My next track is now in progress.

[Rleog]

"This is what happens when I route the straight section with the jig. With the constant bends for the curves areas it's hard to get it straight, so I will have to fill an re route this section." Tycosaur

Excellent series of posts on routing your own track. Looks like a challenging course.

What did you use as 'fill' for the wavy section that you rerouted?

Bob G

[Tycosaur]

Excellent series of posts on routing your own track. Looks like a challenging course.

What did you use as 'fill' for the wavy section that you rerouted?

Bob G

Bob, I've always had good results using Bondo. Durams Rock Hard Putty is what is use by many, but I've not tried it yet.

[mattb]

Using the router plate I showed in my previous post, I had no trouble getting the straight slots straight and smooth. I do have the pins farther apart than you do. Maybe if you added another set of holes farther apart, it would make it harder for the router to "wiggle".

I router from the outside of the track and kept pressure on the router pulling it outward at all times.

A straight edge always works fine, though.

My router plate is double thickness where the pins go thru (1/2 inch). The holes are tight enough that the pins do not have any wiggle in the plate.

[Tycosaur]

[Tycosaur]

[mattb]

A little different using braid, but I am doing all wood work, banks and elevation changes, then the walls. That's where I'm at now. Since I am doing a commercial style track, with the walls glued/nailed on, the elevation and banking should not change much when I take it all apart for paint and then braid. Walls are kind of a pain, but it will all work out. I am using 1/2 mdf on all outside curve and straight walls. I need to get a sheet of 1/4 for the inside curve walls. The commercial builders use 2 layers of 1/4 on inside of tight curves as it bends to the small radius so much easier. I am going to make router or jig saw guide to cut the side walls using the track surface as the the guide. probably 1 inch on straights and inside corners flowing up to 3 inches on outside of corners. Then either tape a line or use the top of the wall as a guide to cut the bottom.

I think you'll be running before me, but at 90+ in the garage I work in, I don't go very fast.

I got you on the wiggles. I thought you had issues with the router rocking. I rout left to right, fence behind router, me in front of router. As you say the router will want to pull toward the wall. I Will need to make a flexible guide like you use for my last section of track. I have left a small piece 2-3 foot square out of the track. After I get this stage done, I will cut a piece to fit that opening and then rout it. I may be able to use my router base guide, not sure.

I am keeping good notes on this as I find my original plans and thoughts for some of the build are not the best, and I have found better ways to do it as I go along. I have this setting on my old track table and it would sure be tempting to just mount it to that table and braid it all in one piece, but I'm not going to do it. I will put it on legs and braid it in sections so it can come apart. This does take a bit longer, or maybe I just getting old!

[Tycosaur]

I've got 90°+ sometimes in the loft too, so I have to work early when I'm off or later in the day when the sun starts to set. I ordered a gable fan to help in pulling out the excess heat. I'm going with tape and see how it holds up in the winter. I think it should be ok since I had my tri-oval stored there last winter and it only had a few spots where the tape lifted a bit. I think the tape should be ok since the sections have been in the loft for awhile and have had time to acclimate.

[slothead]

FYI - both of my tracks are in the loft area of our barn which despite being insulated and having a heater, gets up to around 90 degrees F in the summer and down to -10 or -20 degrees F in the dead of winter when it would be too expensive to keep the heat on. Both tracks have copper tape and in 12 years for the oval and 5 years for the road course I have not had any problems with the tape lifting or tearing. The oval is made of unpainted hardboard (Masonite) and the road course is painted mdf, different surfaces yet great results for each.

The road course surface is painted a light gray and I'm thinking of repainting it a darker blackish gray like new asphalt and am planning to put painters tape over the copper tape to ensure it doesn't get paint on it. But I have heard that paint on copper tape can easily be wiped off before it dries.

[Tycosaur]

[slothead]

I still remember the first laps on my road course - well past my usual bedtime for work but I couldn't stop getting the last bit of taping done, making the power connections, and getting a car to make it all the way around. I had to use the shop vac to get some debris out of the slot and then try to keep cars on the track with no experience regarding traction and no outer walls on turns. The turn at the end of the main straightaway is banked, but flows immediately into a reverse banked switchback. Cars hit the floor by both going over the banking and off the end of the table, and through the opening inside the switchback.

At first it seemed this part of the course was a big mistake and would be undrivable at any racing speed, but as it 'rubbered up' from use and I got more experience on the track it's now easy to manage. It's one of those things where if I just drive the car I'm fine, but if I think too much about speed, where to let up, etc., I crash. You're going to have fun learning the ins and outs of your track, and then getting to the point it's all automatic like riding a bike.

[mattb]

Get that gable fan or attic ventilator and it will really help you. Make sure you have a good entry point for air from below. You won't cool it a bunch, but it will be better and you will be able to work. My big garage has a partial upstairs and I put in a gable fan a few years ago. I keep the stairway open and one garage door open about 12 inches in the afternoon. I run a 48 inch fan pulling air from the open garage door. When I go in in the morning it is usually pretty decent. It's not until afternoon the metal roof gets hot and it transfers to the single story part of the garage. That's when I open the door a little to bring in fresh air and move the hotter upstairs.

You won't have a problem at all with tape. I have done 3 previous table top tracks and used tape on them all. The last track I built with tape is now over 30 years old and the guy I sold it to is still running it. It's had some tape repairs, but that is no big deal. Several years ago I bookmarked that tape that has a conductive adhesive. Paul brought that up last week in another thread, it may be what he used on his newest track. It would be my preference if I was taping. I always applied tape over gloss latex paint and never had problems with lifting.

When this project is all done, I will run thru the process for everybody. It could be a lot easier than some of what I have done. I have learned there are better ways to do some of it. Like a lot of projects, I have learned how to do it all better the next time around!!

[Tycosaur]

[Tycosaur]

[FC47]

No kidding! Cant wait to see the video on this track, probly trucks?!?!
Determined! Building in the heat!

[Tycosaur]