[johnsxr8]

Hi Everyone, just over 6 months ago i had about 25m of SSD plastic track and just settled in to my new home which came with a 9meterx6meter shed which was to become "Manland" and once setting about constructing my new permanent track and being used to running on 8 lane commercial tracks when i was a young fella the thought popped into my head that i would prefer a routed track over a plastic one so then i was left with some choices of how i would go about the build process. In being in a hurry to get something up and running i probably took the quicker option of inserting the plastic track into the MDF but i didnt use the whole piece of track when putting it in i only used from the sensor to the flipper the rest of track was cut off and discarded, thus allowing me to make a bigger crossover so the lane changing isnt as sharp. The track lane spacing is also 100mm except where the Powerbase and 4 XLC's are you will notice from the pics down some of the straights the lane spacing reduces to the digi parts then steps back out of which is unnoticable when driving whilst giving better room between cars going through the corners, i have all the aftermarket upgrades, PBProSH, PitPro and SSD Console and a Manson SPS9250 25 amp 0-15.5v variable Power supply i havent measured the track but estimate somewhere between 28-30m long and the longest straight at 4.1m.

Here is a couple of pics of the construction of the base which is 5.1mx2.4m

Here is some pics of the routing process, you will notice some of the corners on the flat part of the table have numerous radius changes, none of the raised corners have radius changes though.

Heres a few showing one XLC inserted, builders bog was used fill any gaps and achieve a fine layer over the top of plastic piece, sorry i dont have any pics of MDF cut out before putting in plastic piece

A shot of the pit entry Flipper

After having some paint applied

First night video testing a Porsche 911 GT3 (wasnt my best driving as i was filming at the same time)
First Night Video

6 person driver station is now constucted so people can just walk up and plug there controllers in without having to plug in and out of the powerbase all the time its only undercoated atm but will get painted up as scenery progresses.

This is what the track is looking like atm and i will post more pics as i start to progress with the scenery

Cheers John

 

[ultrabeeaat]

Nice! Does it work the half plastic lane changer? In the future i want a wooden digital track. This is a perfect solution...

 

[johnsxr8]

QUOTE (ultrabeeaat @ 30 Dec 2010, 23:55) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Nice! Does it work the half plastic lane changer? In the future i want a wooden digital track. This is a perfect solution...

Thanks, the half changer is the pit entry and was a plastic pit entry till i cut it up

 

[thekop]

What kind of cables did you use for the driver stations?

 

[johnsxr8]

QUOTE (thekop @ 31 Dec 2010, 02:45) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>What kind of cables did you use for the driver stations?

I just brought some wire from my local electronics store, but i did a test one first with speaker wire and it worked also

 

[raikkonen_webber fan]

nice track
i saw in a few of your pics a car that i love
and are you flooded in up your end of our small country

 

[johnsxr8]

QUOTE (raikkonen_webber fan @ 4 Jan 2011, 08:31) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>nice track
i saw in a few of your pics a car that i love
and are you flooded in up your end of our small country

Thanks, we are pretty lucky in the SE corner of QLD we had a fair bit of rain over Christmas but but not as much as the poor people in the Central, West and North of the state, theyve had some big floods over the years but none as big as this.

 

[BB ENSCA]

This is making me think I need to start a thread about the new ENSCA club track. Your techniques are exactly what we plan to use and seeing it in action (LC's particularly) is very helpful.

Is it 12mm MDF?

The frame looks strong - I guess the weight is substantial. We need to make a frame which has trolley wheels on. The track will be 6m x 8m and stored under a stage at our local Village Hall (community centre).

Have you attached the MDF to the frame directly?

It looks great!

Thanks,
Ben

 

[johnsxr8]

Thanks Ben, was going to use 12mm MDF and paid for 5 sheets of 12mm and they gave me 16 mm, i wasnt going to complain, 12mm would be ok still and probably be a lighter table overall, i wanted to make sure table was strong and not planning on moving it anywhere soon i chose to make the frame out of steel. If i had put wheels on all legs of the table i would see no problem in having it move around. Yes quite a few screws were used nailing the MDF to the Frame. Yes all lane changers work a treat and the changing over is a little better as i have routed a longer cross section than the scaley one so the cars change over a little smoother.

 

[BB ENSCA]

I've put something together about our plans - I guess you've seen the post. Keep the pictures coming, I'm a visual learner!!

 

[Slotrace.dk]

Looks good, but how about arranging the picture under each other?

 

[thekop]

Ahhh I wish you had some pictures on how you did with your Xlc´s and your pit in. I don´t know if I can do it. Pretty expensive if it doesn´t work.

 

[MrFlippant]

Spectacular routed SSD track. One to watch and refer to, to be sure. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Chip of FDSC]

wow!! beautiful and exciting.... one to definitely watch.

my only small tiny criticism is that the straight lane changes could have been a tad longer for a smoother lane change

 

[johnsxr8]

Thanks for the nice comments guys. The XLC's are larger than the scaley ones just probably hard to tell from photos. Also for the guys that are a little worried i was a little too, but looking back at it wasnt that hard when marking out my track i placed the digital pieces where i wanted them to go, i placed them there and drew around the plastic piece and then drew on all the other detail of the XLC so basically i could see an xlc drawn on to the mdf, once routing begins rout all the track except the digital areas then when ready to do digital area change to a bigger router bit (i used a 20mm) and set it to go no deeper than 1mm more than the thickness of an XLC dont be worried if you take away more of the mdf than just the digital area you can fill that in with bog later, once area is routed out sit digital piece in place lining the slots up on the plastic piece with you routed slots if the plastic piece is sloppy in the area you routed you might want to use a couple of screws around the outside edge to help pin it while applying bog( avoid screwing through the centre of plastic piece i did this to a new XLC and after painting and copper taping the track i had 2 flippers not working after removing back out of the table it showed 2 severed wires from the screw i put in the centre, was and easy fix but a pain to rebog and repaint) just before applying the bog lay some good tape over the rails and flippers then sand back till tape is just starting to expose through the bog once smooth that area is good to be painted. The same principal applies for the PB and Pit Pro. It does sound a little daunting but believe me it wasnt that hard and when it is completed it is even more worth it. Also Slotrace the photos are in order of the build process how else am i going to get them in order?

 

[FZSsemans®]

wow what a track. missed it a couple of times, but this layout is gorgeous! stunning!

 

[The Doctor]

That really is looking a nice piece of work

 

[johnsxr8]

QUOTE (FZSsemans® @ 10 Jan 2011, 21:26) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>wow what a track. missed it a couple of times, but this layout is gorgeous! stunning!

QUOTE (The Doctor @ 10 Jan 2011, 21:31) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>That really is looking a nice piece of work

Cheers, thanks for the positive comments, i hope it looks even better once the scenery is complete

 

[SSD slotguy]

Nice track, love the way it hangs over the edge.

 

[FZSsemans®]

QUOTE (johnsxr8 @ 16 Jan 2011, 14:03) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Cheers, thanks for the positive comments, i hope it looks even better once the scenery is complete

bit OffTopic, but how is it going in the city? heard about the flood ........... bad time!