Light Weight, Large, Portable, Sectional, Track

Questions and Ideas to track building, how are you doing it? need help? new features? share your ideas.
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Ned
Posts: 368
Joined: Sun 13. Apr 2014 01:02
Location: Sedona, AZ USA

Light Weight, Large, Portable, Sectional, Track

Post by Ned »

Has anyone made a large track that can be put together easily and quickly (preferably with no tools) on a floor, patio, flat ground, or maybe several tables and saw horses for racing, and then taken apart and stored, perhaps under a bed or in a closet? I'd like to hear about your experience.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to do this? Would anyone be interested in having this type of track?
SlotCarRental_com
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat 10. Aug 2013 08:39

Re: Light Weight, Large, Portable, Sectional, Track

Post by SlotCarRental_com »

That is the purpose of my track thread... more so even with my most recent posts.
http://www.magracingforum.com/viewtopic ... 7&start=20

I am trying to have it CNC cut in foam board so I can actually make more than one of them... and sell them off or something.
But no one seems to want to cut the stuff in my area.
goatdope
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue 28. Jan 2014 19:53
Location: Lansing, Illinois, USA

Re: Light Weight, Large, Portable, Sectional, Track

Post by goatdope »

to Ned; Yes , I built a scale 1/4 mile oval track based on a local motordrome. 4 modular sections, each having 1/2 of a turn and 1/2 a straightaway. I used 1/4 " sanded plywood for the racing surface, supported underneath by 3/4" particle board wedges set on edge. These wedges are used all the way around the track as the straights are banked also. The spacing is 6-8 in. but this is overkill. The wedges are cut precisely at 5deg. and are 15-20 in. long and 2" wide on the small end. ( the turns are wider than the straights because of my desire to copy the motordrome.) but not necessary. Then I simply used 1/2 X 4' wood stringers to hold it all together. Use 2 locating pins at each of 4 joints. Initially bolted it together but have been using "C" clamps to simplify. The whole thing including infield , and retaining wall sets up on dedicated saw horses ( or the ground if necessary ) . I can do this alone in less than 2 hours. The modules are very rigid and only weigh around 25 lbs. I had up and down at least half a dozen times last summer. It even made a 35 mile trip in the back of my pickup truck with no ill effects. The wire placement merely follows the "groove" on the real track, which is easy to see on photographs. Really need to drag my young son out here to show me how to post pics. I did some experimenting with wire sizes but the performance of 3.5 oz. cars is downright uncanny for realism. One change I will make on the next track is to use 1/4 in. "underlayment" for the racing surface, as it is much smoother and uniform than the sanded plywood I used initially. I think the whole thing takes up about 9 cubic feet of space . Am really happy with the way it turned out. Good luck to you Ned. Ken
SlotCarRental_com
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat 10. Aug 2013 08:39

Re: Light Weight, Large, Portable, Sectional, Track

Post by SlotCarRental_com »

While I have not actually built this track yet, the following are ideas and concepts for building one.

The previous design was to use Foamular, and manually cut everything.
I recently discovered another type of foamboard used to make signs, I could stand on it, and there was minimal damage, yet it had a hard surface, unlike Foamular.
Foamular is a LOT less pricy and easier to acquire though.

I was going to have the wire lines Drawn or Cut by Computer, so I went ahead and designed a concept to be entirely Computer cut.
With it being almost entirely Computer Cut, it can be duplicated easily, as apposed to manually cutting and routing everything...

I just received a partial quote for cutting, not including material costs.
This was not my original intent, however if I was to pack up and ship out the pre-cut sheets in an freight sized shipping package, I could potentially sell kits for about $3,000 to $4,500, plus shipping. Which might be out of budget for most... because this is just the flat materials, the buyer would still have to assemble the track, lay the wire and plates, spackle/fill the wire, add scenery, and paint their track.

Not sure I really want to sell tracks, and I obviously am not going to sell anything until I build it, and see if it even works.
If it does work, I can easily build a simpler design that is flatter which should cost a lot less in materials.
And maybe if I do this, and there is interest, I could eventually take peoples sketches and turn them into similar tracks.

Things I am currently concerned with, are my wire layout, the shrinkage and expanding of this foam board, or other material that I use.

