Great idea! You’ve obviously came a long way since the making of this video. My Playrobotics timing system just shipped this week, you inspired me to get one 😎
Thank you! I love my Playrobotics starting gate, but it does have its little quirks. The best part of it is the remote control! Make sure you get some extra wire extensions if your track is longer than 6 feet!
I’m trying to build a starting gate that doesn’t require me climbing up a ladder, yours is the third I’ve come to, haven’t even watched your video yet, I just had to tell you I love the name the frugal die caster 😂😂😂I’ve got a 500 inch track the gate is 10 ft off the ground, it’s one hell of a contraption, but I’m proud to say it’s completely made from stuff people were throwing away. I have literally $00 in the track, old vinyl siding is a great track surface.
I’ve watched the video now and think it’s genius in its simplicity, and I’ll be trying my hand at it, I’ve tried a pin drop gate years ago that never worked quite right. I’m a subscriber now, and appreciate the starting gate idea, when you have a minute, check out them 500 inches.
Holy s*** that's awesome bro. Me and my son are now playing a lot of Hot Wheels. I've been frustrated at putting the tracks together. Been watching RU-vid for tips and tricks. I think I'm definitely going to copy this. Great work.
Very nice. I especially like the way you did the starting gate. I plan to build a track just like this one. Matchbox and Hot Wheels racing will start on my channel next year.
Thank you! That was made a few years ago, I’m building another one but it will have an electronic starting gate, will be posting the video soon so check that out too!
Like what you did at the starting line. See what I came up with for some turns diy on my channel. Some short clips. Keep up the good work. Can't wait to see what you do with the rest.
In the planning stage of making a version of this. My main concern is the starting gate being able to hold the cars in place without them pushing through before they're released. Did you just make it stiff enough to prevent this? I'd worry about it becoming loose over time. Was considering using a couple of pegs and a small rubber band that holds it in the start position, but not sure if that's really necessary.
Actually it was real weird how it stayed stiff when the dowels were in the down position, just needing slight tug, it would come loose. I think it was because the drill hole that the gate goes through wasn’t a perfect circle. So when you twist the gate, it would be loose as it went around until it hit that defect in the drill hole then stick slightly. Not sure if it was dumb luck or bad engineering that just worked out lol. I would suggest something that blocks it from spinning all the way, like a pair of pegs like you mentioned.
Those nails at the top look kinda in the way, and you could easily scrape some skin off your hand if you're not careful. Why not just screw the first sections of track to the board (using small round-head screws)permanently, and get those nasty nails out of the situation.
this is great looking forward to races at your track. it needs a name. who are you going to sell the naming rights to? lol 3dbotmaker probably has something that will work as finish line. all of 3dbotmaker products are great.
Thanks! Funny you mention that because I was thinking about a name the other night.....and I did order a 4 lane finish gate from 3dbotmaker and it should be here soon!
You should consider making a mechanism that flags the winner's lane. Should be able to make one somewhat similar to what is available for Hot Wheels. You could keep it simple, all mechanical with no electronics, and just have it flag the winner's lane. Then again, if you have the electronical engineering know-how, then you probably have enough spare parts lying around that you could build a finish line detector with a digital display indicating what place the car of each lane finished in. Something to consider, for if it were keep strictly mechanical, I don't see much difficulty in designing, and constructing a mechanism that would simply identify the winner.
