# Building a routed track and have some ???'s



## popup (Dec 5, 2011)

Hello folks I am currently working on a routed track, my first. I am doing HO. I haven't raced HO slot cars since I was a kid, and currently don't have any cars or tracks. I am approaching this as comic relief from my job and an ongoing 8 yr remodeling nightm...project, and to support grandsons. I first convinced the wife that this would attract grandkids like flies, got permission(just kidding lol), went out and bought some 1/2" fiberboard. I have a Craftsman router and ordered some 1/16" bits. I am drawing the artwork for a 4x8, right now looks like a bastardized Whitefish Bay 43 from
http://www.hoslotcarracing.com/. 

However I have some questions, and while i have been perusing the threads and searching out topics, some things seem to still be hanging for me. 

For starters, what is the best power rail for HO? I liked the idea of rebar wire as shown on the hoslotcarracing site, but some say it is too magnetic?
What is the best? Seems solid copper would work, could you just run it over the top of the rebar wire in a deeper pocket? Would not like to seat a thin flat in a braided wire, seems like a production nightmare.

Also, how do you bank the turns on a routed track? Is it just a matter of angling the supports under the track and screwing it down?

Any help would be appreciated.

Kevin


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

popup said:


> For starters, what is the best power rail for HO? I liked the idea of rebar wire as shown on the hoslotcarracing site, but some say it is too magnetic?
> What is the best? Seems solid copper would work, could you just run it over the top of the rebar wire in a deeper pocket? Would not like to seat a thin flat in a braided wire, seems like a production nightmare.


You can find the answer (actually opinions) on this in other threads within this forum. Just do a search for "rails", "stiching wire" and "rebar".



> Also, how do you bank the turns on a routed track? Is it just a matter of angling the supports under the track and screwing it down?
> 
> Kevin


 I have yet to really rout a track, but I can give you the short answer to this although a picture would be much better. In order to bank a curve, you have to rout it to a different exit angle than you eventually want. For example, if you want a 180 degree banked curve, you have to rout it out as a flat curve of less than 180 degrees, let's say 170 degrees. You then have to take the entry and exit to the curve and pull them together until you get the 180 degree turn. By pulling the two ends together, the flat curve will start to bank. You then have to screw everything down. Of course, there are limits to how much bending you can do with MDF, but that's the general idea.

Take a flat straight piece of rubber and bend it into a curve. See how it banks?

Hope that made some sense.

Joe


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## Tsooko (Oct 15, 2009)

Kevin
Rebar wire is the poorest choice for power rail. I did my first track with it and hated it. Ripped it out after a couple of months. Flat stitching wire is a better choice or Slotcar Express has a round wire that works. 
There is no doubt a routed track has a lot of advantages over plastic but it is a lot of work and will take some time.
Joe has it right about the banks. Small banking can be done using wedges but you will only get a few degrees. Lots of info here and other forums. Good luck with your project.
Cheers Ted


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## tossedman (Mar 19, 2006)

Take a look at this track plan for a King track. Notice how the corners are cut less than the finished radius of the corners and then pulled around to make the proper radius. The bottom right hand image shows what it'd look like if laid out flat.









Todd


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

Banking a track--- As Joe said, you pull the ends together to make a "true" bank. Take a sheet of paper/posterboard and draw the letter "U", make it about 4 or 5 inches in width and about 12 inches tall. Now cut the letter out, once cut out, now lay it flat and slowly squeeze the the two ends together and you will see the bank form as Joe stated... Now, You can bank a flat track, to some degree, just by using elevation blocks same as you would banking a plastic track.

I wanted a big bank, I used a pipe clamp to pull this one until I got screwd down...










The car to the left is sitting flat...RM


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## Hornet (Dec 1, 2005)

Man that's gonna be a high speed track when you're done:thumbsup::thumbsup:.
How are you holding the bank in place,i'm assuming the clamp is only temporary.

Rick


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## popup (Dec 5, 2011)

That's what I was thinking on the banking, I had been playing around w/ cutouts and figured that one way to do it would be to pull it in. 

That pipe clamp picture is awesome. 

Thinking back to my school days, seems there would be a parabola that would be the two-dimensional projection of the 3D shape we want. So that you could predict the angle divergence from, say, 180 deg in 2D that would give you a bank of such and such an angle in 3D. I did not do well in that particular class, so have no clue as to how to establish that relationship. So I guess some experimentation is in order.

Was also wondering how much you would have to "bow" out the sides (into a hyperbola?) of a continuous track in order to end up w/ straight (albeit banked) straights and banked turns after applying the clamps. Is this going to squeeze the already routed grooves? Maybe a test oval is in order. 

As for rails, I guess I am about talked out of the rebar wire. Why is it that nothing cheap can hardly ever be right? That easy doesn't usually work?

And I am not ready or willing to weigh in on the Invar v flatwire debate yet.
Will let that age harden for a while. 

I am really a hands on kinda guy, and would prefer to try some of these things out, just waiting on my router bits and the vision of a router template to come to me. I will provide pictures of my efforts when they begin.

Thanks again for the replies.


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## tossedman (Mar 19, 2006)

Here's a good explanation of how it all works.. :thumbsup: Here's the link to whole website. This isn't for HO tracks with rails but the idea is the same.

Todd


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

Hornet said:


> Man that's gonna be a high speed track when you're done:thumbsup::thumbsup:.
> How are you holding the bank in place,i'm assuming the clamp is only temporary.
> 
> Rick


Rick,
I have an old video of this being done. Once the bank is established and held in place by the clamp, you have to screw down the inside edge of the track to the table top. This should hold it in place. You'll then want to put supports under it and screw them to the track.

Joe


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

popup said:


> As for rails, I guess I am about talked out of the rebar wire. Why is it that nothing cheap can hardly ever be right? That easy doesn't usually work?


 I believe the stiching wire is pretty inexpensive, although the other guys can expand on that. Braid is the more expensive option.

Joe


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## tossedman (Mar 19, 2006)

Here's the BSCRA page on banking turns. It was the original link I was looking for earlier. :thumbsup:

Enough stitching wire to make a track isn't too expensive if you can find a place that doesn't have a minimum order size. Seems that lots do. When we ordered ours I ordered six 1500' (or so) rolls and split it up between 4 guys so it was quite reasonable. Bet you could sell some extra rolls to some of they guys on here. Seems to be lots of interest in building tracks around here.

Todd


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