Modular track ,has begun

[woodman]

Getting antsy to route some modular pieces, have been for a few years now! Originally I had these drawn up in 4 lane....But like the SS their's no space for lane barriers....


I'm switching to 3 lane with pieces 3' wide and 7' long.....I got to thinking crossover that could work and came up with this...I'll be using 1/2'' particle board and the idea of trying to raise the bridge 3 1/2'' and still plane out flat at each end seemed tuff without a lot of framework....I was going to keep the framing to 1 1/2 ''....Then I thought why not let the lower track drop an inch and a half and that would take some pressure off the bridge and at the same time and a new dimension too....

Full scale gives an idea...


And was thinking use the flexible strip on the center lane, then route on each side for the 2 other lanes , then insert 1/8'' strip in one of the lane slots as a router guide to route the center lane getting rid of the nail holes left from the flexible strip... Then route the outside edges, making a 5'' space from the outside edges into the first slots with 4'' lane spacing total track width 18'' with a 36'' module width...

[HRWJim]

Coll idea keep us posted on the progress. Jim

[woodman]

Got the Grandsons track all wired up and working, waiting for PG tires for the little cars you gave me Jim....
All I need now is for the home builder I do cabinets for to "slow down" to free up my assembly table....Man, I get tired of building "BOXES" with doors and drawers....Kayaks were fun, but after about 15 I got kind of burnt out....Now back into slot racing this year... These track sections are like routed sculpture....

Can you imagine modular track sections with elevations.....I have toyed with the idea of using 1/4'' mdf just cut out the road course "outside width" then add 3/4'' plywood strips on the underside before routing the slots..That track would really bend.....

[HomeRacingWorld]

Looks like a great project.

[woodman]

Nice to have access to free 4x8 cardboard from my lumber supplier...Any way the sections will be 3' X 7' for ease of handling and weight etc....
A couple of pieces....The dotted line represents a routed slot for a barrier insert to prevent head on collisions....



If you go to the slotfire website notice there isn't room for barriers on their sections. Cars can come out into oncoming traffic

[woodman]

Routed some of the first pieces yesterday and today.....All are 3' X 7' sections
The squeezes have 2 1/2'' spacing....


I will also make the reverse of this one....


This section is designed to inter on the right, the outer lane veers within 3'' of the outer wall before entering the turn, allowing me to give the inside lane a 12'' dia. turn...


And here is a full size sketch of another section...I forgot to sketch where the barrier divides the 2 sets of turns...
To keep with the 3X7 size the inside turns end up with flat spots at the top of the turns,which I don't care to much for, what do you guys think?

[woodman]

The slots line up....

[HomeRacingWorld]

Looking good to me. You could smooth out those corners, but might be a tighter radius than you would like?

[woodman]

OK the way I'm going to meet up the connecting joints....
Left over 3/4 Maple I ripped to 1 1/2'' then dado a 1/4 X 3/4 slot in all the pieces....What I'm doing is dividing each panel end in 2 parts , a male on the left and female on the right ...I will do the same with the track braid plugs...



I used a sanding block to notch braid recesses in the end of the track surface...

Then I notched out a space for the brade to tuck in....

[woodman]

Talking to the owner of Raytown Int. Raceway (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Raytown- ... 5639854873)
Yesterday he was very positive about setting this track up in their, has plenty of room...He can get braid at his cost and advised against the 2 sided tape as to track cleaning solvents could cause a problem because invariably glue will end up on the track surface being inside the store...So looks like I'l be using contact cement like the old days...

[woodman]

[woodman]

Routed 2 more sections...now have 5 with a straight section left to do...Then on to adding the buildup to the bottom side.....

[woodman]

Put in a full day, routed the last section and and added all the supports to the underside of all the sections...This thing is huge just grows and grows and with 6 sections their are at least 20 different layouts and more if you omit sections....
Here is the jig I use to start each section...I register off the center lane with a flex strip...And by the way the 5'' spacing of my nails is to far apart My next one will be 4'' spacing.....









What you see here is 6' X 17'

[woodman]

Thanks for the kind words John..If you could see up close the little mistakes stand out.....
Just came across this Austraila Modular track builder, Wow....http://www.mrtrax.com/index.html

A Quote from a guy who races on these tracks:the flat pack tracks site has only gone onto shop website this week.The method of joining the tracks is a work of art a male and female aluminium coupling is bolted to each track piece and just requires an allen key to undo it.The flat pack tracks are four lanes and each module already comes painted and braided and connected by magnets.

[woodman]

Routed slots into the edges that will take 1/4'' splines to align modules that but up side to side...


The sixth and final piece is the straight ,well half is almost straight, I like SS....