Anybody route their own wood slot car track?

[berettafan]

Has anyone here routed their own wood track for 1/32 slot cars? i will be setting a track up in my garage this spring but space concerns have me thinking a wood track might be a better option (and a fun project with my 3 1/2yr old).

Also, do the magnets still work to some degree on a wood track w/ copper tape?

[nota]

Originally Posted by berettafan

Has anyone here routed their own wood track for 1/32 slot cars? i will be setting a track up in my garage this spring but space concerns have me thinking a wood track might be a better option (and a fun project with my 3 1/2yr old).

Also, do the magnets still work to some degree on a wood track w/ copper tape?

magnets need iron /steel not copper to get a good grip
I guess you get a little from the current field from the tape
but not alot try a test bit and see how much
so no not unless you add a plate under the wood
thin sheet steel just under the track should work

I raced the commercial tracks back in the 60's fad days
fun but cheap RC is more fun and no need for a track
any flat space will do

[looneybin]

there is a track at the local hobby shop here that is made of wood, but the contact surface is a steel woven tape (looks like braided steel hose that's been flattened)

[berettafan]

okay, steel woven tape sounds like the ticket then if i want the little guy to be able to play.

[Aerkuld]

I used to race at a club with a wooden track and copper tape pick-ups. Magnets do absolutely nothing for you, as nota says. You will also find that you will need to do a few small modifications to the cars to make them work well on a wooden track. I think this is due to the harder, less forgiving surface compared to a pliable plastic scalextric type track. If I recall, we used to take off the car body, add a spot of superglue to the axle bushings to hold them in the car to cut down on vibration, sand the tires round and square to the track, then replace the bodies but leave the screws slightly loose so that the body has a small amount of free float on the chassis. A small square of tape on the screw hole helps to prevent the screw falling out and getting stuck in your motor. A routed wooden track is fantastic to race on but the copper tape needs fairly regular attention.

Personally, I've just bought a Carrera track which is hard, rigid plastic with stainless steel pick-ups which is a good compromise. The digital set-ups will allow you to race multiple cars (6 cars on the Carrera digital 132) on just two lanes with lane changing ability on special sections of the track. This really seems as though it will make the multi-lane layouts redundant.

[strupgolf]

Aerkuld, could you provide a link to the track set-up you just bought, it sounds like fun.

[Aerkuld]

Originally Posted by strupgolf

Aerkuld, could you provide a link to the track set-up you just bought, it sounds like fun.

Try this...

http://www.hotslots132.com/carrera-digital-132-a-72.html

...there is a good deal of information on this site. You could check E-bay and compare prices but the prices from this place are generally pretty good.

Of course the disadvantage of the track is that you are initially limited to their own brand of digital cars but I will be investigating the possibility of buying the in-car digital converter circuit and adding it to some of my existing cars. I was also considering the possibility of setting the track up in a way that I can switch out the digital lane change sections and run a conventional two lane analog set-up if I want.

One last comment. As a guy who grew up with a old school Scalextric set or three, I have to say that the Carrera track is leagues ahead in terms of quality. It appears to be well thought out, well built, and uses much more sturdy materials. It is definitely less 'toy' feeling than Scalextric, but you do seem to pay for that.

[Aerkuld]

Here you go...



This is my boys racing on our track this afternoon. I know there is a Police car in the middle of a LeMans grid but my youngest likes the flashing lights!

Two of these cars are being controlled by the boys while the other four are running around at a fixed speed under control of the computer. When you're driving you can change lanes at the two special track sections under the bridge. To do this there is a button on the front of the throttle controller that you press and hold on the approach to these sections. This lights what appears to be an infrared LED on the underside of the car which is picked up by a receiver on the track which activates a mechanism in the track which is similar to a set of points on a model railway. The computer controlled cars will lane change at random which can make things interesting. It is a lot of fun trying to manouever around the slower cars, picking the right lane that will get you past only to have it change right in front of you to hold you up for another lap.
This definitely adds a whole new dimension to slot car racing. I have two additional controllers on order that will allow four cars to be human controlled so I can race the two boys.