51 replies to this topic

[Ten shirt]

Gentlemen,
 
My first post. New around here so pics are in order!
 
Here are some photos of my first try at track building...
 
This is kind of a "left overs" track. I've had a lot of nuts and bolts and lumber left over from other projects and am trying to incorporate as much of that in the build as possible. 
 
Basic layout
 

 
Legs attached
 

 
Pulling the bank
 

 
All attached
 

 
I wish I would have found this forum sooner... would have saved my some time and effort.
 
More later!

[HillbillyYart]

Looks great!!! I run SCRAM over in the Wenatchee area and race Retro over in Spokane. 

Hope to catch up with you and chat sometime!!!!

Hillbilly

[CoastalAngler1]

Welcome to Slotblog - folks here are extremely knowledgeable and will not keep secrets that save time and shorten your learning curve. It's not like you can take any classes for this hobby.
 
Wow! Looks great, wish you were in central Florida!

[Ten shirt]

Looks great!!! I run SCRAM over in the Wenatchee area and race Retro over in Spokane. Hope to catch up with you and chat sometime!!!

Hillbilly

 
I would love to chat and look forward to meeting. I've been told of your abundant skills!
 
I'm just finishing up painting right now.
 

 
What I'm really trying to wrap my wee brain around now is proper wiring and a power source.
 
How much power will I need for this track? Good and cost effective power source?
 

Wow!  Looks great, wish you were in central Florida!  

 
This winter I will, too!

[CoastalAngler1]

Folks here knows power systems, not me...I run at a private track with one 12v RV/Marine battery and it has LOTS of power.  Of course, drag tracks are standard at 16V, and most commercial tracks run around 14V.  Someone will chime in with great ideas for you I'm sure.  Paint looks Great!  

[Pappy]

Might be your first track but you obviously have a lot of woodworking skills. The track looks fantastic!
 
A 50 amp power pack should be plenty for your track. You can find them on eBay.

[Ten shirt]

Might be your first track but you obviously have a lot of wood working skills.

 
Butch, your track is amazing. I read that entire thread and was inspired. Sculpture! and original!
 
I built this with two routers a skill saw and a sander. I lost access to the wood shop I had used for other projects.  
 
To say I have a lot of skills would be generous. I am often impatient for finish work. A wooded boat builder I follow says he builds 50 ft boats. If it looks good from 50 feet stop sanding and go sailing!
 
There is a few things I would do different a second time. For example putting the sides up around the track took me a while to figure out a technique that worked well for me.  Lots of other things that just took me some time to think through.  

50amp power pack is what has been suggested to me. I know little of electrical work but can follow a diagram. Understanding the different variations of watts, volts, amps, etc., is what I need to learn. Switching, regulated, linear is a complete mystery. The different sizes, costs, and computer, medical, Ham radio, and audio is no more clear. I'm trying to learn now.

[MattD]

Great track.  The design is what I would like to shoot for one of these days.   Andy Smith has lots of info on his website, professor motor.com.   The following is some wiring info he has.      http://www.professor...egory-s/211.htm

There are probably some other good  internets sites with diagrams/instructions. 

 

I found some reasonable high amp power supplies on Ebay that work fine.   They were much cheraper than the Pyramid and other  supplies usually mentioned.   I will try to find  the lisitng again and email it to you.

http://www.ebay.com/...=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

[Dallas Jackson]

Great looking track; Bet you can't hardly wait to run on it..  What track control are you going to use?

 

Dallas

[Samiam]

This one is available:

 

http://slotblog.net/...timing-systems/

[Ten shirt]

What track control are you going to use?

 

 

We're working on that right now.  Checking out solutions in order of expense.  Trying out some Ipad apps right now.  Always looking for wisdom on solutions.  Learning about DC electric systems is part of the process and one of the reasons for building the track.

 

 

Budget for this project is the amount of money I can get that my wife doesn't notice.

 

Thanks for the complements and encouragement.  I can't wait to run the track.  I have not raced a slot car since Nixon was president.  I suppose I'm the only guy that owns a track and no cars!

 

[Samiam]

Kent,

 

Your track looks great. Check out the system for sale in the link in post #10.

 

If you need a car PM me. I'll mail you one. I have too many.  

[Pappy]

 
Butch, your track is amazing. I read that entire thread and was inspired. Sculpture! and original!
 
I built this with two routers a skill saw and a sander. 
 
 If it looks good from 50 feet stop sanding and go sailing!

Thanks for the compiment Kent but I have quite an advantage over you. I use to own a cabinet shop, I have a lot of tools and I've built about a dozen tracks. It's not hard to build a track with all that. I think you're doing great with the tools you have.

 

I use to build foodlines for a restaurant chain and the owner of the chain wasn't picky about attention to detail.  His motto was "you'd never see it from a galloping horse". 

