cleaners.


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## JordanZ870 (Nov 25, 2004)

I use a Slotless tyco Emergency Van "jam car" (cause it is torquey) with
a guide pin added, to pull a Maisto "search-light" two wheeled trailer around my track.

Affixed to the underside of the trailer is a chunk of rail eraser.
I rubber cemented it it to the trailer frame just ahead of the single axle. 

The trailer is pinned to the rubber bumper on the back of the van
with a push-pin. The trailer hitch (loop) is allowed to float up and down on 
the pin, letting the weight of the diecast trailer do the cleaning work.

I just drop it on the track and let it run.:thumbsup:


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## 41-willys (Jan 7, 2000)

joez870 said:


> I use a Slotless tyco Emergency Van "jam car" (cause it is torquey) with
> a guide pin added, to pull a Maisto "search-light" two wheeled trailer around my track.
> 
> Affixed to the underside of the trailer is a chunk of rail eraser.
> ...


Hey Joez any pics of your rig?


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Bill Hall (aka the debil.. :devil made a really cool one out of I believe a US1 truck, complete with front track cleaner and back mechanized sweeper. :thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

joez870 said:


> I use a Slotless tyco Emergency Van "jam car" (cause it is torquey) with
> a guide pin added, to pull a Maisto "search-light" two wheeled trailer around my track.
> 
> Affixed to the underside of the trailer is a chunk of rail eraser.
> ...


I did something kinda similar to this by removing the wheels from a US-1 trailer and attaching a piece of a nail file board (the kind that looks like a foam tongue depressor sandwiched between two pieces of fine sandpaper) in their place. I put some weight on the trailer and let a US-1 truck pull it around. 

--rick


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## Tycoarm (Jan 7, 2006)

The problem with a track cleaner is that you sort of need a clean track to get them to work. Since they run off of the rails that your trying to clean.

What you need is a cleaner that runs on its own power. It has to be heavy to rub the rails clean but, it also needs to move slowly to do a good job.
A car with a worm gear should be used to provide the proper torque.
Those of you who have played with trains would know how a diesel locomotive has good weight an is very torquey. (is that a word?)

I did make an attempt at a track cleaner using a Defiant 4X4 truck, you can find them at Toys R Us for about $6. I rigged it up so that a track cleaner eraser would sort of float on the bottom. I also used a cut paper clip hot glued in place for the guide pins. 
I had to off set the guide pins since the car has a wider stance, I did get it to run around the track but, it seemed that the track eraser needed to have some tension so that it would be pressed against the track and not just float while it went around the track. The Defiant trucks have two speeds but do not use a worm gear.

Here a pic of my failed attempt.









I would think a track cleaner could also be made with legos, while it won't be to scale of course I'm sure it could work.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Maybe if that eraser was spring loaded to maintain some pressure, and a little more weight was added on top it might work better? The idea of something self powered is great though. Something to think about along those lines is the same principal, though the heavy self powered truck pulls weighted rail cleaners around the track. If the truck is heavy enough, and the tires are sticky enough, a rig could be made to clean 4 or 6 lanes at once, each lane having it's own cleaner trailer, all tied into the puller. Think like a farmer plowing fields, and dragging 3 or 4 plows behind the tractor.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Tycoarm said:


> The problem with a track cleaner is that you sort of need a clean track to get them to work. Since they run off of the rails that your trying to clean.


This is why the US-1 chassis are good. 
The shoes point forward and backwards from the middle of the chassis,
giving them two sets of contacts. They almost never lose contact.
You can literally throw sand on the track and they would still run.
Unless yor track hasn't been run on for a couple years, these work great.
I've been meanin to run a micro fiber cloth strip across the front just too see if that would work better.


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## Boosted-Z71 (Nov 26, 2007)

NTX is right on needing good contact to work correctly, I used a Turbo train, added braids to the pickup shoes on the engine, the cleaning stone is in the middle car & spring loaded & the rear car has a cleaning felt, (Never thought about micro-fiber), It works well, except on the tight corners, its just to long. I also added a traction mag on the center car to plant the stone against the rails. I wish I could gear it for more torque & way less speed, it will really fly on 18v. I Have often thought about adding 2 - 9 volt batteries & an adj voltage circuit to the 3rd car to power its self, but just have not had the time to work it all out. I will try to post some pics later.

Boosted


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

Try a US 1 truck with a 9 volt battery mounted and powering the truck itself. Find a 9 volt battery clip/snap on attachment (a lot of old transistor radios, electrical devices, or Radio Shack has em) then solder the wires to your contact shoes. Attach the battery, then let the truck run a few laps on it's on and you should be good to go. You can always attach a dust cloth type trailer behind the truck to clean up dust. If you haven't run your track since childhood, ya may need to get a little more agressive... RM


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

I like that idea Randy!! Now where did I put that green dump truck??


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## JordanZ870 (Nov 25, 2004)

Hilltop Raceway said:


> Try a US 1 truck with a 9 volt battery mounted and powering the truck itself. Find a 9 volt battery clip/snap on attachment (a lot of old transistor radios, electrical devices, or Radio Shack has em) then solder the wires to your contact shoes. Attach the battery, then let the truck run a few laps on it's on and you should be good to go. You can always attach a dust cloth type trailer behind the truck to clean up dust. If you haven't run your track since childhood, ya may need to get a little more agressive... RM


This is good!
also, drop a Tjet magnet on the dragger felt to plant it as well.
Seems to work good with the Oscar.


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## 41-willys (Jan 7, 2000)

thanks, there are some fantastic ideas here:thumbsup:


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## Gerome (Sep 25, 2011)

Greg Braun used to have on on his website hoslotracing.com that fit on a Tomy chassis.


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## Boosted-Z71 (Nov 26, 2007)

I have one of those & they are just a piece of sandpaper attached to a weighted nose piece, did not work very well, especially on any sort of banking.

Boosted


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*momu post 505*

http://s44.photobucket.com/player.s...30/modelmurdering/MOV05147.flv&fs=1&os=1&ap=1

I usually plop this on the track right when I flip the light on and enter the slot cave if I know I'm gonna run some cars.

Much can be said about cleaners. Bottom line is that they need weight, grunt, and good low speed characterisitcs. Tyco US1...accept no sustitutes. Additionally they have the extra pair of rear pick ups that are a bonus on grody rails. The vid shows a stone, I also have an eraser chunk the identical size, so whichever.

Sometimes I use rail zip on the roller other times not...whatever. 

Ya certainly dont need the monkey motion out back, I was just goofing around.

Something to grind the rail and something to mop it up....it's not like the Oscar was revolutionary...LOL! 

Wax on! Wax Off!

Some one made a cool cle3aner out of a Tyco bullet train....Slot-V...?


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## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

Had to dig this up from the archives. It sounds like Boosted made a similar one. It worked OK. What you really need are some mini neo dot magnets to give it downforce for better cleaning.


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## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

Bill that motorized jobby is way cool! :thumbsup:


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