New Table Construction

[fourshipp]

Friday I will be headed to Home Depot for lumber to start the new table build. I will try to share my progress here. Big picture overview: 6’ wide by 16-18’ long, 2 lane Carrera Digital. It needs to be light and portable so I can get it out of the basement for storage when not in use. Here is the layout plan.

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As shown it will be 16’ long. I want to experiment with a banked turn on the 180 and anticipate needing two additional straight track pieces on the fron and back straights to allow for a proper transition between the pits and the banked turns. That will require 18’.

I am planning on 4 or 5 sections. Four will be 3’ x 8’ and will make the 6x16 layout. I will add a 2x6 section in the middle to increase to 18’. I plan on framing each section with 1x4 edges and cross members and sheeting with OBS, MDF or ply. Each 3x8 section will be supported by two commercial plastic saw horses. The bottom of each section will have slots built into the cross members to ancor the tops of the saw horses and keep them from moving. The sections will be set next to each other and either clamped or bolted together from the underside to form the large surface. A 6” tall barrier will then be added to the sides and ends to keep deslots on the table. Here is a rough sketch of the plan.

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I will try supporting the 2x6 section by clamping/bolting it to the other four sections. I may add a single saw horse under it if needed.

I anticipate that the combination of the weight of the five sections, the slots underneath to keep the saw horses “keyed” in place and securely fasting all five sections together will result an an adequately sturdy racing surface. Set up would simply be to set the saw horses on place, set the sections on top, bolt together, add the track and crash barriers. Take down and storage should be as quick. The key will be to keep the sections flat and true, as light as possible and still sturdy enough to do the job.

I will build a single section first. If that works out I’ll continue on with the rest.

I’m still undecided on what material to use for the racing surface. I want to keep it as thin and light as possible but heavy enough to avoid waviness or undulations. I was looking want to be able to add/remove screws to anchor the track without leaving holes that are rough and difficult to patch.

What surface materials have you had success with and what should I avoid?

Thanks for reading. I’ll keep you posted as this comes together over the next few weeks.

Bruce

[mattb]

With 2 X 6's running the full front and back of your table, you wil be plenty strong with just an angle leg at each corner and a box leg at the center of each side.

I call an angle leg 2 - 2X6's about 36 long screwed together to make an "L". Then bolted inside each corner. 32X6's screwed together to make a 3 sided box make a nice center leg. End caps should be 2X6 also. Cross braces can be 1X4 and center legs, if needed can be 2X4.

Number of cross braces will depend on how thick your plywood top is. I have used 3/8, too thin, really unless you really brace the under side. 5/8 or 3/4 is much better, but it is heavier. You could consider a two piece table that is two sections bolted together. Un-bolted you would just have two 8 foot tables to move.

You can bolt the legs on and easily take them off to move things.
Just my take and what I have usually done.

[mattb]

A further thought. if you want a light weight table of many pieces, you could use 1/4's for all framing since you are not supporting a massive table in one piece. You may consider 4 tables, each one 6 foot by 4 foot, making a 6 X 16 table when all 4 are put together. Each section would be pretty light and easy to move.

[fourshipp]

5anks for the reply. The sections need to go up stairs with a 180 degree landing half way up. 5at is why I am limiting my sections to 3x8.

My initial plan for the kegs was angle 1x6 angle legs but that was litany of pieces to be bolted on and taken off when moving. The saw horse idea was a way to simplify set up and tear down.

[slothead]

I support the saw horse idea for supporting the table, but you might need at least 4 of them to keep the table from tipping if someone puts pressure on an edge. I was planning to use plastic saw horses joined by 2x6 stringers to support a track in our basement before deciding to put it in the barn where the table could be mounted to a wall on one side. If you could attach mounting blocks to the wall where the track will be used this would hold a lot of weight and only the outer sides would need to be supported.

To make your plan manageable the top needs to be as light as possible so you don't dread setting it up. My 4'x14' oval is routed into a 1/4" hardboard table top supported by a ladder-like frame of 1x4's. 1x4 pine is light and if you get straight pieces and screw & glue the top to the frame it should be plenty sturdy enough. Also, if you can get by with a 6x16 table it will be a lot easier to go with 4 3x8 sections to assemble rather than having to put a 2x6 section in the middle. Ease of assembly and tear down will be important to how this track gets used.

Be sure to check out table building tips online from model railroaders. I visited a local club and watched videos before settling on an L-girder design for my second track. It's light weight and can be implemented in may different ways.

[fourshipp]

Thanks, Slothead. Headed off to lumber yard now. He table will only be moved a few times a year. My bride was gracious enough to let me build this in our finished basement but said she doesn’t want it there all year. I started his project last December for our two adult sons and me when they are home for Christmas. It turned into a decent pool table substitute for the man cave as well. So, up for Christmas and down before summer. It may find a summer home in our hangar if I can find the room.

