# School me on a Vibrator



## HadaSlot (Oct 22, 2007)

I recently recieved (Christmas present) a few vibrators and thunderjets. I get the Thunderjets and bodies but......Can anyone give me advice on the Vibe chassis and if any bodies work on pancake chassis? Fixing up the Vib chassis and power supply (A/C versus D/C).


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## L_Brown (Nov 12, 2010)

lol, I must say I had some dirty thoughts........


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## HadaSlot (Oct 22, 2007)

*Slot cars.....*

Uhhh. I thought this was the slot car section.


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

I will watch this thread because I'd like to know too. I have exactly 2 Vibe bodies and one Vibe chassis. I put a Tjet chassis with the back rims thinned way down under the Ford pickup, and I put the Vibe chassis under the Jag body, because it runs about like an old British car should and I can't figure out how to make it any better...

--rick


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## Jim Norton (Jun 29, 2007)

Never understood how the vibrator motors actually worked. It seems that if nothing is actually spinning 360 degress than no forward motion could be acheived. With the vibrating reed it seems the car would just go back and forth.

Jim Norton
Huntsville, AL


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## Mac The Knife (Jul 23, 2002)

I'm assuming that the cars work like the old vibrating football game, where the players had "reeds" under their base? anyways, the reeds were set at an angle so that they would have forward motion,,,,, the reeds worked kinda like a ratchet.


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## old blue (May 4, 2007)

The vibes I have make it around the track with considerable noise. Recently I bought some that had been used for racing (imagine that) to my surprise many of them are as fast as my average tjet motor. I am not skilled enough at tuning them to know how to do it. I do know that the contacts have to be clean in order for them to run properly and there are more contacts than just the ones that touch the track. I am thinking it is the angle of the reed because the other thing I noticed is that the faster vibes also roll freely.

Old Blue


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Mac The Knife said:


> I'm assuming that the cars work like the old vibrating football game, where the players had "reeds" under their base? anyways, the reeds were set at an angle so that they would have forward motion,,,,, the reeds worked kinda like a ratchet.


yeah, all the pics/diagrams i have ever seen make it look like a ratchet. that's a good description.

hey, check this out:

http://www.slotcardigest.com/motori...motoring_vibrator_slot_car/1962_hop_up_hints/

it's not the diagram i was looking for, but it has some cool Vibe stuff anyway.

--rick


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## HadaSlot (Oct 22, 2007)

I have never disassembled one more than this. I have seen the push rod for sale on the bay. It must be the post in the center of the electro-magnet. Only moving parts I can tell are the spring plate on top and the rear axle assembly and the front whheels.


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

*tips...*

Some from HT some from the HO Whirled and some from beyond...


http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=218775&highlight=vibe

http://www.howorld.net/archives/howto/tuneup/vibrator/vibe_henry.html

http://howorld.net/pages/comments/page2.html

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=235021


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

*It's what you dont see thats important*



Jim Norton said:


> Never understood how the vibrator motors actually worked. It seems that if nothing is actually spinning 360 degress than no forward motion could be acheived. With the vibrating reed it seems the car would just go back and forth.
> 
> Jim Norton
> Huntsville, AL


The vibrator is a ratcheting escapement mechanism. The motor is basically a door buzzer. The armature is a springy ferrous bar (aka the reed) which is mounted at a slight angle to the coil. When current is applied the reed is drawn to the energized coil. As the reed is drawn downward it exerts a downward pressure on the push rod. The push rod drops through the center of the coil and opens a simple set of somewhat hidden contacts. This de-energizes the coil. The reed then returns to the up position because it has preloaded spring tension... thus relaxing the pushrod and closing the points and re-energizing the coil... which starts the whole process over. 

There are four contact points between the pick up plate and the actual chassis. The chassis has two fixed contact points for the coil. The base plate has two points as well. One on the side which is fixed and corresponds to the one on the bottom edge of the chassis. The other pick-up plate contact is mounted to a slender tang which is movable and mounted in the middle of the pick up plate. This is the contact point which is actuated by the push rod AND where the "make and break" comes from to create the up and down ratcheting motion. It meets with the other fixed coil contact on the chassis.

