Slot peeling up

[Lotus56]

OK for lack of a better way of describing it, I guess it is delaminating on the outer wall of the slot in a turn. I think it might be caused when a car spins out and the guide goes full lock. Most of the time the car flips, crashes out of the track, pretty violent crash. These are Sprints plus, H&R, homemade. Heavy fast cars. Same cars I used on my last oval that had a Gazillion laps on it and never did I see this happen. Any of you ever experience this.
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p22/ ... /slot2.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p22/ ... /slot1.jpg

[HomeRacingWorld]

I hadh a little of it. I started to check my guide blades and lightly sand the blades at the edges to reduce the "sharp" edge.

But It might also be the slot needs sanding to do the same thing. After routing did you sand the slots lightly to round off/smooth the edge?

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I recommend a plastic spreader like you use with Bondo, wrapped in a 1/4 sheet of #220 garnet sandpaper. Makes fast work and smooth as velvet.

[Lotus56]

Thanks guys, No didn't sand the slots. I have a Bondo spreader, dug it out last night at 12:30 and sanded the inside lane. Will see if that makes a difference.
Checked the guides, all seem to be naturally rounded off from use.
Hard to believe that my first oval never did this, never sanded slots, same router, same bit, even reused a lot of the braid. beginners luck I guess. Or the only difference is that the first track I used oil based Rustoleum paint. Might be a harder paint? I wonder if that might be the difference. I used latex this time.
Did your tracks stop doing this after you sanded them.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I didn't know they still made the good stuff- oil paint. But yes, it is substantially harder, especially the enamels.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Yes, mine stopped. 8 years running.

[Nor Cal Mike]

I like to paint my slots with oil base enamel. I use two coats. I use Rustoleum or the Ace Hardware equivalent. The first coat is thinned way down with mineral spirits to get deep penetration and the second coat as it comes from the can to finish it off. I started using particle board rather than MDF because I like the granular surface better. It gives great traction with many stock tires. PB is softer along the edges than MDF but the oil base paint hardens it up pretty good. I haven't had any wear issues. Great to hear about your recycling the braid because I am thinking of rerouting my track by scribing the old ribbons onto new wood and keeping the same scenery. I would rather not spend another $200 bucks for braid if I don't have to.

[woodman]

After routing I go around the slot with a round file and take the sharpness of the top edge of the slot then go over it with a folded up piece of sand paper down in the slot, just kind of round that sharp edge over, prevents the sharp edge from breaking off if its partical board...If its mdf it will kind of mush up then later break off...

[SlotCarCorner]

Just out of curiosity, did you use MDF or MDF2? The reason I ask is our first retail store track was made of MDF2 - we had a LOT of chipping in the corners. Our current track is made from MDF - not nearly as much chipping.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Which one is the "lightweight" MDF?

[Lotus56]

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Well, that makes for another mystery to be figured out. It doesn't mention "tempered" on that label at all. Maybe tempering is assumed these days with MDF. It doesn't really address this topic, but if "times have changed", as they say, we should all be aware.