CD How to Build a Slotcar Track

7/27/2019 CD How to Build a Slotcar Track

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http://www.scaleautoracing.com

Chapter 1 ....Designing Your rack to Fit Your Space ..............2Chapter 2 .... Gathering the ools Youll Need ..........................4Chapter 3 ....Making the Bits & Pieces .....................................5Chapter 4 .... Assembling the Pieces ..........................................10Chapter 5 .... A Word About Banking .......................................14

Chapter 6 ....he Final ouches ................................................15Chapter 7 .... Making it Live! .....................................................16Chapter 8 .... Electrical Notes on everything! ............................17Chapter 9 ....Assembly Notes ....................................................20Chapter 10 ..rack designs ........................................................24Links or Lap Counters. ............................................................22

Final Page ... Glossary ................................................................30

ConTenTS

FORWARD

I saw my rst slot car or, I should say rail car, in 1957. I was instantly hooked andnever built a plastic airplaine model again. Over the course of many years, I racedon every conceivable slot car track you could imagine, from all the Original Ameri -cans to many different one of fs built by the owner of the raceway. I went on to ownseveral raceways of my own beginning with an American Windsor in 1965.

It was about 1978 when I decided to start building slot car tracks. It started out withbuying all the old tracks I could nd in storage and beginning to market them withcomplete new makeovers. It was about a 5 year learning process that involved ev-

erything from lling worn out slots with Bondo and re-routing them to completelyreplacing or covering the old surface with new wood and routing the whole thingnew again. I called these re-built American Tracks, NEW AMERICAN TRACKS,and the name stuck as the modern day incarnation of the Old American Slot CarTrack Company. Its not that I am a great wood worker, its just that I wanted tomake more tracks available and promote the fact that Slot Car Racing was NOTdead. For me and a few die hard enthusiasts around the country, it never died, notin our raceways anyway. But we were few and far between, and none of us knewwhat the other one was doing. To solve that problem, I started the magazine Scale

Auto Racing News, but this book is not about the magazine, it is about HOW TOBUILD SLOT CAR TRACKS.... THE NEW AMERICAN WAY!

I am only discussing in this book one way to build a slot car track, buthere, I will touch on the many incarnations of designs that led to this simpliedmethod of track construction. As I said, it took several years for this method toevolve, and I personally, believe it is the quickest, most efcient, and least expen -sive way the job can be done. The evolvement was a 3 step process.

Te rack you see being built in this book wasdone with just Linda and myself with mini-mal help from a couple of friends. It took us10 days and was done outside on a patio. Ifwe can do it, You can do it.... Remember, Tehard part is Tinking About it....

EES: (shown at let w ith leg att ached) Long ones (alsokown as Lap Boards) are used to connect surace piecestogether. Short ones are used to hold legs. (See pics o longand short ees on pg.6) ees are placed at least 2t. aparton the bottom side o each surace piece. (See Pg. 11)

SIFFS: or Stiners are roughly 1x2 strips o wood that

can be made up by ripping down a 2 x4 into 3 pieces. Teseare tted to the outside edge o each side o the straightsurace pieces and is used to attach the sides which give thetrack its lateral strength. (See pg.12)

BLOKS: Made up rom scraps let over rom 2x4s and tted to theoutside edges o the turns airly close together. Tese provide thesame unction as the Stis in the straights, but will allow turns to bebanked by not being a solid piece. (See examples on Pg. 14)

SIDES: Can be made o your choice o material rom Plywood, to MDF, to simple1/8 Masonite which is the easiest to work with and more than adequate. Paint bothsides o ull pieces rst and then using table saw, cut down to 5.5 wide strips. Attachto sides o track with glue and air tac ker gun. (See pics on page 13)

An alternate method o mounting the sides can be with shor tdry wall screws and ender washers or beveled chrome nish

washers. O course the washers a re not needed , but give a n icenishing touch. However, with the nish nailer, no washersare needed.

INFIELDS: When you cut out your turns using the trammel jig, you save the insideportions and put them back or a nice nish to the inside o the tu rns. O course, i

you are not ban king, you can simply le ave the inside portion o the tur n uncut andpaint a semi circle in it to look like an ineld. (See pics on page 15)

HILLCLIMB NOES: o hold the upperstraight over the lower straight in Hillclimbtracks, you need to make special legs l ike you seein the drawing at your let. A larger than normaltriangle reaches all the way across the upperstraight and attaches to the ee just the way aleg does on the lower straights. Ten, a 2x4 isattached to the back side o the triangle sup-port and extends down to another similar largetriangle that sits on the foor. Te lower straightcan be screwed to the 2x4 a nd the lower oot othis piece can be attac hed to the foor to makea very strong Cantilever t ype support or theupper level.

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Chapter 1 Designing your track to ft.

This is the most important step in building your new track. Nothing isworse than to get it all nished and nd out IT WONT FIT!!!

First, measure out the actual footprint of the area your track will be putin. Or, if you are putting in multiple tracks in one location such as a com-mercial application, measure the entire usage space. If there are poles.You must get their exact placement down. Measure from the back of thebuilding to the rst pole. Measure left to the wall and right to the wall oneach pole if it is different. Dont forget the diameter of the pole, and thenmeasure from pole to pole, and then from the last pole to the front of thebuilding. If there are windows, always take this into account as people willlook inside and see what you are building. You want to attract attentionduring construction, and after you are open, so the window should give themost attractive view of your business. Naturally, if you are building a clubtrack in your basement, you can forget the windows.

Once you have your measurements, you can get as complicated as youwant. From a simple piece of paper and ruler, to a drawing program on acomputer. Whatever you feel most comfortable with. Draw your building(or building area) so you can design your track to t. If your scale is the

same in your building drawing as it is in your track design it will work. Re-

member, it will t for real if it ts on paper (or computer).

