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Bought a used track today, would like some suggestions.

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:57 pm
by MOFAST
Bought an 8 lane (yes, I typed correctly) heavy, wood track today in fair shape. A local pack disbanded and the man had it in his basement for 3 years.

The guide rails are in good shape, couple rough spots (edges, not where cars would touch), but a smooth running track. Got it for $75, this is to be a test track and one kids can play with while races are run on an aluminum track.

Has anyone built or refabbed a wooden track? I would be interested in seeing pictures of how you did the starting mechanism as this is one area where this track needs much help. It is a wide track and I don't think the pins fall evenly which has to be corrected. I also would be interested in seeing your stop section built for a wooden track.

I am very excited about this track but don't hardly have time to help the kids with thier cars and refab it too. Luckily, I have a buddy who is a whiz at carpentry.

Eventually, I would like a timer for this track but probably would not put it on all 8 lanes. Your slower cars would never get in the top 2 and would take a drubbing.

Re: Bought a used track today, would like some suggestions.

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 12:01 pm
by Darin McGrew
We have a wooden track (although it is only 4 lanes). Our start gate works very well. The "pins" are cut from 1-inch-wide aluminum, and are attached to the axle (a wooden dowel) with small bolts. A small spring is enough to pull the gate open quickly when the latch opens.

Re: Bought a used track today, would like some suggestions.

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 3:12 pm
by Speedster
Some good info in the Post -- Adding a Friction Brake to an old track.

Re: Bought a used track today, would like some suggestions.

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 5:35 pm
by whodathunkit
Darin McGrew wrote:We have a wooden track (although it is only 4 lanes). Our start gate works very well. The "pins" are cut from 1-inch-wide aluminum, and are attached to the axle (a wooden dowel) with small bolts. A small spring is enough to pull the gate open quickly when the latch opens.

Darin, did you forget you have some good track info on your site as well?
http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/derby/track/#gate" target="_blank

Re: Bought a used track today, would like some suggestions.

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 5:41 pm
by Darin McGrew
whodathunkit wrote:Darin, did you forget you have some good track info on your site as well?
http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/derby/track/#gate" target="_blank
No, I didn't forget. But I prefer our current gate to the one in the track plans on my site. For one thing, our current gate is spring-open rather than spring-closed.

(The track plans on my site are a simple web adaptation of the track plans that were being published by CSB about 15 years ago. I've never built a track according to those plans, and I've never actually used a track built according to those plans.)

Re: Bought a used track today, would like some suggestions.

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:25 pm
by whodathunkit
Thanks Darin,

Some Problems: With the spring open gates that are made for home build or used tracks
may end up being that they are built to heavy or haveing a sping that has to much tension on it.
Causeing the cars to bounce or shift on the track at the drop of the start gate as it slaps back bumping the bottom of the track.

So if you do end up building your own spring open start gate (keep this in mind) for your track.

Re: Bought a used track today, would like some suggestions.

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2012 11:29 am
by Darin McGrew
Our start gate doesn't disturb the track. The spring pulls the gate open (from the 12-o'clock position to the 3-o'clock position) and then goes slack. There isn't much rotating mass, but there's quite a bit of surface area, and the gate has plenty of time to slow down (from the 3-o'clock position to the 9-o'clock position) before it hits the underside of the track. And even if it does hit the underside of the track, the gate itself doesn't have enough mass to disturb the track.