Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

DIY tracks.
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sporty
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Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by sporty »

I have been tossing around, to build a 3 lane 32 footer wooden track. The one on loan and i can use for as long as I want is in ruff shape.


So I have been thinking, really what is the real cost here to build one ?


what is really a decent material to use for the sheeting ? I think this track i have now is some kind of laminate, which shows its age in a few places. The white board is what it reminds me off. painted/coated paperboard.

the guide strips are ruff also.

I am more inclined to look at pre finished surface or something, I do not have to spend hours sanding and sealing or coating.


Since my kids only have two years left in cub scouts. I thought I could pass it on to another family or pack down the road.

But whats the reality of cost here ?

looks like loaner track i have is 1/2 inch 4ply wood, with 1/8th cardboard laminate coated ill call it, the old cheap bathroom wall paneling glued onto the wood.

the strips look to be nothing more than 1/4 x 1 5/8's strips than are certainly not a nice smooth finish. but several coats of paint.

12 inch wide overall.

curious also, who got 4x48 sheets, where you just able to use one sheet ? often I find them just short of 48 inches wide ?



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Re: Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by quadad »

To me, this question always revolves around "what track(s) do you race on ?" and whether you can build one like that. I think you can very confortably make a 32', 3-lane wooden track out of (1) 4' x 8' sheet of good plywood. You can go up to 4" spacing (which is more than necessary) with 1 5/8" lane guides and allow for 1/8" cut. I am NOT an expert at all on the wood finishing though. Seems to me that is still going to be some work, even with a projected 5+ year life.

The problem is the emphasized word ('good'). The plywood I see in the big box stores costs at least $50 and doesn't look that good. The track builders seem to use much higher grade with many (twice ?) as many layers. I would think it would be worth visiting a building materials supply store and see what their best offering is. There are some threads here that get into 'fancier' wood types for this purpose.

For the lane guides, most people prefer 1/4" laminated strips that are intended for molding use. Dimensionally they are perfect. It might take some hunting to find those. Lowe's is good place to start. My only concern is that if you have a rough, wooden track in your Pack race, will the super smooth lane guides give you less resistance - and would that matter ?

I think the storage features of the original Scout design are still very valuable. Unless you have dedicated space that's pretty important. I also like how some people have built in height adjustability in the sections.

My cost estimate for a nicer plywood track is between $125 and $200 (without timer), but I think in the end, its still more time than money. I think a lot of the time is involved in cutting and drilling and screwing stuff together. If you go to man-made material for the running surface alsohe finishing time will be lots less, but still lots of "putzing" to get it built.
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Re: Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by gpraceman »

One problem that I had with building a wooden track was finding material for the lane guides. All I could find at the home centers was 1-3/8" wide. Nothing close to 1-5/8", which you find on the commercial tracks. If you can rip down a sheet to make up the guides no problem, but that was not something that I could do at the time.

The good plywood that quadad mentions is Baltic Birch, which is used by cabinet makers. However, it is rather expensive and is easier to find in 5ft x 5ft sheets than 4ft x 8ft. This is the stuff that I use on my Car Inspection Go/No-go Gauges. The stuff you find in the home centers is generally not of very good quality. You could use the aluminum track plating from Beta Crafts. It still needs a wood structure to support it, but you don't need the best quality of wood. It does, however, add to the cost.
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sporty
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Re: Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by sporty »

I have a sample of formica laminate ( your basic countertop surface) coming.



So I can look at it and see just how hard it is to cut, versus chipping or cracking before you get a chance to glue it down.

Manards said they can special order some of the finished burch or baltic burch in my sizes. no cost given yet though.

Want to look at options and cost, after all its a test track, the current test track already is close to replicating current wooden pentosi track.

So I would built it to what I currently use.

The real question is can you use 1 4x8 sheet to rip, 4 12" wide x 8 foot out of one sheet. if so, then the cost of $50 for one sheet does not seem so bad.

I would wonder if I would end up spending more on good guide strips though. 96 feet of it. 12 strips of 8 feet lengths.

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Re: Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by Stan Pope »

sporty wrote:The real question is can you use 1 4x8 sheet to rip, 4 12" wide x 8 foot out of one sheet. if so, then the cost of $50 for one sheet does not seem so bad.
Plywood that I have purchased seems to run true to the 48"X96" specification. It will require three cuts to make the 4 sections. The blade used will ususally have a kerf of about 1/8", so that is approximately how much you lose in width for each section, leaving sections 11 7/8" wide. Instead of trying to divide the kerf loss evenly between the four sections, I"d cut the board a fourth time to trim the 12" section down to 11 7/8"! 11 7/8" wide is close enough for my money! :)

Read the section on track in the Cub Scout Leader How To book ... it has some words you may need to keep in mind when ordering plywood.
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Re: Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by gpraceman »

sporty wrote:I have a sample of formica laminate ( your basic countertop surface) coming.

So I can look at it and see just how hard it is to cut, versus chipping or cracking before you get a chance to glue it down.
Formica is a nice smooth running surface. You just have to be careful of the edges. That is the most likely place to get chips (during setup, take down, transport, or even storage).