Next you want to design your track. This is simple if you use pre designedpieces such as you see below:

The pieces above are true to scale and if you use the measurements foundhere to make your building to scale, it will work best. These pieces are 36wide with 4 lane spacing. With the exception of high speed commercial

applications, this is the size I recommend to use for all 8 lane tracks.

8' 90

3.85'

8' 180

7.75'7' 180

6.25'

7' 90

3'

8' STRAIGHT

4'

STRAIGHT

2'

STR.

9' 180

9.5'

9' 90

4.75'

10' 90

5.5' 12' 90

7'

9' STRAIGHT

1'

STR

3'

STR. 5' STRAIGHT 6' STRAIGHT 7' STRAIGHT

6' 180

4.75'

6' 90

2.35'

2

48 ft. x 17 ft.

Pinched King155ft.

27

8' 1807.75'

8' STRAIGHT

4'STRAIGHT

3'STR.

5' STRAIGHT

6' 1804.75'

6' 902.35'

6' 1804.75'

8' STRAIGHT

8' STRAIGHT6' 90

2.35'

American "Bumpoval"60t. 10'x28'

6'ST

RAI G

HT

6'STRAIGHT

8' 903.85'

8' 903.85'

8' 903.85'

8' 903.85'

4' STRAIGHT

7' 1806.25'

7' 1806.25'7' 180

6.25'

7' 1806.25'

9' STRAIGHT

5' STRAIGHT

9' STRAIGHT

9' STRAIGHT 9' STRAIGHT9' STRAIGHT

9' STRAIGHT 9' STRAIGHT14'x35'

"C"

const.plans66 - 2x2s66 legs = 132 triangles19 plates8 - 36 - 9t. straights(one to be cut to makea 4t and 5t piece)2 - 6 t. straights(((cut rom 4x8)))2 - 8 t. 180s(both cut in hal to make 90s)(((cut rom 4x8)))4 - 7 t. 180s (((cut rom 4x8)))

Below shows 2x2 support placement.

Below shows size o pieces.


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9.5" to

Center

13.5" to Center

17.5" to

Center

21.5" to Center

The simplest way to build a 4lane track is to cut a 4X8 pieceof 1/2MDF in half. Then usingthe measurements at left, cutfour circies with your router, us-ing a Trammel jig (see glossary).Check the depth by cutting ina piece of scrap rst so these

circles will become slots in yourturn pieces. Cut the 4x4 in halfand you have two 180s. Cut thatin half and you have two 90s.From these pieces, you can de-sign any type of track you wantby simply adding straight sec-tions and using a straight edge,connecting the slots between theturns. A carbide blade skill sawis the easiest way to cut straightslots.

The design part of your task is the most important of all. The most fun ofall, and the most rewarding when you are nished and see that it all tjust like it did on paper. Whether you are doing a one off home track, ora multiple track installation in a commercial setting, you will have no fearto continue on from here if you have taken the time to get the measure -ments right. And, it doesnt matter whether you can use a fancy computerprogram, or just a protractor and ruler. The results will be the same. For agood idea on designing to t your space, get the booklet of Floor Plans forsale in the catalog at www.scaleautoracing.com This booklet has tons ofoor plans of actual raceways built by New American Slot Car Tracks overa 10 year period. They are not necessarily drawn to scale but it will show

how to leave space between poles and other tracks, etc.

One of the most recognizable trackdesigns is the King. It is 155ft. of highspeed fun. At right is an example of

how it looks in an exploded view, inpieces. Each piece is built seperate-ly, then assembled at, then routed,following the outside edge of thetrack for the rst slot, using yourElliptical Guide Jig (See Glossary).Then with the same jig with wheelsremoved and retooled to t the slots,each successsive slot is cut untilyou have a total of 8... or whateverlane total you are using. It is mostimportant to not cut the slots on thenal pieces of your puzzle until it isfully attached. In this way, you canbe sure all slots line up. In the caseof the King at right, the upper bridgesection (X) is always slotted last.


12x29 Tri-Oval 60'

4'STRAIGHT

10' 905.5'

5' STRAIGHT

7' STRAIGHT

10' 905.5'

5' STRAIGHT

5' STRAIGHT4'

STRAIGHT

10' 905.5'

10' 905.5'

10' 452.75'

10' 905.5'

10' 905.5'

7' STRAIGHT

26

270t. 19 X 70EMPERIOR

The American Joker135 running t.36" wide

X

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SometimeS a pictur e iS worth a thouSand wordS...

See the picture below and save yoursel a lot o reading...

Chapter 2 Gathering the tools you ll need

A Good 100t. tape mea sure... just or good measu re!

A good small a ir compressor. Always ha ndy and cheap.

Cheap Belt Sander. Practice with it and learn how to use it!

Small battery operated skill saw with good carbide blade (Or a big one i you are Mr. Macho)

Lightweight Acrylic Spackle. No, I dont like the heavy stu!

Magnetic screw tip holder. (Dont even try without it.)

Small nish nailer... super handy in so many ways.

Cordless drill or screw gun. (wo would be better.)

Small hand saw. (Youll need it I promise.)

Large clamps like the one shown. Perect or working alone!

Squeeeze Hand Clamps. You dont see them here, but youll need plenty! See pics. later on.

Wood glue and contact cement. At least a gallon o each.

Also not shown but sandpaper or the belt sander. Get course. Work EZ and slow and use oldbelts or hand work.

Also not shown but denitely needed, a good router with 1/8 carbide bit or the slot and or

the braid recess, a 3/4 rabbit bit. (Must be custom made... see Glossary)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

4

Pieces needed.

