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Old 06-13-2003, 06:18 AM
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ph2t ph2t is offline
Chief Propeller Head
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 269
Brillilant picture man, you have an eye for detail... If the car is heavy enough to be able to offset the spring whilst it's in compression I believe you have a working solution.

An idea: Construct a circuit that will sense the car on the rails by either voltage dip (car's contacts connected) or IR. This will then trigger a timer that turns on an electromagnet to hold the car down, ensuring a healthy contact. For this period the car will charge and at the end (eg: 45secs) be released from the magnet, and take off down the track.

You could do this with a 555 timer and a few transistors. You would also need a custom charger .



ph2t.
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