# is my 'green' armature better than a regular red one, or...?



## randallw

I bought a bag of loose AFX in the period when they were going out of business; the bag had a bunch of magna-traction gear plates, with one having the standard red colored armature and two green ones. I probably thought nothing of it back then.

Recently I was digging through these parts and discovered these finds. I am by no means a 'professional' hobbyist, so I have no idea if these green armatures are actually better than the standard red ones, or just have a nice color.

Sorry for the pic not being closer; the camera is not a professional type at all and I have trouble holding it completely steady while holding focus.


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## sjracer

Not necessarily, read the following link it'll describe the the process of ohming an armature which is a much better indicator or performance.

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=350317


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## cwbam

some info on armatures (sight will need to be reloaded after a minute?)
http://slotmonsters.com/slot-car-afx-magna-traction-pancake-motor-armatures.ashx

My recipe for success (better average of GOOD chassis runners)
Green tip Green wire top plate (from AFX chassis or NonMag)
Magnets form AW/JL or Dash
in a Magnatraction chassis


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## Ralphthe3rd

Usually a Green Wire/Green tip Arm is known as a "Mean Green" arm, and is low ohm and very fast, they came in all the original A/FX (pre Magnatraction) and used the large hole idler gear on the top plate- where-as the A/FX MT plates used a plastic small hole idler. The Tuff Ones also used the Mean Greens at one point during their run.
Aside from the Super II Quadra-Lam arms, the mean Greens are believed to be the hottest Pancake Arms, even much faster than the so-called(Blue) Drag Arms found in the very first 4 gear chassis.


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## randallw

*-*

Thanks to all


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## tjetsgrig

Red/ what? Red/red, red/gold, red/green? The term "better" is relative. The red/green ohm out around the same as the green/green. The green/green motors came in the original AFX chassis, the green/gold (the mean green) was supplied by AML and did not come factory in any chassis, it was a replacement motor. There is also the grey/green which came in some Tuffones and Wildones which are in the same ohm range as well, this is all around 6.0 ohms ( although, there are grey/green motors that ohm in the 18 range ). the green/gold meen green comes in at 5.5 ohms. These are all "hotter", or lower ohmage than the red/gold, or red/red. Balance and plumb etc. are all factors, you can have 2 motors that ohm the same, but one will run better due to the other being out of balance. Hope this helps.

JS


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## copperhead71

Wow Tjetsgrig!!!That's alot of helpful info!


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## sjracer

How about a tutorial (with picks) about how you would hand pick an arm for performance Jim? I always wanted to know exactly what to look for/at, how to polish an arm etc..,


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## randallw

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Another 'duh' question here: What sections do I touch on the armature to measure ohmage? Any bit of wound wiring and the underside of the uhhh...plate?

Thanks in advance for all required patience.


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## Ralphthe3rd

randallw said:


> Another 'duh' question here: What sections do I touch on the armature to measure ohmage? Any bit of wound wiring and the underside of the uhhh...plate?
> 
> Thanks in advance for all required patience.


 Touch any two sections of the com plate, but you must do all three combos, and they should all three read very close to one another. If one segment is off substantially from the other two, you probably have a broken wire.


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## randallw

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More stupid questions! 

So the lower the ohm-age for an armature the higher possible RPMs?....which means a higher potential top speed but lower torque ( slower acceleration )?


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## pshoe64

randallw said:


> More stupid questions!
> 
> So the lower the ohm-age for an armature the higher possible RPMs?....which means a higher potential top speed but lower torque ( slower acceleration )?


Yes and no. Don't ya hate those kinda answers? The lower ohms usually equals faster, however, your power supplies' voltage and amperage factors in the mix. Especially if you are dealing with rewinds using larger gauge wire. In those cases you will need some extra amps to push the motor. AFX makes a 1 amp pack in their Tri-Power unit. I use variable DC power units that are laptop replacement power packs. They have 4.5 amps at 20 volts. That works with everything I've bought or rewound myself.

-Paul


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## randallw

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If I use one of those tri-power packs ( which I have ) then the gain in a higher performance armature is small? Possibly not even noticeable?


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## slotking

a car will only pull what it needs.
so if the car uses 1/2 an amp
and you have a PS with 1amp or 1 million amps, the car will perform the same.

but if you have 2 cars running at 1/2 an amp, you may see power surges when 1 car come off


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## cwbam

randallw said:


> More stupid questions!
> 
> So the lower the ohm-age for an armature the higher possible RPMs?....which means a higher potential top speed but lower torque ( slower acceleration )?


I remember asking questions about RPM, I got looked at by good racers:
"all that matters are lap times"
Slot car motor are like electrical tools, they have no load speed and could be real fast rpm, so what matters are Lap Times.

if you have same chassis and voltage & just swap out armatures
a 16 ohm tjet arm can't keep up with 6 ohm green tip
a 9 ohm gjet vs 3 ohm modified is no contest.


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