ExplodedView

150 ft Aristocrat Hill Climber - 42 ft. long x 16 ft. wide using 42" wide pieces

10 - 8 ft. straights.1 - 5 ft. straights.3 - 5 ft. radius 90 turns (10 ft. dia.)3 -5.5 ft. radius 60 turns (14 ft. dia.)2 - 9 ft. diameter 180 turns1 - 8 ft. diameter 180 turns

126 triangles for 63 legs.Approx. 50 leg extensions.63 - 42" - 2x2's

10' 90

5'

10' 905'

10' 905'

5' STRAIGHT

8' STRAIGHT 8' STRAIGHT 8' STRAIGHT

8' STRAIGHT8' STRAIGHT



9' 1808.5'

9' 1808.5'

14' 605.5'

14' 605.5'

14' 605.5'

8' 1807.75'

8' STRAIGHT

Routing Guide.

Custom fitand routebridge sectionlast.

Small pieceis cut fromlarger piece.

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7' 180

6.25'

9' 180

9.5'

6' STRAIGHT

7' STRAIGHT

14' 60

5.5'

14' 60

5.5'

14' 60

5.5'

7' ST RAI GHT 7' ST RAI GHT

7' 180

6.25'

7' STRAIGHT7'STRAIGHT

7' STRAIGHT

8' 180

7.75'

7' STRAIGHT 7' ST RAI GHT 7' ST RAI GHT

7' STRAIGHT 7 ' S TRAI GHT 7 ' ST RAI GHT

7' STRAIGHT

7' STRAIGHT

4'

STR

7' STRAIGHT

9' 180

9.5'

9' 180

9.5'

24

Pieces needed.

Final dimensions = 17 x 36

10 - 7 t. straights.1 - 4 t. straights.1 - 7 t. diameter 180turns4 - 8 t. diameter 180turns3 - 14 t. diameter 60turns

Routing Guide.Use 36" jig.

CONSTRUTIONWORK ORDER FOR:

135t. 36inchEngleman

Cut oshaded blackareas to gettrack tolook like thisbeorerouting.

This turn is the onlyone that is banked,all others are lat.

120 triangles or 60legs.Approx 22 legextensions.

60 - 36" - 2x2's19 lap boards

135FT.ENGLEMAN17' X 36'

8' 1807.75'

7' 1806.25'

4'STRAIGHT

7' STRAIGHT

14' 605.5'

14' 605.5'

14' 605.5'

8' 1807.75'

8' 1807.75'

8' 1807.75'

7' STRAIGHT

7' STRAIGHT

7' STRAIGHT

7' STRAIGHT

7' STRAIGHT

7' STRAIGHT

7' STRAIGHT

7' STRAIGHT

7' STRAIGHT

Chapter 3 Making the bits & piecesFirst, get the hard part out othe way. Decide how manytriangles you will need orlegs and cut them all out atonce. Ten, while you havethem neatly stacked, paintthem now. Dont wait tilllater, you may decide to notpaint them and I will com-plain when I come see yourtrack. Legs must always bepainted black to blend inwith the shadows under thetrack. Its Fords rule! SeeLeg emplate below:

1.

2. Look at the drawing at let. Tis is how the plans looked orthe track you see on the ront cover o this book. Te lower por-tion shows how the assembled track sits in the building, the listshows how many pieces are needed and o what. Te thick blacklines on the right showing upper and lower sections are wherelegs will t on s. I you do something like this in your plan-ning stages, you should easily discover how many triangles youwill need or leg s. It is a lot more tha n you t hink. You need legsat 2 t. intervals and two triangles make up one leg. For highersections, you will need connecting pieces to extend each triangle.You can use the cheapest o wood or your legs because a ter theyare painted black, they will look as good as the high dollar wood.I like to use chipboard made or fooring in houses. Plenty strong,

durable, and cheap.

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Chapter 3 Making the bits & pieces

Making the Ts.... The pictures here and onthe next page should help you with makingyour Ts. Always use a scrap piece of wood tohelp hold things against the rip fence (as shownabove) .... NEVER your own hand. After youhave nished cutting down all the straights.. Itis time to begin cutting down the 2x4s. Thesewill be cut into two widths. Some the same asthe width of the track surface and the others atabout 2 ft. You will cut down half as many 2x4sas you need Ts because you will cut each 2x4piece in half making two 2x2s. This will giveyou a perfectly smooth side to glue the Lappto without need for any fancy plainers or ma -chinery. When you are nished you will havea pile of 2x2 sticks in two widths. Stack themup neatly by your work table and begin makingthe Ts.

At left are two ex-amples of Ts af -ter assembly.

At right is me usi-ing a nail gun toassemble the Ts.I use a big one, butthe little one is justne as long as youuse PLENTY of glue in the assem-bly process.

The Lapp board that is attached to the 2x2 is pre-cut to the width needed for either a shortor long T. Then each one is trimmed down to 1 foot in width giving plenty of room on eachside of the 2x2 to be mounted to the under side of the track surface. I did mention to usePLENTY of glue when putting these things together didnt I?

The second thing you want to make is your straight sections. From your planning, youshould know exactly how many straights you need for your track. You can cut them downwith a simple skill saw, but a small inexpensive table saw is best since you have the advan-tage of the rip fence to make your cut straight. Check Harbor Freight and you will nd thesesell for less than $100.00 and you will get its value out before the track is built. Heres ahelpful hint, especially when working with smaller table saws. If you are cutting down 36pieces, set your rip fence at 12 inches and cut with the larger piece to the left of the blade. Ifyou are cutting down a 42 wide trac sur face, set the fence at 6 inches. Do the same, keep-ing the large piece to the left of the blade, no matter which size your track surface will be.This requires two people, but is very easy if you go s low and keep the piece straight as youpush it through the blade. If you have never used a table saw before, it may feel awkwardand even dangerous. Just go slow, and I assure you, by the time you have cut your 3rdpiece, you will be working like an old pro. Set any of the excess pieces aside that are 1ft.wide because you will need them when you make the Lapps.

