[John Clinch]

Completely new to slot cars and table design and construction and materials recommended. This track will be setup and left setup as permanent, as for scenery well I thought so but for now I want to concentrate on the track and the table.

Trying to work out what timber and materials I should use to construct the table. MDF or Ply? Thickness?

I have uploaded some images of the Ply which I think would be better than MDF as it doesn't fall apart. Just unsure about the thickness of the base board, e.g. 9mm, 12mm, 19mm etc.

Not all ply is the same, as you can see in the images provided there is one that has large knots which I don't think will be sufficient for use, I could be wrong on this though.

I also am looking at the saw horse/s to mount the table on. Hopefully someone can provide me some direction with this.

Thanks

Johnno

P.S. A quick check on Bunnings.com.au for these items locates the following (included are the url's for the items):

Project Panel 900 x 600 x 9mm Premium Grade Radiata Plywood

https://www.bunnings.com.au/project-panel-1200-x-900-x-7mm-premium-grade-radiata-plywood_p0390147

Project Panel 1200 x 600 x 9mm Premium Grade Radiata Plywood

https://www.bunnings.com.au/project-panel-900-x-600-x-9mm-premium-grade-radiata-plywood_p0390148

Project Panel 1200 x 900 x 7mm Premium Grade Radiata Plywood

https://www.bunnings.com.au/project-panel-1200-x-600-x-9mm-premium-grade-radiata-plywood_p0390149

And the sawhorse to sit the table on:

Craftright Folding Bench n' Vice

https://www.bunnings.com.au/craftright-folding-bench-n-vice_p5860871

Craftright Folding Metal Leg Saw Horse

https://www.bunnings.com.au/craftright-folding-metal-leg-saw-horse_p5710162

Craftright Folding Saw Horse - 2 Pack

https://www.bunnings.com.au/craftright-folding-saw-horse-2-pack_p5828526

 

[ranger0283]

Routing your track or using plastic on top? If routing MDF, if plastic track then ply is my guess. I never routed a track, and I overbuilt my table with 3/4 inch plywood for most of it on a 2x4 frame and 2x4 legs. Oh and if you are doing scenary later, you can safe some cash using B\C plywood.

Sandy

 

[John Clinch]

Opps my bad, sorry for that. I will be using plastic track specifically starting with current Scalextric ARC ONE Pro Platinum Digital C1374 set. I am also yet to design a track which I hoping someone here can help me with (garage is 7m L x 3m W that is wall to wall).

So you went with 19mm ply, is that just for extra strength or price? I was thinking either saw horses (with a frame around the ply table) or at least 2x3 timber for the legs.

Thanks for quick reply. appreciate it.

 

[MrFlippant]

Like he said, he overbuilt it. With proper framing, you can go as thin as 1/4". But don't splash out on ply if you're going to be covering it up with anything. I forget what it's called in other countries, but in the states, there's a cheap sheet ply called OSB. It looks like chips of wood glued and pressed into a sheet... because it is. It's strong and cheap, but ugly. Unless you're planning to walk around on the table, you don't need more than 1x2 or maybe some 1x3 framing elements. At most, 2x4 for the legs. There are a lot of framing techniques that can be used, but since the weight will be pretty low, you can just wing it. If you want to use workhorses for supports, just get the cheapest ones. They'll be plenty strong enough

What size table were you looking to build? How large is your room for the table?

 

[John Clinch]

How do you mean if I plan on covering it up? Do you mean such as painting or laying that artificial grass? There will be no walking on the table perhaps a little leaning to re-slot cars but this will be discouraged.

Yeah I posted some sawhorses on the original post which I thought would be sufficient.

As for table size that will be purely based upon the garage size which is 7m long (roller door to rear wall) x 3m wide (left wall to right wall) obviously there would need to be room for standing/sitting/walking around the table/track so I guessing at minimum 1metre to be removed from the garage size, I assume 1metre would be sufficient walking/movement space.

Sorry to be asking silly questions, being new here I would like to get things setup correctly from day one. I am thinking the table itself will be in small sections to allow dismantling for moving one day such as sizes being 120x90 each sub-table, does this make sense?

 

[MrFlippant]

Yes to all that.

But, I thought it was to be permanent, so didn't even consider small pieces. If that's what you want to do, then I would definitely recommend checking out the J-Trak concept. You should be able to find the thread and tracks built using that concept in this forum. RacingSnake and JasonB started it all. They even made a whole web site for it.

 

[John Clinch]

I found the J-Trak thread, thanks for the heads up with that. Smaller sections were mentioned only from the view that if I need to move it such as moving house, the 8x4 board will be extremely heavy and awkward to move, so having smaller boards would make it so much easier especially for one person to move. The track will be permanently setup and not moved, doesn't hurt to think ahead in case.

 

[Billy_Cart]

Hi John, welcome to the Forum and Digital slot car racing

You mentioned Bunnings so I assume your here in Oz, our layout is on a base of 4 tables each being 2400Lx900Wx20D which I got from Bunnings along with some cheapish ($19 from memory) folding legs that just screwed into the bottom of the table boards. (2 per table so 8 legs in total but they came in packs of 2 each)

The tables are just pushed together to created a 4.8m x 1.8m layout and from memory I got the table sheets from the flooring section in the timber area.

Overall it was a pretty cheap setup and the saw horse option was going to be dearer when I was doing this back in 2007, also I am glad I went with the 20mm thickness as there has been no bowing.

Hope this helps.

PS. You can check out our layout via the link in my signature.

 

[Retread]

I don't know whether this thread is still active or not but I'd just like to thank all who contributed as I was going down the path of saw horses for the plywood. And then I read about using using table legs and it was like a thermonuclear light globe went off above my head.

Like the original poster I live in Australia and Bunnings will be my port of call.

This is going to be an AFX set-up which I'll be adding to my pre-existing track from twenty years ago. I'll be allocating 3.2 by 1.2 metres for the track and board. This will allow room for at least 60 foot of track and I'll still have room for landscaping. I'll be going for 3 sheets of 1.2 x 60cms and having two "tables" side by side and I'll extend the length with another sheet to over three metres.

Would 9 mms thickness plywood be thick enough to do the job?

Again much obliged for all your knowledge.

 

[Laudafan]

Table for track layouts

I admit, I am totally inept and tools hate me...truly! LOL I have been looking at tables here and they all seem homemade! They look very strong and sturdy. What size are the tables? I know there are more than one placed next to each other and can be moved around to cover any track layout...

www.slotforum.com

 

[RichD]

You have not said if you might want to run club style races on your track. In that case people would be likely to bump into the tables from time to time. You could clamp or bolt the tables together to avoid having to repair the track in the middle of a race.

 

[Retread]

Thanks for the reply. It's just going to be for my friends and I and as a personal hobby. I've since decided on a table tennis table which is going in next week and I'll then lay some felt on the top of the table. That will give it a grass like finish as well as soaking up a lot of the noise.

The whole setup is going into the back half of a converted garage (it was once a granny flat) and I figure I could lay up to 18 metres (60 foot) of track.

My wife suggested I get the track going again and she thought I'd put a figure eight on a coffee table. I had other ideas and after a few clashes she gave in to my idea of something a little bigger.

For a bit of a hoot I'm also thinking of getting a couple of semi trailers (vintage Tyco or AFX/Aurora) and racing them as well. I guess you should see that as applying skill instead of speed.

Much obliged for your response, I greatly appreciate it.