405 replies to this topic

[Steve Ogilvie]

Prepping the floor for cutting                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Setting the cutter up. The aluminum rails I am using now are stiffer than the old rails so I use a sliding bar clamp to hold it in position while I drill pilot holes and screw the head in position. This is a really old router and the switch is broken so it turns on as soon as you plug it in. Too cheap to buy a new one.

 

[Steve Ogilvie]

Shape cut inside and outside. This cutter is very accurate. It may look crude but it works and is not hard to make. A easier to make version is one without the embedded steel down the centre, just drill holes in the MDF. But with the metal strip the holes can be threaded for quick changing of the guide pin.

With the shape up on saw horses, you can see that the sheet of mdf is still intact. This allows for accurate marking of the corner edges and easy marking of where the leg supports will go, because your radius hole is still in place. Corner is measured by taping a narrow tape measure to the outside of the piece and running it around the corner to the circumferance according to the plan. Or in this case to get an accurate measurement of the piece I just cut because I know a portion of this corner is going to have be added to the straights it will connect too.

[Marcus P1 Raceway]

I'm looking for someone to replace the braids on my track.
I am located in Winter Garden- FL.
Any recommendations? Thanks Marcus

[Steve Ogilvie]

Donn Bryans 386 756 6564. We worked with Donn for a long time, his shop is near Daytona.

[Steve Ogilvie]

Getting a couple of hours a day in cutting the track sections. Yesterday I cut the 2 straights that lead in and out of the 8' bank turn. Took longer than normal because I decided to make both pieces out of 1 sheet of mdf. So quite a bit of time spent laying it all out. Each straight has a small curve at one end to complete the 8' bank turn.

 The 8' turn ready for assembly:

 

 Whenever I cut straights, I use a circular saw wth a long straight edge clamped or screwed to the work. Saw is a worm gear drive Makita, I can stack 4 sheets of mdf together and clamp a straight edge on and cut 4 pieces at once with it. As long as the blade is nice and sharp.

I should have all the pieces cut out today. Then I can use the off cuts to make L brackets for supporting the legs and sidewalls.

[Revtor]

Thanks for the walk through,Steve! Keep it coming!

[Steve Ogilvie]

So I now have the whole track cut out.

 

 

Out of the 10 sheets of mdf, I have 3 full sheets  left, one sheet cut roughly in half and a lot of off cuts. Hoping it will be enough to make all the legs and all the L brackets and some of the sidewalls.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

Next step is to clean up and organize the shop to make all the support pieces.

[Steve Ogilvie]

Because a lot of the tech details are buried in this rather lengthy thread, I thought I would put the math used to calculate corner circumference and radius here.

 

First thing is you need to make an accurate scale drawing of your track. Mark all the corner diameters and the degree of the corner on the drawing.

 

Figure out your circumference by multiplying pi times the diameter of curve in inches. This gives the circumference of a full 360 degree circle in inches. Divide the full circle in inches by 360=length of 1 degree in inches. Multiply that by the amount of degrees of the corner and that gives you the corner circumference. So pi times D is divided by 360 and then multiplied by corner degrees=corner circumference.

 

The cut circumference of a corner is the SAME whether the corner is flat or banked. A corner gets banked because it's radius has been increased, nothing else changes.

 

So radius of a bank turn is as drawn radius of turn divided by the cosine of the degrees of banking=radius the turn must be cut at. You have an 8 foot diameter turn you want to bank at 10 degrees the radius is cut at 48.74". Since it isnt that critical I would just call that 48 3/4".

 

The dimension that is critical is the circumference. Get a 1/2 or 5/8" wide tape in the longest you can find to measure circumference. I use red tuck tape to hold the tape in place because it is nice and sticky. After a while it will destroy the tape measure. This tape is on for reference only. A 1" tape will not go around an 8 foot diameter curve without buckling.

 

 

An easy way to convert decimals to fractions without using a calculator:

 

 

Just open it till your decimal is up on the display and then measure it with a tape. Mostly I try to work to a 32nd but realistically it is wood marked with a pencil so if you are within a 1/16 you are doing pretty well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Steve Ogilvie]

Today I set up an ancient Makita Warrior:

 

 

Bought in 1988. Did a lot of cutting on the table saw, making all the pieces that go in to the joints. Got my dado blade set installed in the saw and made the channels for the locator tongues in the squared up 2X4's I cut a couple of weeks ago. This is just a cheap set I picked up on sale, I saved the extra shims from the Freud set that belonged to the business. Without the shims, I would not have been able to cut a slot the perfect size for the tongue. I think Freud sells packets of these shims if you need that extra accuracy.

 

 

 

I never used dimensional construction lumber to build tracks. I invented a variety of T&G joints, originally using #1 pine and then using all mdf joints. I did not like how the pine was just not dry enough to have complete faith in its stability. And 2X4's twist and shrink and warp so for a commercial track an mdf joint is best. For this track I am making do with 2X4's because that is what most hobby builders will end up using. This joint when it is done will be a double tongue and groove joint and should work well on a small track like this. Tomorrow I will bolt together the basic joint, plane the tops flat and put the top plates on.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Zippity]

Do you glue the tongue into either piece of 2x4 or is it just a tight fit into both?