6

AdditionAl notes for wiring Mild power to sMAll trAcks

By John ford

this Method is perfect for trAcks where high power is notnecessAry And siMplicity of wiring is wAnted. By eliMinAtingthe tiMe seller out of the circuit, it is Also perfect for hoMetrAcks where the power will Be on At All tiMes. if you Are us-ing tiMe sellers, BAtteries Are Best locAted Behind the coun-

ter neAr the tiMe sellers. one 6gA. wire goes froM the neg. poleof BAttery to the left side of the BrAid, on All lAnes. eight

12gA. leAds go froM the positive pole of the BAttery, throughthe tiMe sellers if needed, to the white post At the 8 corre-

sponding drivers pAnels. then, froM the BlAck post At the driv-ers pAnel, one 12gA. wire goes to the right side of the BrAid Atthe corresponding power tAp. And finAlly, the red post At the

drivers pAnel connects BAck to the neg. pole of th e BAttery Atthe eAsiest point to connect it. All red posts cAn Be connected

in series By one wire with no proBleMs.

this circuit Allows the current to flow froM the negAtivepole of the BAttery strAight to the Motor on the cAr, out theright side of the BrAid to the BlAck post on the drivers pAnel,up through the controller And down th rough the white post

At the drivers pAnel And finAlly BAck to the BAtterys positivepost. the theory here is thAt it is Better for your systeM to

hAve All the switches (controller, tiMe seller, trAck relAy)

on the BAck side of the circuit. this is A proven wiring diAgrAMthAt hAs Been used in h undreds of ApplicAtions since it wAsfirst developed BAck in 1972. if you wAnt A trAck disconnectrelAy (And you will need one if you plAn to hold rAces), you

siMply plAce the relAy switch Between the positi ve pole on theBAttery And the tiMe sellers. A light switch like you would

use in your hoMe will work to turn All the lAnes on And off. ifyou will wAnt to hAve your coMputer rAce progrAM tur n thepower on And off AutoMAticAlly, you will need to use A relAy

in plAce of the light switch.

sAddle tAp wiring systeM - this systeM is ABsolutely the eAsi-est And Most efficient electricAlly of Any Method for wiring

up Any trAck with very Mild power needs such As BirthdAy pAr-ty trAcks in A coMMerciAl locAtion, or hoMe trAcks.

you cAn use A single piece of BrAid for eAch side of eAch lAne

for this if you wAnt, or do it in sections, But you only connectthe power in two plAces. directly opposite of the driv ers pAnelyou MAke drops for the negAtive (left) side of he BrAid. And infront of eAch driver, you MAke drops for the positive (right)side of the BrAid. thAt is All thAt is needed. the drop in front

of the driver is connected directly to the BlAck post. the neg-Ative drops on the fAr side go to the negAtive post on the pow-er supply, And the white post on the drivers pAnel goes to thepositive post on the power supply. the red post of eAch driverspAnel is connected to All the other red posts, And then BAck

to the negAtive on th e power supply.

these notes MAy seeM redundAnt, if so, you Are Beginn ing tofigure it All out.

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FINAL NOES FROM HE AUHOR:

So, thats about it. You need three basic jigs, one or your router to cut the slots, oneor your router to cut out the turns, and a most important one, one that you will use tomark where the slots will be so you dont ruin router bits later in the construction.

AND, you need your pieces , the legs, the ees, the Stis, the Bloks, and your sides.

All o wh ich I have de scribed here in the glossar y and in the main text portion o thisbook, you have seen each o these items be used in the actua l construction phase.

NOW... read it all again and then get to work.

REMEMBER... the hard part is thinking about it!

ALSO ... Someone a sked what siz e MDF, or those that mi ssed it, it is 1/2 inch

http://slottrak.smra.com/index.html

http://www.slotcarracing.dk/lapmaster/lapmasterpr.htm

http://www.pclapcounter.be/

http://www.scaleauto.com/lanemstr/index.htm

http://www.slotracingtechnology.com/

http://members.aol.com/dlel/slot_master/welcome.htm

http://www.trackmateracing.com/

http://www.spytech.cz/?lang=cz&sec=rmdetails

http://library.spytech.cz/en/library/race-manager

http://www.cenobyte.nl/slotracemanager/hoodrame.html

http://www.gregorybraun.com/laptimer.HML

http://www.cenobyte.nl/slotracemanager/

Links to Lap Counting Sotware

22

When putting the Ts together, you want to take care to not put a nail or screw anywherenear where a slot will be. If you do, you will be replacing lots of expensive router bits whenyou cut your slots. It is easy to keep the nails in the right place if you use a SLOT GUIDE

as you see me using in the photo above right. Mark on your work-bench the width of your track piece. Position your Lapp boardand Slot Guide accordingly, and using a large marker, put dotswhere your slots will be. They are indicated by the lines on theSlot Guide and are set in this example for a 4 wide slot congu-ration on a 36 wide track surface. In the picture above left youcan see the dots. In the photo at bottom right on the left page,(and in the blow up pic at left, you can see me nailing betweenthe dots. Did I mention to use plenty of glue for this operation? If

you dont have glue dripping all over everything, you are not usingenough!

