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MIP Tweak Station.
The MIP Tweak Station, from
the people who bring you MIP CVDs among other things, Moore’s Ideal Products, is
one of the simplest pieces of
The metal pieces are 2 black anodised aluminium and 2 steel, which screw together to form the centre bar onto which the pivot bar, with the spirit level bubble, and the rear fixed bar fit
Assembly is straight forward, two of the plastic feet screw into one of the black alloy parts, and the other into the steel centre section, which is then pushed into the alloy part. The front piece is the other black alloy part with the bubble from a spirit level attached to it. This piece sits on the two bearings which are fixed to the front of the centre section by way of a socket headed screw passing through them and a sleeve.
Before you complete assembly and also before using it each time, you need to check that it sits level. This is done by first placing the front bar along the top of the rear bar and checking that it sits level by making sure the bubble is between the marks on the bubble case. If it doesn’t then adjust
the legs up or down to get it level.
Next step is to place the front bar along the centre bar and onto the rear one to check it is level front to back, if not again adjust the plastic foot, but only the one at the front of the centre bar.
Once assembled it should
look like this If the balance is off i.e. the bubble does not sit between the markings you need to weight the side that is highest. This is done using the supplied very thin lead self adhesive circles. It also helps to put some oil on the bearings to lubricate them and help with the sensitivity of it as well.
Next up you need to adjust the length of it to suit the car you will be placing on it. This is done by sliding the centre into or out of the rear bar, until the centre line marks are equal to your cars wheelbase.
Sounds like a lot of work, but in reality it only takes couple of minutes. The slowest part is actually balancing the front bar, but this only needs to be done on initial build of it.
Now to use it………. There are a couple of ways to use the tweak station but they all have one thing in common. That is you should have all your electrics fitted to the car and to balance your car side to side.
First off place the car on it with the centreline of the car in line with the centre bar; this should be done no matter what method of use you choose. This is checked by lining up your wheels with the lines marked on the top of the bar.
The first method is to check with the bubble that the bar is level, if not adjust the shock preload by either adding or removing spacers or moving the shock collar up or down to adjust the balance of the bar. The best thing to do is to add some preload to the side of the car where the bar points upwards and to take away some on the other side to keep things even. Then turn the car round and to do the same to the other end.
Next method is to place the car onto the Tweak Station, front end first and with a ride height block under the rear of the car.
This is done so as to avoid any interference from the rear suspension. Then adjust the front as before and then remove the block turn the car round and adjust the rear before turning it round again and doing one final check of the front end.
Last method is similar to the first, except you adjust the diagonally opposite corner of the car. So if you are checking the front and the front left hand wheel has more preload making the bar dip down on the left hand side, you adjust the right hand rear shocks preload and vice versa. The same for when you check the rear end of the car.
When you are done recheck the ride height, if it does need to be adjusted make sure that you add/remove spacers or adjust the shock collars equally on both front or rear shocks
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© 2008 Chippenham Model Car Club |
with the pivot bar nicely balanced on the bearings. 
