# boiling and dyeing chassis



## mking (Apr 25, 2000)

hi

i bought a boiling jig from RTHO to fix some warped JLTO chassis. At the same time, i decided to add some RITT dye to the water to dye the chassis. so far, i have ruined 2 chassis. 

the chassis melted and warped in the boiling water. the first chassis i outright boiled, the second chassis i added to the water before the water actually started to boil. apparently JLTO chassis are made out of a softer plastic than aurora chassis. has anyone successfully used hot water to straighten a JLTO chassis? how hot is just right? apparently 200 degrees is TOO hot!


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

Guess you could just lower the temp to the 100 degree range and see what happens. Then raise it by ten degrees until you get the desired results. Good old trial and error. 
Keep us posted on your endeavor. rr


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## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

Nice jig.I'll have to look into one of those.

How about a blow dryer???? On the high setting,you ould keep hitting it until you get it hot enough.Might be worth a shot.

I read all of your posts on the work you do on the JL chassis.
I admire your determination,but I personally have given up on them.
Im swapping most of them out starting this week with NOS tjet chassis.

Mike


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## mking (Apr 25, 2000)

*tried 120 degrees*

and that was not hot enough, chassis was still warped after cool down. 

wife wanted her pan back and tossed the water/dye. i tried yellow Ritt dye, and in cold water i didnt get very much color transfer, but the boiling dye sure worked well (except for the warped/melted chassis )

racer x: tjet chassis certainly have better gear trains and more consistent axle holes. JLTO seem to have better brushes, arms and mags. if you send me your address, ill send you a well tuned JLTO chassis so you can see what ive done. i find that about 1 in 20 JLTO chassis cant be tuned very well, most respond pretty well.


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## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

I'll tell you what.PM me your address and I'll send you some chassis and what not out of my parts bin.

Actually,I was going through some JL arms earlier with my multimeter,andI was rally surprised in the consistancy of the readings I was getting pole to pole.
The lowest were in the 14.8 range,and the highest 15.8.

Tonite Im going to build one of those arm balancing thing-a-ma-bobs.
Curious on how balanced they are.

Look forward to trying one of your chassis out.And of,course a full report will follow.

Mike


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## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

Several hours later..................

My son and I finished up the fences aroundour track after supper this evening.

Afterwards,we decided to try to get someJL tjets to run.After about two hours,and a pile of chassis,we gave up.Couldnt get one of them to do a complete lap.

Grabbed an original T Jet Cobra Daytona that I picked up and forgot I had.Ran for crap.
Has oneof those Christmas tree arms in it.Ohmed kind of high,wasnt really expecting much.

Did the usual tjet tune up basics.Ground the comm plate smooth with the tool I made.De burred the gears,cleaned the brushes,polished the electrics on the chassis,etc etc.

Threw her on the track.Ran like a champ.

So thats why Im going to convert all my JL's over to tjet chassis.

Mike


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## mking (Apr 25, 2000)

*controller*

hey mike, what kind of controller do you have? the JLTOs really need a high ohm controller, 90-120. they do not run well with a stock tyco or tomy controller


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## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

I mainly use a Professor Motor 2050 electrons controller.

I have a few Parmas with 90's and 120's.

You're right tho.Anything less then 90 dont work.

Mike


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## mking (Apr 25, 2000)

*finally!!!*

ok i tried again, heated water, salt and dye (green RITT dye) to 150 degrees, and i got a straight chassis. 

one minor problem, the front axle holes loosend up. i think this is becasue i put the boiling jig on the bottom of the pan, and i think too much heat goes from the pan bottom to the boiling jig to the drill rod in the axle holes. next time i am going to heat the water first and then add the boiling jig. 

the green dye didnt turn out as well as i wanted. i added alot of dye, and i ended up with a chassis so dark green it looks black. so basically i dyed a grey JLTO chassis so it looks black!

racerX, those were your chassis i dyed, so your gonna get em back black!


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## 41-willys (Jan 7, 2000)

What are you doing to fix the play in the rear axles?


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## mking (Apr 25, 2000)

*hi willys*

i replace the axle with drill rod. the JLTO axles are nice, and they work great in a Tjet chassis, but the axle holes in a JLTO are simply too big for the axles. i bought 3 foot lengths of drill rod from http://www.wthutch.com/hssblanks/

drill rod is not fully hardened, but is fine for a slot car, and is cheap! a 3 foot length is usually less than $1.50. it cuts easily with a cut off disk in a dremel. once i cut an axle, i use the cut off disck to chamfer the end of the axles. i buy different sizes, and use whatever size is needed to eliminate the slop. in a JLTO sometimes one axle hole is bigger than the other, so i find a drill rod that matches the bigger hole. then i chuck the drill rod into a dremel, and carefully open up the smaller axle hole. if you run the dremel at a high speed you can melt the chassis and end up with too big of a hole. moderate dremel speed with cool downs will get the hole just right. 

i use the following sizes: wire sizes 52, 51, 50, and 49 (49 is really thick), as well as 1/16 drill rod. if you want to play around, hobby shops often carry piano wire in 1/16 sizes. for 1/16 and 52, you can usually press the JLTO hubs onto the new axle without splitting the hub. for larger wire sizes, i chuck the axle in a dremel, and ream out the hub. usually you can get a fairly true bore in the hub (takes a bit of practice). then i superglue (i like the black superglue with rubber added to it) the hub to the axle.


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## 41-willys (Jan 7, 2000)

Does the gear stay in place or do you have to glue it?


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## mking (Apr 25, 2000)

*crown gear*

hi willys

i have done this to about 30 chassis, and i have only had to glue 2-3 crown gears. 1/16 is the smallest axle is use, and that is usually big enough for the crown gear to grab onto


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## Hornet (Dec 1, 2005)

Just to add a bit to the above info.

5/64" = 0.0781"

#48 = 0.076"

#49 = 0.073"

#50 = 0.070"

#51 = 0.067"

#52 = 0.0635"

1/16" = 0.0625" (stock Tomy rear axle)

#53 = 0.0595" (stock Tyco rear axle )

#54 = 0.055"

#55 = 0.052"

3/64" = 0.0469"

#56 = 0.0465" (alot of stock and aftermarket front axles)

#57 = 0.043"


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## mking (Apr 25, 2000)

*the sizes i use most often*

1/16, 52, and 51


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## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

Mike......

Sounds good on the chassis.Cant wait.



If you were using the jig in a pot,and had the jig placed directly on the bottom of the pot then all of the heat from the flame transfers directly to the jig.

Place a small saucer on the bottom of the pot,and then put the jig on that to break the heat.That'll work.

How do I know this????? Ive been a professional chef for almost 30 years.We do that when we want tomake a quick double boiler.Put the little pot in the big pot,and put a saucer in between.

Mike,picking through my JL chassis,almost all of them are warped,save for a very few.

I didnt get that far yet.Still working on my poising tool(arm balancer),and I got sidetracked by my SS G3's.

Mike


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## 41-willys (Jan 7, 2000)

Thanks mking and hornet. this should fix alot of my JLTJ's


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## mking (Apr 25, 2000)

*dyed chassis*

the chassis on was dyed in RITT yellow dye, with the water about 100 degrees


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## mking (Apr 25, 2000)

*finally got picture added*

see above


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