Making the JigsAs importa nt as any o the Bits and Pieces are the JIGS you w ill need to makeyour trac k pieces and rout t he lanes. Te rst and easiest jig to build is the ram-mel jig. Tis simply needs to be a piece o the 1/2 MDF cut to be as narrow aspossible and still have plenty o room to mount your router on one end. Te length ismost important as it needs to be at least 5 t. long. Longer will cause problems andget in the way o your body as you cut out the tu rns. Any shorter and you will not beable to cut a ull 8 t. radius turn. Below is a simple MDF trammel jig in use, cuttingout a ull turn.

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9' 904.25'

12' 906.5'

14' 605.5'

Align all the way to the topand 10" from the left side.

10' 905'

Align 7" down from the topand 14" from the left side.

Align centered from side toside and 12" from the bottom.

Align 9" from the left side

and 3ft. from the bottom.

16'60

6.

5'

8 ft. board

8 ft. board

8 ft. board8 ft. board

9 ft. board

Cutting out TurnsMaking your turns is quite easy once you have gured out my cutting pattern

above. First, you need to make a CU ING ABLE to do the work on. I you arebuilding more than one track, a nd you have the room, you can make this a separateitem rom your primary work table. Or, it can be the main work table or all yourprojects during the track construction and assembly. Tis table can be as small as 4x8but is better to be a bit bigger to give more room or laying out a 4x8 piece o MDFleaving some work room around the edges. You can see rom the drawi ngs above a 9

x5 example table with 4x8 MDF boards on it a s an example. First o a ll, you need toknow that you can cut out almost any turn rom a 4x8 piece o 1/2 MDF. You willsee in the rst il lustration, the 12 t. radius turn uses a 9 t. board ... HOWEVER....I you are very careul and position the 8 t. board perectly, a 12 t. turn piece canbe cut rom a 4x8 board. I recommend you use a string a nd pencil to perectly markit out rst and then do the cutting. Tis is t he only size where this is necessary.Only the two outer radius tips o the turn are clipped o this way, and are not reallyneeded as part o the racing surace. I you mark it out with pencil and get it perectlyaligned, you will see that it will work. In our actory, speed was more important thansaving wood, so we just made all 12 t. turns rom a 9 t. piece. You will also see thaton a 16t. Piece, the corners are very close but with perect alignment, it ts easily.

All other turns t easily in a 4x8 piece.

When doing the actual cutt ing, you will want to position your turn piece on thework table. Place your R AMMEL J IG with the bottom hole positioned s o that therouter will make the outer cut. You can make a permanent bolt or the trammel to tover, or simply use a dry wall screw and sc rew it in place. It is a good idea to scratchthe surrace with your router bit, making the moves with the router o to be sure o

your position. Te inner curve is cut in the same manner, moving the trammel down.

Tere is not rea lly much need to practi ce. Youll be a pro a ter you cut the 2nd piece .

Alig n centered rom side to sideand 12 rom bottom.

Align 9 rom the let side

and 3t rom the bottom.

Align 7 down rom the topand 14 rom the let side.

Alig n all t he way to the topand 10 rom the let side.

8

Dead Strip Notes:

The dead strip is that part of your track that is used to count laps and do t iming of each lap. It is themechanical Start and Finish even though you may have your start line in a different area. You want thedead strip to be in an area where the cars usually do not de-slot. After a turn, a few feet down a straight,or even in a big bank where cars go whizzing by but never come off. Not a good idea to have the dead stripin front of the drivers since you might have someone who will try and use a coin or (?) to short out the stripand give fake laps. (I know... not your racers!) In the gap between the live braid and the dead strip, youneed to leave about 1 inch so the braid from the car will not make contact with both at the same time. Thiswill cause so many problems I cant count them.... Nor will your counter either. When you decide on your

lap counter, you may find it uses other options for counting laps other t han a dead strip. Look to its instruc-tions for things like Magnetic Reed Switches, Photo Cells, or LED emitter/collector diodes.

Drivers Stations Notes;

Commercial tracks usually have a long board with drivers stations scattered down its ull length.I have never used this type o drivers panel even though it is the easiest way to do it. Drivers whenpossible need to have their backs to a wall with a minimum o 3 eet o distance between the trackand the wall. This gives t he drivers a great over view o the rest o the raceway, and gives specta-tors a great view o the guys in competition.

For each drivers area, simply drill 3 holes in the side o the track in a triangle pattern as shown in

the illustration. Use standard bolts, or better yet, brass bolts and nuts or each terminal. Make thedistance between each bolt arther than a ully inserted alligator clip will reach. (No shorts) Makethe ar let one white, the middle one black and the ar right one red. This is dierent than the origi-nal American tracks and moves the positive and negative wires to opposite sides... again to reducethe possibility o shorts. Radio Shack has small inexpensive LED lights you can mount in this areato show that the power is on or the lane. Also a good idea is to use 10amp circuit breakers in thebrake circuit at the Red bolt connection. See wiring notes on how to connect wires and circuitbreakers. Fuses could be used, but are SO much more trouble and costly to replace.

Small plastic baskets (obtainable rom a dollar store) can be attached nearby or controllers, etc.These can be painted in the lane color as well. See pic below (taken beore baskets were painted.

Filling the holes.Two schools o thought here: one (my avorite) is to leave all the countersink screw holes just asthey are and cover well when painting the surace. I recommend 2 to 4 coats o satin nish exteriorlatex acrylic enamel. About $14.00 per gallon rom Wal Mart.2nd idea is to ll all the screw holes. For this I recommend using a good grade o acrylic spackel.This is a very lightweight fuy, very white mixture. Almost looks good enough to eat and easy touse with no special tools. Sae or ngers. Easy to sand and very durable when painted over. I doNOT recommend the type o spackel that is l ight brown and very heavy. It will work, but is too hardto sand. Same or the mix it yoursel Durahard putty. Some like it, but the nal results are acheivedmuch easier with the lightweight spackel.Side note on Bondo. Smells great, very ast to work with. Hard to sand, and way too much overkillor this job.

