Mag Racing Track Building

You used 22mm instead of what?
Instead of a 10mm gap between the infeed wire and the default straight-on wire?
Or instead of a 10mm space between the default straight-on wire and the catcher wire for wrong turns?
How long is your catcher wire?
What is the angle between the catcher wire and the default straight-on wire?

Are you building your track so you can run clockwise as well as counterclockwise?
Does the catcher wire touch the default straight-on wire where they converge? I don't think it needs to in order to work properly. If it touches, it won't work when the car is running in the opposite direction.

If by a "dual direction" LC you mean left, straight, or right, I suspect that a reliable one is possible.

I sure would like to see a diagram of the final version of your lane changers.

Thanks for sharing Drifter.

Hi Ned,
Yes dual direction = L&R
I've done a quick sketch ..please see link ..

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B36Kdw2NbE...iew?usp=sharing

The way it is, opposite direction to travel would not work without modification . But by having the catcher wire join the default rather than the way it presently is, should fix that without side effects. (I think)
The alt route just needs to angle over to the infeed to the left of the gap (as viewed on my sketch) for opposite direction of travel.

If the Catcher wire was replaced with another Alt route curving "down and away as viewed on sketch" this "should" create a L&R lane change. I will try when time permits.

It would be great if someone else could try this to see if it is repeatable.

Note slow speed on present set up (as per sketch) works fine for straight and alt route(LC). Wrong steer not tested slow.

Note the gap from end of leadin wire to start of catcher wire, measured horizontally is 9mm

I am trying to develop a method of track building which removes the need for routing. I have noticed that the cars stick well to a 0.1mm feeler gauge. It might be possible to go thinner than this, particularly if you use a larger magnet in the guide plate.

I am going to order some shim this week and try this out. 0.1mm shim steel is quite cheap when you buy it as a roll in a tin and can be cut with scissors. Shim stock in a tin is usually 6" wide x 100" long. As you are cutting this lengthwise in say 5mm wide strips you get a lot for your money (A tin is about £10.50). Also using the full width, by careful use, you can cut bends in quite long sections from the sheet which removes the need for "Pie Cutting" to turn a corner.

It would be a simple case of just gluing it to the baseboard. I believe with some textured paint it might be possible to hide this on the track without filling each side with paper. If this is required, ordinary A4 sheet paper is about 0.1mm thick.

Lane changing should be improved as there is no gap for the car to come adrift. see the image below.



The white lines in the image are an overlay of Drifter2's proposed wiring method. The shim design is shown in solid grey. As I can see it the plates should be functional in both directions and easy to lay. The force pulling on the car is also consistent as it operates across the whole width of the magnet. With a little more room for the wire follower to drift we may be able to add in two magnets one behind the other to give greater downforce for the heavier cars we are developing.

If this works it opens up many possibilities that I want to explore such as wide sections of steel shim track to give multiple racing lines, two way lane changing, T junctions and crossroads.

It would also be possible to have the lane changers laser cut in large quantities to a consistent design or even made using PCB / brass plate etching methods.

@Drifter2

I was thinking that I could just use a couple of drops of CA glue after every few inches, then cover the whole thing with either paper, or at first use white / yellow automotive masking tape. This has a nice rough texture to it and is available in very wide rolls (200mm etc.) I thought that this would be enough to test it out and be removable should I have problems. If its OK it may take paint directly over the top.

Late last weekend I did a quick test with some 12mm wide x 1mm thick self adhesive steel. I pie cut a corner section and built a simple lane change very crudely shaped. It actually worked really well and the lane change worked without fault. If the shim method is as good a that it will be a real winner and really quick to do.

I have also been looking around for some 0.1mm thick strip on a reel. The narrowest I have found is 1/2". If anyone finds some about 5mm wide on a roll let me know. Just google for "Feeler Stock" and you get a few suppliers. Feeler stock is more expensive though as it has a controlled and measured thickness.

@Ned
Yes I believe it would work. Nickel is even one of the few materials that is also magnetic. 3mm wide x 0.1 thick is probably what I would try if I were going to buy some as the wider strip when used and the cars drift left and right on a straight a little. I don't think you could bend it, but you could cut it in say 60mm long sections and go around the bends "Facet" style. I have noticed that the outside of the bend needs to have no gaps at all when doing this, so cut them at an angle or overlay them a little to get a continuous outer edge. I also have a few crossovers on my track and on a few sections I just laid the tape one over the other and that doesn't cause any problems.

As for covering the steel strip, I don't think Kapton would work. I use it a lot on my 3D printer and I am not sure it would take paint that well, but it does stick down with some force . I would try super glue for the steel or some general contact adhesive then maybe one layer of paper mache using newspaper or pain A4 glued down with wallpaper paste. I like this as it is easy to take up again if you want to change things about a bit.

By the way if we get this working and get the steel to glue well, maybe it might be possible to do a track that could roll up for storage. Would a track made on linoleum work?

More progress this weekend.
I managed to get the shim track down and painted. It works very well and it is hard to see the shim under the paper. I used ordinary A4 sheet straight over the top and I think with newspaper ripped roughly in smaller sections this could be improved. Here is a close up. The shim runs from top to bottom between the two black dots. Some sections of the track you cannot see it at all. Perhaps textured paint would be better than the emulsion I had to hand.


I have also had some success with the lane changing design. As a few here are finding, a gap in the wire is actually better than a change plate as long as you can contain any wrong turns. Here is what I am using at the moment. It is very reliable. I have extended the gap to 30mm, but with the wider shim I believe you could go much more than that to get even more reliability. Even if you steer the wrong way, the deviation from straight is hardly noticed.

It looks a little complex, but I have made myself a template using plastic card. I mark the shim using a CD marker pen through the template and then cut the sections with scissors. It is proving very quick to do. The design above also lends itself to a two direction lane change by using the same shaped pieces.

I built around 6 tracks for the original 686mhz system cars and now 2 more so far for the new 2.4g cars.

I have tried all methods so far considered for track building but there is only one method I would now use and that is to lay straight lengths of piano wire directly to a smooth baseboard and then infill flush with either grey board (cardboard) or plaster. I returned to the board system with this track but I have made several modifications to the wire routes, as always happens, and the card is more difficult to cut out insitue than plaster so overall I think plaster (ready mixed) is better.

This track was really designed for 1/24 cars but I am liking the new 1/32 cars better on it. See you tube video. The wider run-off areas make driving back on to the track very easy.

Wire is 1mm. I have used thinner wire but 1mm is also about right for 1/24 cars.

Further to my last post, I have persevered with 1/24 cars and now have 4 cars running very well. All using Flysky 2.4g radio which seems excellent. 3 cars have 2 amp escs without brake (no problem) and one uses Martin Prices rx/esc board which has a fierce brake but just about acceptable with the larger and heavier 1/24 cars.

Tyres are low grip foam (drift!) at the rear and least possible grip at the front for best possible lane changing. The increased grip at the rear and the larger track radii means that the cars exit corners faster and reach higher speeds on the straights so overall speeds are proportionately faster than1/32, despite using the same motor.

Lightweight bodies are essential for serious racing and pics show my first 1/24 body. Cars use the CR123 li-ion which seems to run forever and is easier to buy than the AAAs used in the 1/32 cars.