The part that few people understand is the ratcheting up and down motion of the upper reed is mimiced by the lower flexible contact, so really it's two reeds working in unison. The larger upper reed provides the mechanical drive for the wheels. The lower reed operates the electrical contacts. The pushrod floats between the two spring loaded reeds.

As for the forward motion, the reed has a tang/tooth that hangs down. It bites on the rear axle gear on the down stroke but escapes on the upstroke because it cant engage on a tooth. The adjustment of the bite is critical to good locomotion. Ya gotta get the geometry just right. It's the angle of the dangle. A directional bite as it were. Basically they claw their way along on the down stroke but skip off on the up stroke.


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Or if you're a visual type learner:










--rick


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Having no knowledge of this type chassis or era, I have a few questions.

Was this type of chassis dreamed up due to...

-no small motor designs available at a reasonable costs?

-a type of motor borrowed from the model train industry?

-a cruel joke, or lack of imagination?

I kinda like the design of this chassis, just because it is so different.
I would welcome a noisy chassis, like the SuperIII, or Magnasonic.

I wonder what two of these would sound like going down a new AW drag strip?
Or, what four to six of these would sound like in a heat race.
It couldn't be worse than that AFX grandstand.


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## HadaSlot (Oct 22, 2007)

Bill Hall said:


> The vibrator is a ratcheting escapement mechanism. The motor is basically a door buzzer. The armature is a springy ferrous bar (aka the reed) which is mounted at a slight angle to the coil. When current is applied the reed is drawn to the energized coil. As the reed is drawn downward it exerts a downward pressure on the push rod. The push rod drops through the center of the coil and opens a simple set of somewhat hidden contacts. This de-energizes the coil. The reed then returns to the up position because it has preloaded spring tension... thus relaxing the pushrod and closing the points and re-energizing the coil... which starts the whole process over.
> 
> There are four contact points between the pick up plate and the actual chassis. The chassis has two fixed contact points for the coil. The base plate has two points as well. One on the side which is fixed and corresponds to the one on the bottom edge of the chassis. The other pick-up plate contact is mounted to a slender tang which is movable and mounted in the middle of the pick up plate. This is the contact point which is actuated by the push rod AND where the "make and break" comes from to create the up and down ratcheting motion. It meets with the other fixed coil contact on the chassis.
> 
> ...


Easy for you to say. The hot rod chassis actually wants to vibrate and then again not. Its guts are really dirty. Vinegar has been beneficial. I have another snow day tomorrow so I will do some more cleaning. I love the Hot rod and am contemplating a resto- rod redo. Thanks, I can see now the lower spring plate. The push rod is free and moving.


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## Crimnick (May 28, 2006)

Oh......shew...he meant a CAR....

Well that's ok then...


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

appearing to be an accessory meant for use with existing train sets, the AC drive train for these cars might have been intended to avoid interference with the trains at crossings. or maybe, it was just a cruel joke on our parents who would always yell to "turn that damn thing off, I can't see anything on the television". please note, some of these chassis will try to run on the DC power pack for a few minutes before burning up. not a good idea.



NTxSlotCars said:


> Having no knowledge of this type chassis or era, I have a few questions.
> 
> Was this type of chassis dreamed up due to...
> 
> ...


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## old blue (May 4, 2007)

I honestly believe that the intent of the vibe was to imitate the sound of a real car. The faster you try to make it go, the louder the motor gets. I also think the speed was intended to be correct for the scale.


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## bobwoodly (Aug 25, 2008)

*Make my own push rods*



HadaSlot said:


> I have never disassembled one more than this. I have seen the push rod for sale on the bay. It must be the post in the center of the electro-magnet. Only moving parts I can tell are the spring plate on top and the rear axle assembly and the front whheels.


I make my own push rods out of nylon rod. I bought a length from small parts.com. I don't run these a lot but they do fine on test runs. Not sure they would last as long as the originals but it's a ton cheaper than originals.


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## HadaSlot (Oct 22, 2007)

Thanks for some "schooling. I really wanna see the Hot Rod run on the full A/C power. Does run on the nine volt battery which I will refrain from. I can see how only half power could easily burn out the winding. It is real strange set up. No gearing just a peck peck peck of a knife edge on a ribbed cylinder. The TM said "You are working on a what"?


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