Live dead

deadLive

Live

Live

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Chapter 9 Asssembly Notes


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http://www.scaleautoracing.com http://www.scaleautoracing.com20

Chapter 9 Assembly Notes

ABOVE: Cutting out the outside edge o a 10 t. t urn on a 4x8 work table. rammelis positioned with the router cutting 5 t. back rom the bottom where the trammel isxed with a screw. urn piece is screwed down to work table so it wont move whilebeing cut. BELOW: pivot point has been moved so that the router cuts out the lowerpart o the turn. I this is a totally fat turn w ith zero banking, you can eliminatethis process and leave the bottom o the turn uncut. Save the cut out piece as it willbecome an INFIELD or the n ished product.

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Assembling the LegsEven a Crude jig like this is ne or putting the triangles together to make your legs.

Above, you see an unpai nted tria ngle scre wed down to the work table. It is used asa stop or the top leg piece with the let side and bottom o the table used as let andbottom guides. Place the top pre-painted leg piece up aga inst your stop with the lettip aligned with the edge o the table. Ten place the bottom pre-painted leg piece ontop o it, with the let and bottom aligned with t he table. With just a little care, youcan get your legs square enough or starters without a complicated time consumingprocess. Drop in two 1 inch screws and repeat the process until you a re out o pre-painted pieces. You will have a large pile o legs to work with when you are done. Seepics below. Let: nished legs. Middle: attaching s to track. Right: attaching legsto s. Dont orget to use your slot jig when screwing down s to bottom o trackpieces. You dont want to put a screw where you will be running the router later.

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Chapter 4 - Assembling the Pieces Chapter 8 Electrical NotesSUGGESTED WIRING DIAGRAM FOR MILD POWER SYSTEMS. By John Ford

Batteries are best located behind the counter near the time sellers. One 6ga. wire goes from theneg. pole of battery to the left side of the braid, on all lanes. Eight 12ga. leads go from the positivepole of the battery, through the time sellers, to the white post at the 8 corresponding drivers panels.Then, from the black post at the drivers panel, one 12ga. wire goes to the right side of the braid atthe corresponding power tap. And finally, the red post at the drivers panel connects back to the

neg. pole of the battery at the easiest point to connect it.This circuit allows the current to flow from the negative pole of the battery straight to the motoron the car, out the right side of the braid to the black post on the drivers panel, up through thecontroller and down through the white post at the drivers panel, through the time seller, and finallyback to the batterys positive post.The theory here is that it is better for your system to have all the switches (controller, time

seller, track relay) on the back side of the circuit. This is a proven wiring diagram that has beenused in hundreds of applications since it was first developed back in 1972. I wish this couldbecome the industry standard for mild power applications.If you want a track disconnect relay (and you will need one if you plan to hold races), you simply

place the relay switch between the positive pole on the battery and the time sellers. A double poleswitch such as the Dayton part # 3X748 priced at $15.28 from W.W. Grainger Inc. For the numberof the Grainger nearest you, call 1-800-323-0620.

Direction of travel

+_

Battery

Drivers panel

White Black

Time Seller

Braid

RightLeft

Red

Minimum 6ga.

negative bus toall taps, all lanes.

Not aconnecting

joint.Typical point forinstalling trackpower relay.

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NOTES: You can use the track powerbatteries for this circuit, it is a commonpractice and perfectly acceptable.However, it is my opinion, that aninexpensive seperate 12 volt powersupply (available from Radio Shack) or aseperate small battery is ultimately thebest for this circuit. This will keep themega amps available at the track batteriesaway from this circuit, and eliminate thepossibility of major damage in case of ashort.

SUGGESTEDWIRING DIAGRAM FOR TIME SELLER / TRACK POWER RELAY SYSTEMS By John Ford

Both the relays and time sellers used in this circuit are available from W.W. Grainger Inc. There are two relays thatI recommend. If you want what I call burn power you must use the Dayton relay, part # 3X748 in the Graingercatalogue. Its price is listed as $15.28. It is a double pole relay, and you can have a total of 60 amps capacity oneach lane by using both sets of contacts. If you simply want hot power, you can get 25 amps capacity with thePotter Brumfield relay, part # 4A076 in the Grainger catalogue. Its price is listed as $13.51. It is a single pole relay .Both these relays are high quality, and long lasting (I know some in use over 20 years) and I recommend themhighly. The only tip I can give you is that even though these are brand new relays, the contacts will have to be

cleaned with fine sandpaper or crocus cloth before you use them. Possibly even a little adjustment will have to bemade to them to make them work properly in the beginning. Once they are working and making contact, they rarelyneed servicing.The time sellers in this circuit are also available from Grainger, part # 2E270C. Its price is listed at $12.72.For the location of the W.W. Grainger nearest you, call 1-800-323-0620.A nine or 10 conductor 18, 20, or 22ga. wire commonly used for doorbells, thermostats, or alarm systems is bestfor this circuit. 8 conductors will be used for the 8 lanes, and any wires left over will be used for the commons.