[Steve Ogilvie]

The tongue is glued in to one of the 2x4''s. I try to put a bead of glue on each side of the slot and tap the tongue in with a rubber mallet. I did that today. I will put them together tomorrow with the support pieces.

 

 

These pieces have not been slotted yet but the joint will look roughly like this  The top plate will be put on solid, then split to form another tongue with the track surface attached.

   

[Steve Ogilvie]

This is one of the MDF joints that I invented and was the one we used the most.

 

 

The top and bottom pieces were cut after gluing and stapling them on to the centre piece. To make sure the joint would come apart after the glue hardened, pieces of thin clear packing tape covered the area under the tongues before the glue was applied. Also the inner faces of the centre block were oiled to prevent glue that has seeped down in to that area from sticking the block together. 

[Steve Ogilvie]

Worked today mostly on joint blocks.They are now assembled and  planed, I will put the top layer of mdf on tomorrow. It was sunny out in the early afternoon so being a green fabric shed it was nice and warm for working. But by 3:30 it was snowing and too cold to do any gluing.

 

I do the bulk of gluing with a small paint roller:

 

Shed is getting really crowded. Had to borrow my brother Bob's thickness planer. Usually he is always borrowing my stuff. If you look close you can see the planed stack of joints in there somewhere.

 

 

Hopefully it will be sunny tomorrow. I want to work on this track every day if possible.

[Steve Ogilvie]

Some more photos, a bolted joint and my high tec oiling tool and a stick I always make up so I make sure the bolts do not end up under a slot.

 

 

 

 

 

[MattD]

Dang Steve, this thing doesn't need to outlast the pyramids!!!

[Steve Ogilvie]

Too cold to work in the shed today. It has turned back in to winter in Bruce County.

 

 

 

 

 

[Eddie Fleming]

I don't blame you for staying in the house.

 

Keep up the track work when you can. You are giving great information.

 

Thank You.

[Revtor]

I like that bike track in the background!!!
And thanks for giving ideas about track joints. My track table has to be built in sections, this is giving me some ideas..

[Steve Ogilvie]

Thanks for all the comments. Everybody thinks the bike track is ours but it belongs to a neighbour. The cottagers don't like the noise but we find it fun when they have a big group out and we can sit on our deck and watch the action. Hasn't been too busy there for about 5 years now since the owner got married and started a family. The sun came out after lunch and melted all the snow and it got T shirt warm in the shed so I got the tops on the joints. Only got up to 2 C outside though.

[MSwiss]

I like that bike track in the background!!!
And thanks for giving ideas about track joints. My track table has to be built in sections, this is giving me some ideas..

Steve's tracks go back together nicely.

I put the King he made for Koford Engineering, back together, twice.

I was impressed enough, I replicated that triple tongue and groove, made with all 1/2" MDF cutoffs, on both of the tracks I made for my raceway.

I don't have any pics of them apart, but they are 5 alternating fingers tall, 6 counting the track surface.

[Steve Ogilvie]

Thanks Mike. The stacking joint was a ton of work so after using it for about 20 tracks I designed the joint in the drawing above and although it didn't have the wow factor of the triple stacked joint, it could be made a lot faster and is a bit stronger in the cross ways direction. So yesterday I got the tops of the joints taped, glued and stapled on to the planed blocks.

 

    This joint has a 4 1/2" top width and it gets offset a bit so when I split the joint on the table saw it rides on the edge of the mdf and not the bolt heads.

 

 

This shows a dry run of how everything will line up when track pieces are added to a finished joint.

 

 

Once I have a centre line measurement I use a trisquare to draw the lines on the tops.

 

[Steve Ogilvie]

I use a stanley knife with a new blade in it to cut the strapping tape in to a strip about 1/2" wide

 

 

The strip of tape 

 

 

The glued and stapled joint. I put a light coat of glue on the joint block and a heavy coat on the underside of the top plate. Using a heavy coat on the block tends to lift the strapping tape, and then you have to scrape the glue off and redo the tape. If you use red tuck tape that does not happen, but it is thicker.

 

 

Doesn't hurt to add a little weight while the glue drys:

 

 

 

[Steve Ogilvie]

Yesterday my oldest son Dan came over and he helped me clean up the shed, rearange things and cut up the offcuts in to to 3" strips to make support brackets

 

 

Stayed warm enough in the shed that I went out after dinner and started assembling the pieces in to L's.

 

 

 

Made up a temporary work table with a sheet of parchment paper taped on to do the gluing and stapling. Also I cut up enough triangles for about half the legs.

 

Featured Raceway - Elmsford Raceway

 

A blast from the past some of you might find interesting.

[Steve Ogilvie]

I have now completed the assembly of a piece, the over bridge straight and corner:

 

All edges get trimmed with this router and a straight edge. I bought this router in 1986, I think I have changed one set of brushes and put on 2 new base plates. Note the flats on either side, you cannot get a good edge without this type of base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a pic of a sliding bar clamp, bessey brand, made in Germany. They make two types, one with this set screw one without. Do not buy the one without the set screw. As they get old they slip.

 

Attached Images

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[Steve Ogilvie]

Another pic I meant to put in: 

 

 

I added these ribs for the overbridge area. We did the same sort of bracing on every section of all our 8 lane tracks starting about 1998 or so. We always had lots of offcuts to make strips out of so why not add strength for free.