When cutting it, you can apply some tape along the cutting line to keep it from chipping. You can also cut the pieces a bit big and then use a router with a flush trimming bit to finish it off once glued down.
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Re: Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by gpraceman »

Also, why a 3 lane track for testing? Seems that a one or two lane should be more than sufficient.
Randy Lisano
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Re: Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by Randy and Son »

gpraceman wrote:One problem that I had with building a wooden track was finding material for the lane guides. All I could find at the home centers was 1-3/8" wide. Nothing close to 1-5/8", which you find on the commercial tracks.
One alternative would be to fabricate lane guides by using two smaller pieces of wood (1/2 inch wide for example) spaced so that the outside edges are 1-5/8" apart. I would think it would be OK to have a gap in the middle of the guide strip. The problem with narrow pieces is insuring they are installed both parallel and straight. Getting it done with no side-to-side waves or ripples would probably require making a jig to help installation. The first side of the guide needs nothing more than a straight edge to guide the guide. The second side would need a measured spacer to help maintain separation distance and parallelism for the second piece. A bit more work but not hard to do.

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Re: Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by sporty »

gpraceman wrote:Also, why a 3 lane track for testing? Seems that a one or two lane should be more than sufficient.
My thoughts as I mentioned, is that in two years from now, I would likely donate it to a pack. The pack may be in need of a track that they also could use for there pack races.

While not top notch quality compared to a commercial track. could provide a track to A pack, versus not having one at all.

so I am trying to think two fold, as in reality. The current test track I have on loan. works just fine for one lane testing. As the other two lanes are not equal and hard to use for anything due to issues on two of the lanes.

What happened, is my friend had this track set up for a high school autocad drafting class, they would design a pwd car and then get to actually try and build and race there design.

But after a few years of it always being up, some issues came about from that. Then the kids took it down, not knowing how to do so. they removed all the guide strips.

While I put it back together it is not the same track it was prior to this and left only one real good lane for testing.


One of the guide strips on lane 1 is cracked due to that also. So it works for me , using just the one lane for testing and the kids playing with the cars and racing them on the track.


I got to go to the school when I wanted and used the track for three years. now its here at my home. It's not worth fixing up. so thats why I also want to build one.

I would like to return the giving and sharing of others and pay it forward. Not to mention a fun project to do.

Still not a done deal yet, but taking a serious look at it. cost will play a factor.

Sporty
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Re: Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by Rod Turnbull »

Some one here mentioned using med or hi density fiberboard, a little heavier than the plywood but a smoother surface.
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Re: Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by Pinewood Daddy »

I built mine out of the standard birch plywood from Home Depot. 3 lanes, had to recut the pieces on my table saw because the cuts at HD weren't equal. We have a local place that will cut wood to any size and charges a reasonable cost by the board foot. Perfect and smooth 1 5/8" lane guides. I think it cost $70 for 12 lengths.
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Re: Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by quadad »

Just getting back to cost, my target was $100 including the timer. In addition to the plans from the Cub Scout Leaders Handbook (which I think I have as a pdf, but don't have a link to), I found the following quite useful:

http://derbytalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=37 ... ight=timer - my original source of inspriration
http://home.simplyweb.net/bosworth/tracks.htm
http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/derby/track/
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/9152/pwd-tracks.html" target="_blank

In the end, for temporary usage, I choose the following:
Running surface from (1) sheet of bright and smooth white paneling, 3/16" thick, with a 2" patterned groove (~$13 on sale at Menards)
on top of cheap, leftover plywood and 1" x 3" strips (cheap stuff)
Lane guides ripped from (1) 2' x 8' sheet of 1/4" plywood (due to the difficulty in finding exactly 1 5/8" material mentioned prior)
PVC pipe release mechanism similar to the DT thread above
Anti-skid surface material for the stop section.

I would say this is very adequate for testing, but it would not stand up to repeated assembly/disassembly, transportation and possible rough handling. There is a real difference in a design for you at home for a couple of years and one that scouts can use for 10 years. For long term scout use much thought needs to go into the joint connecting, storage provisions, etc. I ended up pretty close to $100 including the DIY timer kit, using my table saw, etc., and was quite happy with that.
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Re: Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by engineer101 »

Believe it or not I use a length of Hot Wheels 2-Lane Blutrack laid in 7" wide Wafer board with 1x2 rails. Very efficient and you can have up to a 50 foot practice track or a rolling distance competition track for one car at a time. Total Cost under $ 90.00. The beauty of this design is no painting or finishing required..

:thumbup:
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Re: Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by Pinewood Daddy »

Can you rail ride with that track?
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Re: Test Track build ? Wood prefered ?

Post by engineer101 »

The Blu Track is dual lane track that is 3-5/8" wide and fits between the 1x2 rails.

With a 7" wide wafer board which you get 6 eight footers you end up with 48 ft of track with one sheet.

With the 1 x 2 rails you end up with a 4" spacing in which you place the 3-5/8" Blutrack.

Pine cars run one side of car on one track and the other side of car on the second track but never touch the 1x2 inch side rails.

The beauty of it is that the track is solid no joiners and can be up to 50 ft long. The other option you can use it to race hot wheels or matchbox cars as well.

I have been running this for the last 6 months and it works great. as soon as I get a chance I will post some pictures.
:idea:
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