# HO Routed Track Slot Width



## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

When making an HO routed track, do you make the guide slot 1/16th or 1/8th inch wide? If you can do either, is one preferred over the other?

Thanks...Joe


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## noddaz (Aug 6, 1999)

*while I have never...*

while I have never routed a track I would think that 1/16 would be the standard...


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## wm_brant (Nov 21, 2004)

Joe --

The standard is 1/16" for HO commercial tracks. The 1/8" width is standard for larger scales, but has been used in HO scale for tracks where cars use 'slide guides' or plastic tubing slipped on a standard HO guide pin.

In any case, you would need to use a 1/16" bit to route the rail slots, unless you go the magnetic braid route.

From what I have read, there is no particular problem with breakage of 1/16" router bits if you use reasonable care.

-- Bill


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## neophytte (Sep 14, 2006)

+1 for 1/16th

Cheers

Richard


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

1/16" for a dedicated H.O. track. 1/8" for multiscales. I built a track with the 1/8" slot and ran 1/32, 1/43, and H.O. H.O.s did fine. Only downside was with the larger slot and tape wide enough to catch the wide contacts of the H.O.s and still be close enough to the slot to catch the contacts of the 1/32s, the H.O.s didn't look as realistic as I would like. I am in the process of building my third track and I am going to use a conductive paint on the copper tape and paint the roadway to match. Be sure to use a straight cut bit instead of an upcut. The upcut will blowout the upper edges of the slot and more sanding will be required to repair the upper edge. Rout outside if possible. I use bondo for mistakes and hole fills.


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

I'm bringing this back from a long time ago because I want to ask about any experiances in running HO on a 1/8" slot.

On my little test routed oval, I used 1/8" slots. I prefer this size slot so I can use 1/43rd cars, and also because I believe a 1/8" bit will be far less fragile than a 1/16" bit.

This works fine for all cars except T-Jets on skinny tires. The 1/8" slot is wide enough to "trip up" the rear wheels when a car fishtails around a curve. So it appears to me that a 1/8" slot is incompatible with skinny T-Jet tires.

Has this been your experiance as well?

Thanks...Joe


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## TomH (Jan 17, 2006)

Yeah the small tire rears sometimes catch on the slot. Depends on how slow you are going it seems. I built a couple of really tight 5" curves on another layout and I noticed that problem. On my other layout that had bigger radius curves and higher speeds, the smaller tires didn't make any difference. I use silicones on the rear. I love to run the smaller tire cars. I painted my track black to hide the wider slot and make it look more realistic. I was happy with the results. I am making a three lane 3X7 bullring oval using the wider 1/8"slot for H.O. and larger diecast conversions. It will also handle 2 1/43 scale cars (easier on the ol eyes).
I bought a variable voltage power unit so I can run the 1/43"s and some H.O. mag cars that are too fast without the mags helping.


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## northwest slot (Dec 1, 2009)

I am using a routed braid track with a 1/8 slot. We don't run t-jets. I have not noticed anything about performance with HO cars, granted, you would have to do a side by side comparison to see if there was any real handling issues. In other words, it works fine for HO, and we don't use anything but standard TOMY shoes and guide pins.

Marshaling is definitely easier with a 1/8 inch slot especially if the slot has a rounded edge.


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## Ovalhead (Nov 20, 2010)

So what I'm reading is, I can route a track with a 1/8" slot and run both 1/24 & 1/64 with great performance in both scales ?
In other words, I can build a 1/24 track with the track braid flush with the surface of the track and the 1/64 will run fine ?

Interesting...........

Oval


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## Rawafx (Jul 20, 1999)

We've run HO cars ON Steve Acesta's routed 1/32nd scale track here in W-S, NC with no problems other than his Pyramid power supply only goes to 15 volts. we haven't tried a skinny tire HO car yet but I think I'll call him today and see if he wants to get together and run some cars. I'll take my Trackmate power supply over and my HO "race" boxes.

Bob Weichbrodt
[email protected]
W-S, NC


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## Ovalhead (Nov 20, 2010)

Good to hear from you Bob, hope you are enjoying the holidays.
Thanks for the research, looking forward to your findings. 

Tell Steve :wave:.

Cliff


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## cbwho (Dec 14, 2021)

So reading thru this old thread, 1/8 router bit can cut a groove for both HO and a 1/32 track. I'm thinking of a 3 lane HO track with 45 mm spacing shaped like a closed W or a Pac-Man. 

For tape spacing, care must be taken to choose a tape wide enough allow overlap of both the HO pickup area and the Scalextric rail? What's the spacing on that? How wide of tape?

"Be sure to use a straight cut bit instead of an upcut."


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## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

I have raced on several if Ed Bianchi's slider tracks and those have 1/8th inch wide slots. Ed's tracks are braided, if they had rails the wide slots could cause a problem unless a wider guide is used.
If you fuss a little with regular HO pickup shoes they can work well on a track with braid, but you could have problems with a taped track. On a taped track you might have to resort to using slide guides with your HO cars.


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