This circuit follows the normal negative to positive flow of any D.C. circuit, taking the current straight to the coilsof each of the 8 relays. This can be accomplished by just running a common line to one side of all 8 relays, andconnecting the loose end to the batterys negative terminal.On the other side of each of the 8 relays, you will need 8 seperate wires leading to one side of each corresponding

time seller. (for example, the relay to the red lane would connect to the time seller for the red lane etc.)After you have the 8 wires run from the relays to their coresponding time seller , you should have one terminal oneach time seller still with nothing connected to it. All you need to do here is again run a common line to each of theremaining 8 terminals on the time sellers and connect the loose end back to the positive side of the power source.Now when you turn on the red timer, the red lane relay should click, allowing power to flow through red the track

circuit. Naturally the same should be true for the other 7 lanes.

+_

Battery

coil

contacts

From positive poleof track power source.

To white postat drivers panel.

Chapter 8 Electrical Notes

relAy noTeS:

Te relays you see used in this bookle t areavailable through Radio Shack and some

Auto Supplies. Or, you ca n order throughme at $5.00 each while they last. Teones I have were designed or the lightingsystem on Dune Buggies competing in theBaja Race in Mexico. Very rugged withtwo 30 amp gold plated contacts.

I you want to purchase the ones I have,email me at [email protected]

18

Let Is whatyou shouldhave with

your s andlegs attachedto the bottomo each pieceo track. Nowit is time to

fip each pieceover and re-peat the pro-cess until youhave all yourpieces sittingon legs.

Now, it is be-ginning to looklike a track.Continue theassembly oeach piece until

you have a ll the

pieces attached.You will wantto be careulto get one sideo the tracksedges lined upat the joints sothe router willhave a smoothpath to makeon its rst runcutting the rstslot.

I you are building a

totally fat track, youcan completely assembleall the pieces at thispoint. You should have atotally fat surace i youhave gotten all your legsproperly assembled us-ing the leg assembly jigshown on let page. Ihowever, you are goingto bank any o the turnson your track, you willneed to attach the nalpieces AFER you haverouted the eintire track

up to the nal joint.11


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I you are building your track at home, you may get some extra help whether you need

it or not. Fortunately, they dont ask or much pay, but get plenty o time to relaxater working so hard.

With your piece s asssembled, it i s timee to instal l your Sti s and Bloks. Aboveshows the placement o the Bloks around each tur n the closer the better, and as youcan see here, it will take a lot o these Bloks to do an entire track. Tey c an be maderom almost any scrap pieces let over rom cutting the 2 x4s.

Te Straights get the St iener s or Stis.Tis process i s much easier a nd you cancover lots o space much more quickly than

when insta lling the Bloks. Te process i sthe same, using a small air tack hammer andPlenty o glue. Ater you have nished eachone, you can come back with a damp ragand wipe o the excess glue. i you do nothave this much excess glue, you are NOusing enough. Remember, the tacks are only

to hold the piece till the glue dries.

3

12

Chapter 8 Electrical Notesthese are the things we have to consider when wiring a slot track. iF YoU arePUtting in a coMMercial oPeration, YoU have the tiMe sellers, which go behind thecoUnter to consider. iF it is a hoMe track, these will not be in the circUit UnlessYoU want theM. as Far as track connections go, YoU have the red, black & whiteconnections at the drivers Panel. YoU have the relaY at the drivers Panel. YoUhave the track itselF, & FinallY YoU have the batterY.

First lets talk aboUt the batterY. here, YoU onlY have two connections. the nega-tive side oF the batterY goes straight to the leFt side oF the braid, direction oFtravel. the Positive side oF the batterY goes straight to the white Post on the

drivers Panel. (iF YoU are Using tiMers and relaYs, see notes on relaY below)

next, lets talk aboUt the track itselF. this is easY, we jUst hooked all the nega-tive braids (leFt side direction oF travel) to the neg. side oF the batterY. now theright side direction oF travel oF each lane goes to its corresPonding driversPanel black Post.

the tiMe seller Panel is Made UP oF 8 individUal tiMers. a siMPle exPlanation hereis that YoU shoUld have 9 wires coMing oUt oF YoUr tiMe seller Panel. one wirerUns as a coMMon to each tiMer and then on to the negative Pole oF the batterY.then each oF the 8 other wires goes to their resPective lan es relaY at the driversPanel. theY hook UP to the west terMinal. (see relaY notes below.)

RELAYS....

the drivers Panel relaY has 5 connections. theY are labledat leFt as north, soUth, east, west, & the one leFt over wecall center. (See illuStration at left.)

n goes to Positive Pole at batterY

s goes to white terMinal at its drivers Panele goes to north connection on relaY.

w goes to corresPonding color coded wire coMing FroMtiMe sellers. the center goes onlY to one side oF the Panel light.

note: north is the side with the Plastic tab and MoUnting hole. west is the sidewith the wiring diagraM Printed on it.

the drivers Panel has 3 Main connections. red, white, black.(See illuStration at left).

it is best to keeP the white and red aPart since this is YoUr +& - connections.

REdgoes to the negetive Pole oF the batterY. (can be coM-Moned to all drivers Panel red connections on its waY to the batterY.) note: seecircuit breaker notes below.

whitEgoes to the soUth connection on the relaY.

bLAckgoes to the braid on the track, right side direction oF travel.

as a Final note, drivers Panels can be enhanced with the addition oF a Panel lightand a circUit breaker. these notes shoUld clear UP how these devices hook UP incase theY becoMe disconnected, or need rePlaceMent.

pAnEL Light notES:

the Panel light has one lead that connects to the cen-ter Post on the relaY, and the other lead connects to the cir-cUit breaker at the Point where the red wire (brake) lead connects.

ciRcuit bREAkER notES:the circUit breaker connects in line between the nega-tive side oF the batterY, and the REdPost at the drivers Panel. YoUr brake wirewill now attach to the oPen lUg on the breaker. w hen the breaker triPs, t he trackstill has Power, bUt the negative has been reMoved FroM the circUit, and this willcaUse the Panel light to blink when the controller trigger is PUlled and brakeswill be inoPerative. siMPlY PUsh back in the PoPPed oUt bUtton to reset.

