Derby Talk

Okay so I broke down and built a low budget test track. Bought two 15 1/2" wide x 8' long Melamime board at the big Orange Box for ~$12 each. Ripped into four 7" wide board, couple of hinges, box of #8 screws and some 1/4" x 1 1/2" wide strips for the lane guide, some scrap 3/4" plywood for connecting the boards, a few late nights, and viola I introduce my 32' test track. (I apologize for the pics - bad lighting - I try to get better ones later)








I will add some friction tape to the brake section later.

Sweet!

Looks Great

The cat looks thoroughly impressed . If you get a chance, a pic of the underside and/or how you joined the sections together would be great. Well done!

Have you seen Down and Derby yet?

Nice job.

K

Yes - I actually watched that a couple of days prior to making the track. No - the movie was not the inspiration, in fact the movie almost made me change my mind - thinking I had some derby sickness... (lol). Anyway - now I cannot let my wife watch the movie.

Smiles say it all! Good job.

timtrain35 wrote:The cat looks thoroughly impressed . If you get a chance, a pic of the underside and/or how you joined the sections together would be great. Well done!

Yea, actually I had another pic with all four cats checking it out.

I will get a pic of the underside to post. I cut some 3/4" plywood into 3 pieces each 7 x 16", each being a joiner. The track is 7" wide and the 16" allowed 8" on each section being joined. The holes for the 1/4" x 1 1/2" bolts are centered on the lane guides and are at 1 1/2", 6 1/2", 9 1/2", and 14 1/2" along the length. The holes are countersunk in the joiner section the diameter of a 1/4" washer and to a depth of a nut and washer. I wanted to use t-nuts but the cost was prohibitive. One the track side I just cut a hole the diameter of the washer through the lane guide, such that the bolt head and washer set directly on the Melamine board. You can see the topside joint in the middle picture.

That cat looks just like mine. Waiting for an opportunity to send the cars flying.

Did your wife have an issue with the track being set-up? How long do you get to keep it up at one time? My wife gets a little crabby when my Cub and I set-up ours!

murphken wrote:Did your wife have an issue with the track being set-up? How long do you get to keep it up at one time? My wife gets a little crabby when my Cub and I set-up ours!

I have a very understanding and patient wife. I finished building it Sunday - so it will be up for a week. If I had a full basement I would put it up there, but I don't, so the middle of the house it goes. Worse then having it set up is that I built it in place. The cutting was done on the deck - but all drilling, counterboring, screwing, and bolting, was done in place.

*5 J's* wrote:I have a very understanding and patient wife. I finished building it Sunday - so it will be up for a week. If I had a full basement I would put it up there, but I don't, so the middle of the house it goes. Worse then having it set up is that I built it in place. The cutting was done on the deck - but all drilling, counterboring, screwing, and bolting, was done in place.

My wife is not as understanding. I built mine in place 6 years ago but haven't had time to use it in the past 4 years. I'm planning on getting it down tomorrow evening until Thursday night. It runs through the middle of the house also. The biggest problem will be having to lock up the dogs while it is set up, so after we run it the sections must come apart and stack it against a wall some where.

Here is a picture of the joints from underneath. As you can see I countersunk the 1/4 nuts vice using t-nuts.

Another shot of the track.

Cool!!! Thanks for the pics.

Did you get the 1/4 x 1 1/2 strips @ the orange box also or did you cut your own?

Thx
R