# Aurora Vibrators slot cars



## JWSpeed (Jun 2, 2009)

I have a few old Aurora Vibrators slot cars, is there a source for the bottom plate or a replacement/repair for the pickup shoes. If not I was thinking I could replace just the end with Phosphor Bronze I have some let over from my old AFX racing days. No sure if just soldering them on would hold. Any Ideas?


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-Ori...098060?hash=item522b057c4c:g:GLcAAOSwl9xeBZqY


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

Back in the '60s, my introduction to slots was a second-hand Vibrator set that, of course, came with holes in the pickups. I filled the holes and grooves with solder. The solder blobs filled much of the shoe. I probably had to file it down a bit on the face of the shoe. I remember it as working, but I don't recall how long it lasted, because I never put much mileage on the cars. I've heard of people using the harder silver solder, but you need higher heat for that.

If I were doing it today, I might try cutting a shoe-width strip of brass or phosphor-bronze shim stock, bend the end into a matching curve and solder it to the bottom of the shoe with the excess going forward. Then, when I was happy with the job, clip off the excess.

I wish I could give you a solid, tested, and recently-proven solution, but you're not getting much other repair advice, so if you have decent soldering skills, this may be worth trying. 

You might try a Hobbytalk search for *Vibe* and *Vibrator*.

:wave:Happy New Decade to all the HT slotters, and also to the Aurora vibrator cars. They're 60 years old this year. 

-- D


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Dslot said:


> You might try a Hobbytalk search for *Vibe* and *Vibrator*.
> 
> 
> -- D


You might (I do) get better search results if you google both Vibe HobbyTalk and Vibrator Hobby Talk directly into google. (Our internal search function needs upgrading still.)

:cheers2:


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## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

None of the dealers that I have bookmarked had vibrator parts. Slot Car Central has a lot of hard to find parts and they do have a vibrator section, but there was nothing listed there. They did say that they have a lot of complete cars in stock. I tried a Google search and got a number of hits, mostly on eBay. The hits were mostly for collections of random used parts and the price tended to be high. There was one hit for just the bottom plates with the pickups, some were new and some were used, but that lot had already been sold. You could keep searching eBay, you might get lucky, or perhaps you could put a wanted to buy in the buy, sell, trade section of a slot BB.


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## JWSpeed (Jun 2, 2009)

Thanks, I have done lots of searches but came up empty on the pickups. I can make the push rods out of Delrin, and repair the reeds with .002 shim stock. Haven't came up with a solution for the pickups yet. I did purchase some used parts so I have 6 to play with.


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## davo123 (Jan 22, 2020)

Hi JWSpeed,

How did you go with your pickup repairs? I also picked up two old Vibrators recently on ebay. I managed to get one running ok (about 1/2 the speed of a stock T-Jet in good working condition; with a bit of work I can perhaps double its speed to be 2/3rds a stock T-Jet), but the second chassis is more troubled. Currently I'm missing the push rod and the top plate is missing its reed, also the pickups aren't working (they are rusty; I think I can probably just clean them and they should work).

Did you have pre-shaped (ie: quite thin) Delrin on-hand? Nice! I have obtained some hard (and fairly temperature resistant) plastic, but I'm going to need to cut it down and then shape it. Should take 5 minutes or less, and I can probably make a replacement rod for the "working" chassis at the same time, as its rod is worn.

What is your plan with the reed? Looking at the top plate I was thinking I could cut some thin tin and shape it correctly and it may work; but this looks a lot harder to achieve success with than the push rod. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I assume you have lots of tyres and screws? They are my other limiting factors. I've had some luck with old tyres, when they aren't too brittle, by rubbing them on an old piece of rough floor tile to remove the hardened outer layer. Not perfect, but I much prefer using old style tyres than modern silicone tyres on these old cars. I have no plan for the screws yet, but I'd imagine they are relatively common type that I can purchase from a hardware store.


Dave


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## JWSpeed (Jun 2, 2009)

davo123 said:


> Hi JWSpeed,
> 
> How did you go with your pickup repairs? I also picked up two old Vibrators recently on ebay. I managed to get one running ok (about 1/2 the speed of a stock T-Jet in good working condition; with a bit of work I can perhaps double its speed to be 2/3rds a stock T-Jet), but the second chassis is more troubled. Currently I'm missing the push rod and the top plate is missing its reed, also the pickups aren't working (they are rusty; I think I can probably just clean them and they should work).
> 
> ...


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## JWSpeed (Jun 2, 2009)

I made a pair by hand to test out my design, worked pretty well. I'm going to make something so I can bend them to fit perfect. Push rods I make on a lathe out of Delrin. I repair the top plate by installing a new reed, .002 steel shim stock works perfect. I just bend the back two tabs so I can remove the old reed and insert a new home made reed.


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## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

The pickups seem to be the only vibrator parts that are difficult to come by in good condition. New shoe ends like the ones that you made will get a lot of cars running, but are not the ideal solution for people that want cars in their original condition. Since there might be a fair market for shoes such as yours you might consider getting a steel die made so that they could be punched out in large numbers. A shop that does that sort of thing could quote you a price. If you did a survey on the various slot BBs you could get an idea of how many shoes you would have to sell to get your money back at least. I know someone that had a die made, I could inquire about the cost if you are interested.


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