Images of the track can be found here: Might take a while to load on slow connections.
http://www.slotcarrental.com/_MagRacerTrack.html

Please ignore the pit lane, and excessive amount of pit garages, those are mostly just there for scenery. Real tracks often have a LOT more then this, I just wanted more than 6 or 8.
The wires leading into the pit stalls are just conceptual, and are unlikely to actually get placed, unless I use it as a place to start cars and tell people how to drive the track one at a time.
I just designed the space in there, so if in the future, I want to convert to a capacitor driven car, for pit refueling... I have the space to do so.
The cars can pull under the track to the outside of the table for easy access.

The track width on this track is wider then needed, 1:24 cars might even fit, but fit tightly.
I did this because I was thinking about making a chassis that could snap on Mini-Z bodies... which are 1:28 scale.

When you see two wires running close together in a curve... they are at least a half inch apart, since Wes recommended 1/4 I doubled it.

If you have any questions specifically about my track, and not building light tracks in general, please post them to my other thread to keep this one on track.
http://www.magracingforum.com/viewtopic ... 7&start=20
Ned
Posts: 368
Joined: Sun 13. Apr 2014 01:02
Location: Sedona, AZ USA

Re: Light Weight, Large, Portable, Sectional, Track

Post by Ned »

Thanks for the replies gentlemen. Based on what I know now, I think I would use 2" thick 4' x 8' panels of XPS rigid foam insulation board rated at 40 psi, if I didn't want to bank any corners. Several companies in the U.S. make it. The 1" thick XPS board I used to make my track, which is permanently fastened down to the ground, is rated at 25 psi. It can be twisted and bent a little for banking. Most 1/2" thick XPS board is rated at only 15 psi. My 1" thick 25 psi board is not compressed when I walk my 200 lbs over it with smooth clean shoes, when it is laying on a smooth concrete floor.

If firmly supported underneath, a track made of 2" thick 40 psi board should withstand frequent walking on it with clean smooth soled shoes free of heels. It should also hold up to frequent assembly and dis-assembly. The surface of this XPS board can be made much tougher and resistant to abrasion by applying a coat of elastomeric roof coating and then a coat of flat latex paint. I would probably cut the 4' x 8' panels into 4' x 4', 2' x 8' and 2' x 4' sections depending on the size of the storage and cargo areas. I'd apply elastomeric roof coating to the top and all sides of the XPS board to protect it from UV radiation and abrasion before I cut any slots with a router. Then I'd glue the piano wire in the slots and put a coat of high quality latex paint over the board to further protect the track from abrasion. Not sure yet how I'd lock together the sections.

An alternative to piano wire that might work would be .2 mm x 4 mm nickel plated steel strip/tape. I have not been able to find .2 mm thick steel strip anywhere yet, but .1 mm x 4 mm (without adhesive) is available on ebay.

I'd be interested in your ideas on how to lock together rectangular sections, when placed on a smooth firm surface, such as a floor, and assuming that each section is not attached to any frame. (I do not believe the force of gravity would be sufficient to hold all sections precisely in place.)

Ken, I hope to see a video of your 1/4 mile oval track sometime. :)
SlotCarRental_com
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat 10. Aug 2013 08:39

Re: Light Weight, Large, Portable, Sectional, Track

Post by SlotCarRental_com »

To lock the track mats together in my concept, I have a lower piece cut in a sort of zigzag pattern.
It would then use magnets... alignment may be tricky this way, I can get away with it because of the CNC cutting.

It is pretty much what Anki did on their new modular track system.
see anki over drive: http://www.Anki.com
Trevor Allen
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue 13. Jan 2015 11:30
Location: Shirebrook, Notts, England

Re: Light Weight, Large, Portable, Sectional, Track

Post by Trevor Allen »

I am currently building a 12'x 6' track in modular sections. Each section is 4' x 3' (6 off), and is 9mm MDF braced with 38mm x 19mm timber. The frames have flanges to support adjacent boards, which has meant that I only have 12 legs supporting the whole setup. When I complete the project I will just dowel the boards through the flanges, but I was surprised how sturdy the whole thing was when I set it up for the first time last week. The principle for this is that it must fit comfortably into an estate car, as I intend to use the track at different venues. I suspect it will take about 20 mins to set up or break down. No pics yet, but when the first meeting has completed there will be a report appear. Still waiting for cars though, so hopefully wont be too long, as the track should be complete and partially tested in the next month or so.

Trev
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