[Ten shirt]

Butch,  I lost access to the wood shop I've used for 25 years.  My neighbor was a tool maker and inventor type with a big wood and metal shop who taught me alot and was always there for help.  He passed  away about a year ago and his widow has packed the shop full of stuff so it is unusable.  The big panel saw and big table saw and radial arm and shaper would have been really handy!

 

I should change my handle to "galloping horse", I'm trying to slow down and finish better.

 

Your track looks great. Check out the system for sale in the link in post #10.

 

 

 

Samiam,  we're talking about that right now... If I can afford it.

[Ramcatlarry]

A good timing system for home/club use is the trackmate (www.trackmateracing.com)  relay board is included, just have a dead strip or led lap counter and an old laptop OR desktop with a mouse.  Old SRT is DOS (no mouse needed) only and only older x86 motherboards accept the interface card.  Many newer and fancy $$$ systems are also around.

 

Power supply is somewhat dependent on which cars are used. If you only use homeset, then 5 amps per lane is fine with 18 ga wiring in taps.  If you really want to try to run the fastest cars made, you increase the track wiring up to 10/12 and ten to fifteen amps per lane.  On a small track, you only need taps in the straights.

[MarkH]

Another option for a scoring computer are the many refurbed HP Older desktops offered at New Egg like this one for $90 with Windows 7, 80gig HD and is 64 bit. It already has the correct serial port to plug in the relay board. If you are going to run more than one monitor, a powered video splitter can be had for under $15.

The one problem I have noticed with newer machines using the USB to Serial adapter is communications can be lost and need to be re-established. Sometimes this can be a real PIA. While it does not happen often, for $90 it is worth it to me.

 

The track looks good. I would like to see more of it. Please post additional photos.

[Ten shirt]

Sorry, I've been away for a couple of days.   

 

This is a purpose built track.  I built this with the idea of taking it to school for a series of exploratory classes at the 5-8 school where I teach.  I explained I was using a slot car track to my administration, if they thought it a little HO track is that my fault?  So I took over an empty portable as my new school speedway.  After kids see this there is no way they'll be able to make me move it!  

 

Yada Yada Yada Pics!

 

Moving

 

 

 

The new school speedway.

 

 

A better view of the classroom.

 

 

I'll write more about my school plans when I have time to organize my thoughts.  I will be seeking insight in how I can use my track to work with kids.

 

Kent

[Pappy]

Kent,

 

I would make them build Retro cars using brass and piano wire. I'd also make them rewind their own motors. They'd learn how to solder, measure in thousands of inches, form parts using grinders, drills, cut off wheels and paint bodies. They'd also learn what makes an electric motor work.

[Ten shirt]

That is kind of my idea.  I think we'll start building a basic kit then progress to more complicated electronics.  Scientific method is how I'll sell it to the school, I really just want to play slot cars at work!

[MattD]

For a high school physics class my daughter had a choice of various projects to build and then had to explain and show an example of how the simple project was used by people.   She/we picked the dc powered motor kit that a kid can build.   The kit was $5 or $10 bucks and ran off a battery.    For the demo of how  dc motors can be used, she took the little Monogram oval I had built to take to the Dolton slot show many years ago.  It was a wooden box, 2X2 and about 4 inches thick.   You opened the box and each side had track mounted in it that then slid together to make a small oval.  All the kids enjoyed it and they didn't want me to take it home at the end of the day. 

 

Like model railroading there are a lot of skills in our hobby, from woodworking to electric to painting, lots of stuff we take for granted.

[Ten shirt]

Just all the things that make a car fast would be a lesson on the scientific method. For a kid to predict the fastest car from limited information takes them to all the science. I enjoy mixing disciplines. I never enjoyed geometry until I began making things. The best engineers also have an artist eye. Mostly school needs to engage kids in whats in it for them. It seems we only emphasis what gets them to college, that's just not good enough. What makes his car faster, that's how cars are made.

[Pappy]

Slot car racing is a hobby of thousands of an inch and thousands of a second.

[Ten shirt]

Last night we tested an Ipad app for timing on another track, and while not perfect, I think that's how were going to start out.  I think I'll braid it with a dead strip with the idea of later purchase and install of a Trackmate system.  I have an PC availiable for that purpose but would rather put money into the power source at this time.  

 

Sound like a good idea?

 

Also looking to order several cheap starter kit cars and controllers.  

 

Is this a good place to start? http://www.e-slotcar...-kit-par-426ck/

[Ramcatlarry]

Such a small track and beginners says "VARIBLE VOLTAGE" power supply to me.  Look for a deal on a Pyramid 25 amp variable output for CB radios....hard to kill, last forever for $100 or less used, new $130~......

[HillbillyYart]

I'll second that on the pyramid 25 amp variable. I had it on my first Four lane 72 foot  Pink track and it worked GREAT. We did a Ton of racin at 10.5 volts!!!! Hillbilly