Scaletrix

[paul_y3k]

Have finally got the ok to start the winter scaletrix project. So thought i'd ask the collective wisdom of PH.

We have a large dbl garage, that doesn't hold cars. however we want to keep the floow space. So my idea is to build a centre table and be bale to raise it on a pulley against the ceiling. Then lower it down, attach legs and use it when we want.

is this possible. I've been searching around looking for suspended table designs, but have so far struggled to find anything.

Once I've got the size of the table sorted, whats the best way to design a circuit. I've tried the freebie track designer from the scaletrix web site, but it's hell to use, which is a shame as I like the fact it prints out a shopping list etc.

[DIW35]

Yes it should be possible. Many model railway builders have done something similar. You'll have to design and build it yourself though. Maybe you could attach hinged legs to the underside of your baseboards that can be swung down for use, and latched up when not required.

For designing circuits, I use Ultimate Racer 3.0 which is much friendlier to use than the piece of crap that Scalextric released. If I remember correctly, it's free to download from the net. It's what I used to design the track pictured in the other Scalextric thread, after measuring the space available, to make maximum use of the what we had.

[Iain328]

paul_y3k said:

Have finally got the ok to start the winter scaletrix project. So thought i'd ask the collective wisdom of PH.

We have a large dbl garage, that doesn't hold cars. however we want to keep the floow space. So my idea is to build a centre table and be bale to raise it on a pulley against the ceiling. Then lower it down, attach legs and use it when we want.

is this possible. I've been searching around looking for suspended table designs, but have so far struggled to find anything.

Once I've got the size of the table sorted, whats the best way to design a circuit. I've tried the freebie track designer from the scaletrix web site, but it's hell to use, which is a shame as I like the fact it prints out a shopping list etc.

Entirely possible - I used to have a layout in my garage that winched up to the ceiling. The thing was about 18ft by 8ft wide.

The board was constructed out of 9mm ply screwed to a frame made of 2x1 I think. Made in two big halves of 8x8 using 2 x 8x4 sheets & then a middle section of around 2'6" with an access hatch in the middle.

The thing had double decker straights running down each side. No scenery, just maximum track - 175 feet in total if I recall

The thing was pretty heavy & had 8 lift points using pulleys at the ceiling and down at the board (so 2:1 gearing I think. These all gathered & there was one big rope (used some climbing rope) with which you could lift the whole thing in one. That was also geared about 3:1 so to lift the thing 6 feet you needed to pull through about 30 feet of rope. Those yellow ropes you can see in the picture are kevlar rope - strong stuff


To make it easier to lift it also had 4 counterweights filled with sand (weighed about 15kgs each I think). I could lift the whole thing on my own.

The legs (8 of them) were just simple hinged tressles that were not attached to the board - you just set them out on the floor & then lowered the thing on to it.

Pay attention to the electrics. I had a load of cable running around under there. There were something like 18 connection points on each lane to avoid dead spots. The thing was also "wired for brakes" & used plug in controllers which you could use from either end. You could also just reverse the lane direction with switches.

The whole thing was quite barking.

I used a piece of track design software that I found on the web called "tracker" (I think!).

Edited by Iain328 on Tuesday 21st July 14:14

[paul_y3k]

blimet quite bonkers, but yep thats what i want to do.
not sure about all thie 2:1 pulley malarky tho - harldy an engineer here.

[Iain328]

paul_y3k said:

blimet quite bonkers, but yep thats what i want to do.
not sure about all thie 2:1 pulley malarky tho - harldy an engineer here.

Best you read up on pulleys & gearing then otherwise you won't be able to lift the thing !!

If you look at the picture you can see two strands of yellow rope at each lifting point.

These ropes start at the ceiling (tied to an eye screwed in to the ceiling joist)& then go down to the board where the rope goes round a pulley. That pulley is attached to the board.

Rope then goes up to the ceiling where it goes over a pulley next to the eye. So basically when you pull on that rope, in order to lift the board one foot, you need to pull two feet of rope through - but it requires half the effort to do so than it would if you just had a rope attached to the board that only went & up & over a pulley at the ceiling.

Draw it on a piece of paper & it'll make sense.

[GreigR]

Hi

Why don't you just go for a wooden routed track and design your own.

[Wanchaiwarrior]

you might want to check out this forum for ideas:

http://www.slotforum.com/forums/index.php?act=home

HTH

Jamie

[Mag1calTrev0r]

I thought I'd take the opportunity to say that I have a load of spare, fairly new digital scalextric setup if you're interested. I could do a good price

[roblees]

Hi
I see you're based in Suffolk.

There are slot car clubs at Ipswich and Norwich who would be a mine of useful advice. Check out

British Slot Car Racing Association Clubs List

There's also help on the BSCRA site for designing and building tracks

Slotforum as mantioned above is also a great source of ideas and help.

Good luck with the project!

Best Rob

[Evangelion]

roblees said:

Hi
I see you're based in Suffolk.

There are slot car clubs at Ipswich and Norwich who would be a mine of useful advice. Check out

British Slot Car Racing Association Clubs List

There's also help on the BSCRA site for designing and building tracks

Slotforum as mantioned above is also a great source of ideas and help.

Good luck with the project!

Best Rob

Nice to see Mr Frost is still active, i remember racing against him in the 70's.

And your goodself Mr Lees in the 90's.

Could you please stop putting all this slot racing stuff on PH; I'll only start getting withdrawal symptoms and want to take it up again.

Edited by Evangelion on Tuesday 11th August 00:28

[roblees]

Hi Evangelion
Yes we are all very much still active. I've moved clubs from Bath to Swindon, and the Swindon club has now opened up in Staverton near Bradford-on-Avon. We're moving on from BoA soon, probably to some temporary premises in Marlborough, racing everything from Scalextric cars to HO, BSCRA and slotstox.

Spare cars and controllers alwaya available for visitors and returnees!

Best Rob