# Rail height



## L_Brown (Nov 12, 2010)

I was wondering, does anyone have the rail height info for the different track manufacturors such as Tommy, Tyco, Max tack and so on.


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## brownie374 (Nov 21, 2007)

Tko-.015


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## SwamperGene (Dec 1, 2003)

Because we measure in thousandth's, which is a super-tight tolerance, rail height for any track is never a given. Plastic (set) track varies the most, I've seen .009 to .015...sometimes on the same layout. Routed plastic is usually a bit tighter at +/- .001 from average. I've seen Maxx's with averages of .013, .014, and .015. Same goes for Wizztracks. My own track is .014-.016 and it's too high to run cars that were set up for a TKO, so not all TKO's are .015. I think even Bowman advertises his height as a .003 range, like for .012 it would be .011-.013.


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## brownie374 (Nov 21, 2007)

Some TKOS are .010 I should have said mine is .015 and so are others. I had a choice but I picked .015 because it is close to tomy


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## L_Brown (Nov 12, 2010)

The reason I asked is because the local track is a max track, in the past when I set one up for that track it would not work on my tyco track. The rails are to tall on the Tyco. Want to try and get something for home that will match up with out having to spend big bucks for one of those.


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## cwbam (Feb 8, 2010)

more steel , more magnetic pull , may also be happening


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

You can tap the rails down on the Tyco track or any of the plastic track, with a wood block. I used a feeler gauge to measure the height and then super glue the rails from the bottom of the track. Both of my Tomy AFX tracks are .015" in rail height. It's been up and running since 2007 and even with neo cars, my rails are still sitting at .015. It's a lot of work but worth the effort in how smooth the track runs and consistency of performance of your cars.

-Paul


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Wow, great tip Paul.
My Tomy track rails were anywhere from too high for a cars to pass over,
to flush with the track surface. I had to do some adjusting, well, a lot of adjusting
to get them anywhere near smooth.


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## pshoe64 (Jun 10, 2008)

Like I said it's a lot of work. A little metal file work was necessary at a couple of the joints too. My oval is 44 foot, 4-lane and the road course is 54 foot 4-lane. I took about 2 months of patience to get it where I wanted it. But it's great to run on now. Maybe I'll do another routed track some day. Might be easier??? 

-Paul


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

Most versions of the MaxTrax have a wider and thicker rail than any plastic set track so you get a lot more downforce than with just about any other widely available manufactured track. I cannot imagine finding a single setup for a magnet car that would work equally well on both a Max and a Tyco. The only thing they have in common is the shallow slot depth. Other than that they are worlds apart.


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## brownie374 (Nov 21, 2007)

I have raced on a couple of tomy tracks that were a work of art.Some guys have a real knack for them and can make em super smooth.I did alot of work to mine and I was never happy with it,I just dont have the patientce


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## Boosted-Z71 (Nov 26, 2007)

I agree about the amount of work needed to get a "good" racing Tomy / Plastic track. I soldered all my joints, Glued track together & added power taps & spent countless hours shimming, filing both track & joints, I also had some pieces of track that the rail was too deep, so I had to carefully pry the rail up, glue & reset as was mentioned. For a rail setting tool I took a Delrin (tuff plastic) block just a little wider than the 2 rails, cut slots for the rails @ .015 deep & used this as my gauge & rail setting tool. It is possible to get a very good plastic track but it takes patience & some elbow grease.

Boosted


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## sjracer (May 25, 2008)

My TKO dragstrip rail height should be the same height as Tomy. Todd asked me about the rail height and I checked with usdra( who races dr.hoe rules) about this issue. He informed me that his Brad Bowman dragstrip is the same height as Tomy.


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

Don't forget to consider rail width and rail material: 

Magnetic attraction is proportional to the number of lines of magnetic flux that pass through the rail, which varies by the width of the rail. 

Magnetic attraction is also proportional to how easily the rail is magnetized, i.e., the magnetic permeability of the rail. The magnetic permeability varies between different rail materials.


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