• wb0s
  • wb0s
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Topic: New Parma 16D Motors From Mid America!

I'm sure some of you have heard that Mid America is now manufacturing new Parma 16D motors. This led to some discussion last week about the use of these motors would affect our current motor rules. We felt there probably would not be an distinct advantage so we edited our rules to allow all "stock" 16D motors regardless of manufacturer. Right now I believe there are only two manufacturers offering new 16D motors, Proslot and Mid America with the new Parma motors.

Just to verify our initial thoughts I decided to purchase one each oof the motors Mid America offers. There are 5 motors offered by Mid America. They are listed here in no particular order:

#702 Parma Sealed Big Daddy .560 S-16D.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/Parma8061.jpg

#499 Parma Rotor Super S16-D.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/Parma8064.jpg

#501 Parma Deathstar 16D.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/Parma8062.jpg

#502 Parma Super 16D.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/Parma8065.jpg

#701 Parma Sealed Cruiser .560 16D.
http://www.naste.org/members/bill/Parma8066.jpg

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  • wb0s
  • wb0s
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Re: New Parma 16D Motors From Mid America!

Today I completed some initial testing of the five motors. My plan called for the use of a vintage Hanna Econo Chassis to be used as the test "mule", to get a feeling of each motors performance. The chassis has .890" rear tires, spun with a 33 tooth crown gear. I installed a new 7 tooth pinion gear on each motor. The motor's armature output shafts had to be cut down to .250" in length to fit this chassis' motor box. I had to trim off 1/16" on all but the #501 and the #701 motor shafts for bracket to axle clearance.

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/Parma8059.jpg

While working on the motors I noticed some things. There were no balancing marks on any of these motors. There were no I.D. tags on any of these arms. Each of the motor's cans had the old style oval cooling holes, except for the #499. All of the arm's stack height were the same at approximately .490". Although the height of the armature plates/stack were the same, the spacing between the plate ends (where the windings reside) was not the same for all of the motors. The gap between the poles on the #702 and the #701 were .148", the gap on the others was narrower at .062".

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/Parma8069.jpg

After the pinion gears were installed and the motors oiled, I broke in each motor with my variable power supple set at 4 volts. I let each of the motors run at that constant voltage for 20 minutes with the goal of getting the brushes seated in on the commutator. Each motor showed a current draw of .75 amp at that voltage, except for the #701 which read approximately .60 amps.

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  • wb0s
  • wb0s
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Re: New Parma 16D Motors From Mid America!

Once the motors were broken in I prepped the chassis for testing. I felt this would be a good chassis to use as a "test mule" because I have raced it a lot for a number of years. I felt my test results shouldn't be affected much by getting use to the chassis and its handling on my track. For testing I mounted a Psortsman Class '70 Chevelle body on the chassis (one of the better handling bodies for this class).

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/Parma8070.jpg

First motor on the track was the #702 Big Daddy. One thing I noticed was there did not seem to be a lot of motor braking. Speed seemed good, and my fastest lap after 25 laps was 5.117. After the first 25 laps the motor was pretty hot. After 50 laps my best time was a 5.127, and the motor did not seem to get any hotter.

Second up was the #499 Rotor motor. I did not make any adjustments to the motor's timing. I ran it right out of the package. After 25 laps my best lap was a 5.108, and the motor was hot. After 50 laps I was down to a 5.057 for a best lap. The motor did not seem to get any hotter. This motor felt a little quicker, and seemed to have a little better brakes than the #702.

The third test was with the #501 Deathstar. After 25 laps my quickest lap was a 5.190. After 50 laps I got down to a 5.105. This motor seemed to have better brakes, and did not seem to run as hot as the previous two. This motor seemed to have good even linear power. It was the easiest to drive.

The fourth motor on the track was the #502 Super 16D. Right off the bat this motor seemed to be the quickest and fastest. It also had the best brakes of the group. Temp-wise it ran as hot as the first two. In the first 25 laps I posted a fastest lap of 5.027. In the next 25 laps my best was only a 5.104.

The fifth and last motor to be tested was the #701 Cruiser. This motor seemed to be the slowest of the bunch, but it did not get as hot as any of the others. I ran smooth and consistantly, but it just seemed to be a little softer. Not as quick and snappy. In the first 25 laps I ran a 5.230 best lap. After 50 laps I was down to a 5.195 best.

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  • wb0s
  • wb0s
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Re: New Parma 16D Motors From Mid America!

In summary this was just a preliminary test of one of each of the new Parma motors Mid America has available. We all know the performance of slot car motors can vary a lot, even between like model numbers from the same manufacturer. This was just an unscientific test between random examples of each model. But it did re-enforce my thinking that there are not any stock motors out there that have a distinct advantage over the others. There's always a chance you may get lucky and purchase that "perfect" motor, but I think generally one is about as good as another. As far as reliabilty and quality, we shall learn more over time.

http://www.naste.org/members/bill/Parma8056.jpg

Bob Nakamura will keep stocking the Proslot Super 16D motors. He does not have access to wholesale pricing on these new Parma motors, nor does he wish to add to the inventory PASER already stocks. Something I agree with 100%. If you want to try a different motor these new Parma's seem to be of good quality, but the best deals on motors and parts are through our club! I will be racing with one of these five in my car where the rules call for 16D motors. We'll see how they stack up!

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  • howie
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Re: New Parma 16D Motors From Mid America!

Thanks Bill for going to all this trouble and money to test these motors. Time well spent so we can include these motors in our rules making sure one motor is not a great advantage. That makes the motor choice a lot easier for the racers.