# Tyco/Mattel Slot Width Variance



## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

Hi Guys,
Has anyone ever noticed that the slot width on Mattel track (and I guess Tyco as well) is not consistant even within the same piece?
I was tuning my track yesterday trying to find all the joints where the slots are misaligned. For testing, I was using an Aurora AFX chassis with one of the early blade pins. This blade pin was used on the earliest AFX chassis and does not have a pin side, nor is it as deep as the later blade pin (which is too long for Tyco track) used by Aurora and Auto World. It is a slightly different shape than the later blade; it is rectangular in shape and may be slightly thicker with no taper on the front or back. I have found this blade to be the most sensitive to misalignment so that if it passes a joint with no problem the joint is good for everything else.
Just as an aside. One of the really bizarre things about this blade (and maybe only this one) is it acts differently depending upon which end is in front. Like the later more common blade, the front and back are the same. Yet put one side in front and it will run smoother and clear more joints than when turned around. Strange.
Anyway, getting back to the point of this post. While I was filing the joints, I again noticed that some track pieces have a more narrow slot than others. Not only that, but a number of pieces have a wider slot in the middle of the piece than they do near the ends. Because this blade is a little thicker than any other, it seemed a bit sensitive to this. For example, I might notice a slight hesitation in the middle of a straight. When I check the track piece, sure enough there is a spot or two in the slot where it is a little narrower than the rest of the piece.
I have one spot where there is a 270 degree turn using 9" 1/8 pieces. When the car went through those turns it looked to be struggling. When I checked, half those pieces had a narrower slot than the others. You can test this on your track using the blank end of a 1/16th drill bit. On some pieces it passes all the way through the slot, part way on another, and on some not at all.
What I did was find a grinding rod that is about 1/16th wide and run it through the slot to get the width consistant.
So, anyone one else ever look for this and if so, did you take any action to correct it?

Thanks...Joe


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

YEP- I noticed this Too ! And found this out (by accident) Exactly the same way you did.


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## Hittman101 (Oct 21, 2009)

I noticed it also and used a file to make them the same size as much as I could.. So far it has worked great..


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## slotcardan (Jun 9, 2012)

yup i noticed this as well. I ran a tyco pro that kept jamming in different spots around the track and noted the slot width was narrow in those areas. used a file to fix also.


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## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

Funny I remember finding this out when I built my son a layout out of tyco track I had harvested from sets I had bought at garage sales and such.

I remember dragging a file through the slots,it seemed to work pretty well as I remember it.

Mike


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## Hornet (Dec 1, 2005)

I spent hours with an old credit card and a piece of sandpaper wrapped around it cleaning up the slots on my old Tyco track.
The early China or Honkong pieces from the early to mid 80's didn't have as bad a problem with slot width as the later Malyasian track did,and that's where my knowledge of Tyco track stops ,lol
Rick


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## Tycoarm (Jan 7, 2006)

I seem to remember the early track with the see through slot having issues with afx cars getting hung up in certain spots. I would use a folded piece of sand paper and run it through the slot a few times until the car would make a clean pass.


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## SouthLyonBen (Mar 14, 2012)

I had a pretty wicked road course set up with Tomy track since it was temporary I was running guard rails. When my nephew came to visit he REALLY wanted to play with a US-1 dump truck, ok, fine. So I throw it on the track and it keeps hanging up with the turns. I had assumed it was catching on the guard rails but upon further inspection found that it was actually being pinched in a narrow slot so it's not ONLY a Tyco-mattel problem. I ran Revlon nail sander file things through, fixed.


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

SouthLyonBen said:


> I ran Revlon nail sander file things through, fixed.


And how did your wife feel about that???? I'm assuming it was hers... :tongue:


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

Looks like I may end up having to "rout" my plastic track to be sure all the slots are a minimum width.

I think the next time I decide to build a plastic track, I am going to do a couple things to each piece prior to putting it all together...

1. Grind off the raised letter
2. Round off the entrance and exit points
3. Rout out the slot
4. Clean the end contacts
5. Maybe even file down the area between the rails on each lane as I have noticed that although the rest of the road surface may match between pieces, it seems the area between the rails is always different.

Joe


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## SouthLyonBen (Mar 14, 2012)

plymouth71 said:


> And how did your wife feel about that???? I'm assuming it was hers... :tongue:


Believe it or not I got a pack of 'em from the dollar store just for the slot cave, they constantly come in handy


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

SouthLyonBen said:


> Believe it or not I got a pack of 'em from the dollar store just for the slot cave, they constantly come in handy


 
Yes, that is what I ended up doing as well.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Their TCR track has the same problem...


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## SouthLyonBen (Mar 14, 2012)

NTxSlotCars said:


> Their TCR track has the same problem...


Assuming that's a joke about slot width on TCR I lol'd


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