My first digital wood routed track build

1237 Views 33 Replies 7 Participants Last post by njones11, 1 mo ago

njones11

Discussion Starter · 2 mo ago

Hi all,

I have had a blast with the plastic sport track but came to the conclusion that I really am ready to build a wood routed track. I finished modifying the table to slightly under 16'x8' which will give much more area than the 14.5'x6' previous size.

Table Wood Rectangle Floor Flooring

I plan on modifying the sensors similar to what johnsxr8 did here to allow wider spacing between tracks:

www.slotforum.com

North Bris Digital Routed Number 2

Hi Guys, I have been a little absent from forums over the last couple of years but now that I have moved house and got a shed back again I thought it was time to build a new track and fix up the mistakes I learnt from building my first routed digital track as 5 years of watching...

www.slotforum.com

www.slotforum.com

Probably going with 4" spacing on this track to allow the possibility of running 1/24 scale cars and the fact I already have a template 3d printed from Mr. Flippant spaced 3"/3.5" and 4" I think it makes sense at 4".

I'll be gutting all of the boards and flippers mounting into the MDF track. I put some modifications into this drawing that @Nolakers suggested and added a graph for imperial scale:

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I'm debating some of the curves but for the most part it will be similar to this with the overpass switched so the elevation is towards the middle of the track.

More details to follow as I get further along on this.

Regards,
Nate

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njones11

Discussion Starter · #2 · 2 mo ago

Shout out to @MrFlippant

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Chappy

· #3 · 2 mo ago

Looking forward to your progress sir.
It is an interesting layout and should provide a lot of hrs of enjoyment.
Cheers
Bob

GRUNZ

· #4 · 2 mo ago

Do you know where you are going to put lane changers?

njones11

Discussion Starter · #5 · 2 mo ago

GRUNZ said:
Do you know where you are going to put lane changers?

I have four of them to add, so probably wherever there is a straight section towards the end of each segment. Possibly one at the beginning of the straight leading to the pit entrance, but having this on my last track I had it too close to the pit lane change, so on this track there should be enough space to have it a short distance down the straight on that section. Could always disable the switch to the outside lane if that becomes a problem to allow that last chance to pit.

I wonder how far I could extend the wires to the sensors and solenoids to allow each lane changer to be in a different spot? It might be possible to have one at the end of the main straight to avoid an pit exit accident, and have the other on the track leading up to the pit entrance, but I don't know if its worth the chance that it won't work due to signal/voltage loss. Worst case is I have to buy another lane changer, but I'm trying to keep costs down at this point because I'm thinking about having a second pit lane. I have heard this can cause issues when pitting having cars potentially stall on the second switch so I'm still contemplating this. I could possibly power the switch if I could find a good guide for building the circuit for that.

That's probably enough to contemplate on the switching elements, I'll take any advice that anyone has on this.

I learned a lot from the last track though. The number one problem is putting an R4 right curve then a half straight, and then another R4 left curve leading to the short straight over the pit garages, then the opposite curve/straight/curve section and another short straight. This was done more from an aesthetic point of view than a drivability one. Definitely a frustrating section to drive through, so wood routed I can and will avoid any of that nonsense.

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jraggio

· #6 · 2 mo ago

Love the curve in the upper right. Very cool looking, almost a Nautilus / Fibonacci spiral.

How do lane changers work in routed track? The same as plastic track using the same buttons on the wireless controllers etc.?

GRUNZ

· #7 · 2 mo ago

jraggio said:
How do lane changers work in routed track? The same as plastic track using the same buttons on the wireless controllers etc.?

It really depends on how you put the lane changers in the rooted track.
Some, just embed the plastic piece others just the electronics.
The way in which the lane changers are operated then depends on the system you are using but most of the digital systems will have a dedicated button on their controllers.

njones11

Discussion Starter · #8 · 2 mo ago (Edited)

jraggio said:
Love the curve in the upper right. Very cool looking, almost a Nautilus / Fibonacci spiral.

How do lane changers work in routed track? The same as plastic track using the same buttons on the wireless controllers etc.?

Yes, it will operate the same. The advantage being how the crossover curve can be extended for smoother lane changes and placement options.

I think of a treble clef or violin headstock on that turn, being a music enthusiast and guitarist I dig it.

Reactions: 1

njones11

Discussion Starter · #9 · 2 mo ago

Well, I worked on this several hours last night. After reworking the curves several times because I forgot to accommodate the space needed for pit garages and the second pit lane, this is what I ended up with. I spaced the pit lanes an inch further in so there would be enough room for a divider, which I will route a slot for between the main straight and the pit lanes.

Any suggestions before I start cutting slots for this section? The space before the second pit lane switch is tight but I think it will work. I also heard that you can space the sensor a bit closer to the switch, so I might do that too. I marked x where I think the sensors should be located.

