Happy Sunday,
Can anyone tell me where to get info on building banked turns? I have been able to find alittle on it on the web. Iguess I'm looking for the best method. Are there any real drawings to do this or am I just ate up? Would one piece track from 1/2" MDF flex enough? Please help me get the wheels turning.
Thanx Scotty1

Scotty --

You don't need to use 1/2" MDF for HO, use 1/4" instead -- unless the rest of your track is on 1/2". The normal thickness of MDF for routed tracks is 1/4" for HO, 3/8" for 1/32, and 1/2" for commercial 1/24 scale tracks. While you can use thicker stuff than what is recommended, it's just not necessary.

Route the turns while flat, then pull into a bank. With a railed track, you probably want to rail the routed section AFTER banking it, or the rail might pop out when banking the turn, depending on how much banking you are doing.

The best resource on banking that I've found on the web is the BSCRA website. Their article on banking can be found here (http://uk.geocities.com/slot_racing/trackbuild/banking.htm).

If you are looking for info on track routing in general -- including information on HO scale track routing, you might check out my blog (http://wmbrant.spaces.live.com/). You might have to dig around in it a bit to find what you want.

-- Bill

Try www.bradstracks.com

Brad has made several tracks for me (out of sintra) and has banked for me up to 30deg - he has banked them as much as 55deg.

his email is on his website
check our the tracks he has made link


Thanks

Michael Block

Thanks Bill, I''m really just getting started and have alot of thinking to do yet.

Hey Thanks Man I'll check out bradstrack

Thanks WM BRANT and FSMRA for the links. I must be ate up for thinking of doing this.

Scotty --

You don't need to use 1/2" MDF for HO, use 1/4" instead -- unless the rest of your track is on 1/2". The normal thickness of MDF for routed tracks is 1/4" for HO, 3/8" for 1/32, and 1/2" for commercial 1/24 scale tracks.
-- Bill

Bill,
Isn't 1/4" too thin? I believe the slot depth has to be at least 3/16", so that only leaves 1/16th of an inch of material on the bottom of the slot. I would have figured you need at least 1/2" MDF and make the slot depth 1/4".

Unless of course you mount the 1/4" MDF on top of something else first so that the board underneath supplies the support.

Joe

Joe --

Brad Bowman uses 1/4" Sintra for his routed tracks, and has used 1/4" MDF in the past -- the original Champion and others. He recommends the 1/4" MDF in his booklet.

Brad does not recommend going deeper than .187 (3/16") with the guide slot.

However, the limiting factor for slot depth appears to be the cutting depth of the router bits. Asking a 1/16" wide router bit to route a 1/4" deep slot is asking a lot of a very thin piece of metal.

From Brad's site (http://www.bradstracks.com/):

How deep do you make your pin slot?
-In the past I was only able to route it to about .150", but recently I found a bit that will plunge deeper. So now it's at about .175".

-- Bill

Joe --

Brad Bowman uses 1/4" Sintra for his routed tracks, and has used 1/4" MDF in the past -- the original Champion and others. He recommends the 1/4" MDF in his booklet.

Brad does not recommend going deeper than .187 (3/16") with the guide slot.

However, the limiting factor for slot depth appears to be the cutting depth of the router bits. Asking a 1/16" wide router bit to route a 1/4" deep slot is asking a lot of a very thin piece of metal.

From Brad's site (http://www.bradstracks.com/):

How deep do you make your pin slot?
-In the past I was only able to route it to about .150", but recently I found a bit that will plunge deeper. So now it's at about .175".

-- Bill

Bill,
Good point about the thin router bit and Mr. Bowman clearly knows what he is talking about. However, making the slot 3/16" deep on a 1/4" piece of MDF still only leaves 1/16" of material at the bottom of the slot. Is this enough material to keep the strength in the board were it to be picked up? I can see leaving only a small amount of material in the slot, but only if the MDF were supported underneath by another board.

I just looked at my Mattel (Tyco) track and the slot is 1/8" deep, so 3/16" would still be an improvement.

One of the ways to get around having to rout a thick piece of MDF with a small bit would be to use a very thin sheet of something (plastic, MDF, whatever) on top, glued over a base of soft material - like a sheet of styrofoam - which has another board underneath it. Basically, the styrofoam (or other soft material) would be sandwiched by a piece of plywood on the bottom and the racing surface on the top. Now when you rout, the bit only has to go through the thin upper layer and the softer material. I'll bet that would increase the life of the router bit, make the routing go quicker, and allow you to make a pretty deep slot.

Michael E. did this on his stainless steel routed track.

Thanks...Joe

Hi Scotty,

I use a general rule of thumb for a banked 180 degree turn that for each 10° of banking, subtract 10° from the original 180 - I'm intending doing this on my routed track and anticipate using 6mm MDF for the complete track. Please feel free to visit my site: http://routedtrack.hobby-site.com

Hope that helps!

Cheers

Richard

Food for thought.

I have a TKO track on order with a slight bank 10 DEG didnt want too much for the stock t-jets

I just ordered a TKO track tonight and I know Todd is putting a bank on one of my turns.