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Chapter 7 - Making it Live

Amazing enough, ater all is taken apart, itstill fts in the back o the pick-up the originalnew pieces were brought in. So, o we go toput it back together and Make it Live.

Laying the braid is very tedius and slow go-ing. You will need to apply contact cementin the braid recess with a ketchup dispenser.A bead about hal the width o the recess isall that is needed. Using a paint roller loadedwith contact cement, you can coat one sideo the braid as you pull it o the roll to the

desired length.

Putting down the braid will eel awkward atfrst, but you will be an expert by the time youare fnished. To install the braid pieces, simplydrill a 1/4 hole and run the braid down to thebottom side or connection. Do not put letside and right side braid drops next to eachother. It will be easier to work with downbelow i they are oset about 5 inches.

Under the track, you will have lengths obraid to connect up. Short enough to notwaiste braid and long enough or you toeasily work with. All excess can be cuto and discarded. Using color dots tokeep up with which color you are work-ing with is a good idea.

Relays are needed to turn on and o thepower to all lanes and above you see anexample o a relay panel under the powertap section o the track. This applicationlooks very good, and again color dotshelps you keep up with which relay con-trols which lane. These relays can alsobe placed under each drivers panel andthis is a avorite method with no need ohaving to make up a relay panel.

16

While you are wait ing on the g lue to get good and dry on your Sti s and Bloks,you can k ill ti me working on the sides you w ill soon need to nis h up your master-piece. Here, we used simple 1/8 Masonite pieces. Painted the ull sheets rst, andthen using the table saw, ripped them to 5 & 1/2 wide pieces. I you are buildingan all fat track, you can rip a ll sides at only 4 wide. A wider side is needed or thebanked turns and is cut down to the proper height while it is on the track.

Ater you h ave ni shed cutt ing your sides down and all your Bloks and S tis a regood and dry, it is time to begin the routing process. Be sure the side you wi ll beginrouting rom is very smooth all the way around. Tis is most important because it isrom this rst cut that all other lanes will be based on. Above, you can see me makinga rst cut using a router mounted to a simple MDF board jig and above right, you cansee a well worn jig that has routed many miles o slots. It is made rom plexiglass and

uses shower door wheels

as guides to ollow theoutside edge o thetrack. At right, you cansee a close up o thissame jig with pins at-tached and placed downin a slot to ollow andcut each remaining slotsuntil all 8 are done.Careul here whenplacing your pins and

wheels. I re commendno wider than 7.5 orthe wheels and no morethan 5 or the pins.

Make sure your pins go about hal way down into the slot. Shallowerand they will slip out too easily in the turns. Deeper and they will plowup too much excess sawdust and jam making you have to stop every 10

t. to clean the slot out again.

13


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Chapter 5 - A Word About BankingBanking a track is simply olding woodand making it bowl up rom fat tobanked. This is much more EZ than youwould think. Look at the picture at let.You see a turn which has been banked bypulling with a come-a-long, the straightto a point where you see it here. Origi-nally, the turn was totally fat and the twostraights coming o the turn were paralellto each other. This turn is 8 t. across butthe process is the same or any size. Thebigger the turn, the more you can pull itup. On a King track, the big bank is 14t.Wide, is totally fat with parallel straightsand the back straight is pulled all theway over to meet with the ront straightmaking the amous 33 degree main bankso amiliar with all King tracks. In thesecond picture, you see another shotshowing how the two straights have beenpulled together. The banking is there, but

because o angles, does not look so steep.The next picture shows how legs must betaken apart and adjusted to compensateor the elevation o the banking. This iswhy you should not glue your leg piecestogether. In the bottom picture you cansee the trackhas been painted and all thenal leg adjustments have been made.In all these pictures, you can clearly seethe Bloks and understand how they playa part in allowing the turn to be banked.In the last picture below, you can see thepin stripes being put on. All the inorma-tion you need on pin striping tools can beobtained by simply doing a Google search

or pin striping tools. Tip: Dont mis-spell striping using 2 Ps. What you willget is not G rated.

14

Chapter 6 Final TouchesSIDES:Putting on the sides is EZor fat tracks, but will take a littlepatience or banked tracks. You willneed to have two people to do this andthere will need to be some nish workto make it all look as good as you seeat let here. Always use plenty o glue

and plenty o tacks or screws to holdthings up until the glue dries.At let, you can see this track is n-ished. Now it is time to take it all apartand install at the location. O course,i you are building on site, it is time towire it up and mak it live.

INFIELDS:Inelds are both easy andunctional or nishing out the insideo each turn. You could simply runthe side up and around and back butit is very hard to make the sharp turnsrequired by the inside radius. So, Idevised a simple method o putting

back the piece that was cut out in thebeginning. (Note: with perectly fatturns, you do not need to cut out theinside radius at all.) In the pictureabove and at let, you can see theunpainted inelds and how the sidesare placed up to the ineld and across.This method is much easier and whenthe inelds are painted green they givea great look and are perect places toput deslotted cars during competition.

In the two pictures at let and below,you can see more about how ineldsare installed. Simply leave an over-hang on your bloks in the ineld areaand glue and attach your ineld to thebloks. Then, using bloks or stinermaterial, run along the outside edge oineld or both strength, and a placeto attach the side where it will comeacross.Custom cutting o the sides will berequired to make a good nishedlook where they come together, butin many places, it is not necessary totake great care because this area ishidden rom view.

15

Documents

CD How to Build a Slotcar Track