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Nolakers

· #10 · 2 mo ago

Pit buildings could be placed underneath the track, saving space, and giving you much better visibility. Check this out for inspiration

kelownaslotcar.com

MID-BC

kelownaslotcar.com

kelownaslotcar.com

njones11

Discussion Starter · #11 · 2 mo ago

Nolakers said:
Pit buildings could be placed underneath the track, saving space, and giving you much better visibility. Check this out for inspiration

MID-BC

kelownaslotcar.com

That's what I did on my last layout, however the plastic track had some abrupt kinks in the overpass which I did not care for. It is a great idea.

njones11

Discussion Starter · #12 · 2 mo ago

The first piece of track is cut, still need to do digital parts. I'm going to start the elevation at the turn to raise the main straight a couple of inches so I can set the power base flush with the track to eliminate the ARC Pro power base bump out while still leaving room around it for ventilation and access to the analog/digital switch, and will solder the power leads on the board to hide the cables. This will also help grade the elevation for the overpass which will be after the first wavy turn.

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Nolakers

· #13 · 2 mo ago

Wow, those are really clean cuts.
They do look a bit shallow though. I don´t know what depth you are running, but I really recommend 9 mm or roughly 1/3 inch, as this will clear almost all deep wood guides.
Again, I might be wrong.

Keep up the good work!

njones11

Discussion Starter · #14 · 2 mo ago

Nolakers said:
Wow, those are really clean cuts.
They do look a bit shallow though. I don´t know what depth you are running, but I really recommend 9 mm or roughly 1/3 inch, as this will clear almost all deep wood guides.
Again, I might be wrong.

Keep up the good work!

Yeah, I debated on the depth. due to the digital parts, the depth is around 6mm, which matches the sport track. I wasn't sure about recessing the switches into the track if I wanted to power them and didn't want to have a situation where the sensors would be too deep or get smashed. Also, my Bentleys have deeper guides which tend to scrape on the plastic track and they clear fine.

njones11

Discussion Starter · #15 · 2 mo ago

njones11 said:
Yeah, I debated on the depth. due to the digital parts, the depth is around 6mm, which matches the sport track. I wasn't sure about recessing the switches into the track if I wanted to power them and didn't want to have a situation where the sensors would be too deep or get smashed. Also, my Bentleys have deeper guides which tend to scrape on the plastic track and they clear fine.

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If anyone could advise me otherwise on the slot depth when using Scalextric digital components, please let me know.

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njones11

Discussion Starter · #16 · 2 mo ago

I just re-measured and its more like 6.5mm to 7mm, for some reason one slot was a little shallow. There seems to be some variance in the cut depth when using the plunge base.

njones11

Discussion Starter · #17 · 2 mo ago

I was able to dig that one out a bit to match the depth by using a stainless steel mini-ruler to gouge out, and a popsicle stick with 220 sandpaper. Worked great! So the slot depth is basically a little over 1/4".

Nolakers

· #18 · 2 mo ago

As long as you stick to OEM guides, you will be fine. Although wider and deeper wood guides really do help in keeping the car in the slot, and while its enough now, you dont want to be stuck with shallow guides.

If you can go deeper with the LC's still working, do it

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njones11

Discussion Starter · #19 · 2 mo ago

Nolakers said:
As long as you stick to OEM guides, you will be fine. Although wider and deeper wood guides really do help in keeping the car in the slot, and while its enough now, you dont want to be stuck with shallow guides.

If you can go deeper with the LC's still working, do it

Got it. Thanks @Nolakers for correcting me before I got too far on this. As it turns out, I was able to reposition the scrap piece and clamp it down, reusing the nail holes for the template. Worked beautifully, the slots are now going to be 5/16" deep. I'll figure out the digital parts later. Thinking I can just put a washer or two under the flippers if they present a problem. Also I'm hoping that the extra depth won't affect the sensors or the analog lane counters.

njones11

Discussion Starter · #20 · 2 mo ago

I'm having a bit of a frustrating evening, but there is hope. Unfortunately, after splicing the analog lap counter to widen the spacing, it stopped working after testing once. I can live without the analog counter, so just working on the digital one now. I was able to cut it and splice in wires with the 4" spacing, however when its inserted into the MDF track, it won't detect the car lap. I tested with a car hard wired to the power (because I don't have braid yet), and it will detect laps when the car is swiped by it when holding it up to the sensor board directly. There must be something going on with the depth, or the area around the lap counter sensor. It's fairly well masked off in the plastic track. When I routed out the MDF the area around the sensor got larger than I wanted, so suspecting something is going on with too much bleed through around the sensor. I'm thinking I'll have to drop in some hardwood and carefully cut out around the sensors, or bondo it and try the same.

What I was worried about was needing to place the sensor higher up than the slot depth, and having a car smash into it.

Does anyone have any ideas on this? I'm thinking its doable, and I should just keep on working routing the track and get the base figured out later.

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