Pictures of the first section (hopefully) tonight.

Bruce

[fourshipp]

First 8x3 section is complete. 1x4 framing and half inch sanded plywood for the deck. I learned several lessons and will change stuff up on the next three sections.

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First, use wide saw horses. The one on the right was too narrow on the leg spacing. The saw horses would roll up on one leg with only a slight amount of side pressure leaning from the end. Too bad as they were half the cost of the wider ones.

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Second, I built the pockets for the saw horses 2 feet from each end. This was too far towards the center. I could easily raise the far end of the table by pushing down on the near end. Moving them closer to the ends solved this.

Third, the pockets to anchor the horses were not needed. The table was plenty stable just sitting on the horses as is.

Fourth, an 6x16 table is JPB, just plain big! It will really fill the basement. I think I’ll forget the 2 foot extension for now.

The best news was that I could easily carry the section down the stairs and into the basement by myself. I have not weighed it but I’m guessing under 30 lbs.

Tomorrow I build three more, get them painted and start laying track.

[fourshipp]

What materials have you used formcrash barriers on the outside of the table? What is the optimum height?

Thanks.

Bruce

[slothead]

I have 1 3/4" tall PVC molding (Home Depot) around the outside of corners as a retaining wall. Because it matches the arc of the corner deslotted cars hit it at an angle (glancing blow) and the force is dissipated as the car follows along the wall. The wall keeps almost all cars on the track. If a car does get over this wall there's a 1x4 inch board at the end of the table. A slightly higher (6") table edge made from the stuff used to cover gutters would probably be the best final barrier.

[fourshipp]

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Wow, this really filled the room. Next I need to shim the sections level, clamp them, drill holes and bolt them together. Then paint.

Track goes on later this week.

Still looking for material to build the crash walls.

[slothead]

What about putting a lip on the inside edge and end of some sections that the frame of the adjacent section will rest on? This would even them up height wise and screws up through the lips would tie everything together.

Some guys here on HRW use gutter guard as a table edge crash barrier to keep cars off the floor. You might also consider up to 12" strips of 1/8" hardboard around the track which could be painted as a backdrop. One 4'x8' sheet would do the whole table on 3 sides.

Hardboard Tempered Panel (Common: 1/8 in. 4 ft. x 8 ft.) $8.82 /each at Home Depot

That is a great table and a good space to be making use of. Much fun is about to happen soon.

[fourshipp]

She is bolted together and leveled up.

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I started in the center, getting each adjacent section square and level.

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Then I clamped everything securely and drilled for a 1/4 “ bolt.

[fourshipp]

I bolted all four center corners together first, then leveled and bolted the ends and sides. I added a third bolt in the center of the long edges.

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It’s pretty solid with all four sections bolted together. Tomorrow I will look for a piece of thin but stiff carpet to use for sound deadening. The track ran fine on the carpeted floor last year so I figured carpet should be an acceptable base here as well. I want a piece that is stiff enough to lay down in the corners and not have waves or wrinkles across the table. I’ll have crash fencing along the edges so a single piece of carpet will cover the entire table and be held in place by the borders. I can screw the edges down if needed.

Hopefully I can find a reasonably priced carpet that will meet this criteria.

Mire to come...

Sorry for the big pictures. I’ll figure that out eventually.

[fourshipp]

Ready for track.

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I had a busy day. I covered the track with 2’ x 2’ carpet squares. I put 1/2 x 2 1/4 mounding around all edges and raised the edges above the table the thickness of the carpet squares. They fit perfectly. A local flooring contractor had two orphaned boxes from previous jobs. Each box had 12 pieces and I needed 24. They didn’t match but made a nice checkereboard pattern.

The squares have a heavy rubber backing about 3/16” thick. They lay perfectly flat and the seams are almost invisible. They should provide a fair bit of sound deadening. They took 5 minutes to install and I can remove one square at a time to install jumper wire through the table.

The crash barriers are plastic gutter guard. If I have issues with deslots leaving the table on the sides I will extend the barriers as needed.

Once I get the track installed and the layout tweaked to my satisfaction, I’ll paint the edges and install fabric around the sides to hide the saw horses.

I have additional track pieces on order from Cincy Slots. I should be up and running within the week.

More to follow.

[fourshipp]

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We are up and running. Still a few tweaks left to accomplish.

I was short two R2 pieces for the last turn prior to the front straight. I filled in with some R1s and straights. I only had shoulders for the original plan so using guard rails for now. The R2s show up tomorrow and we will have the final configuration.

Still need to wire and install the variable lower supply.

After things have been run a while and final adjustments are in place we’ll look at painting the track. I also want to paint the table edges and add a cloth skirt to dress the table up a bit.

First group race scheduled for Christmas Eve.