Broke ground yesterday

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I wasn't fast enough getting back to this. Kurt is actually working on the track. I was going to set him up and then nail him for not doing anything on the track because he was loafin' around on this HRW gab fest. Rats. I'll get you next time, Red Baron!

[ElSecundo]

[RazorJon]

maybe its a garden scale train he is building ;)

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I know! Its a special track for Kurt's "special" car from a few years ago. I can't wait to see what kind of track an elongated 917 painted the color of fresh dog doo would run on.

[moparjenny]

[4424ever]

Looks like the beginings of an awesome track! By the way Rob brought up that infamous 917, is it still around, as I recall when it was unveiled I suggested it be auction off as a fund raiser(so butt suck ugly you gota have it)just say'n you know! I'd still be interested. I think Kurt might be affriad of how the car gets treated if he were to let it go :whistle:

[moparjenny]

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Feast your eyes! The truth is, I thought it was a good idea, it just wasn't fleshed out the way he saw it in his nightmare, uh, I mean imagination. I always wanted to take a crack at fixing it, or maybe building my own version.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Maybe if I made it longer...

[ElSecundo]

Yeah, there she is, in all her glory. :) Just one of those projects that needs time to make right -- time I didn't want to give.

Making good progress on the 'grunt work' today.

To give you guys some idea what's going on, there are two tracks I wanted to build, Le Mans and Spa. If you know the tracks, you know that they are wildly different, so they would need completely different platforms. Le Mans is about 8 miles long, with almost no elevation change. Spa has elevation changes in excess of 300 feet. At some point, I want to build them both -- but I don't want to build track platforms twice.

So the goal is to build a track platform that is modular (easy to change length) and infinitely adjustable for height. The same module used to support the track at just over 1 foot is also used to support the track at almost 5 feet. Build a platform once, and you are done. All you have to do is reconfigure the easily-adjustable platform when you're ready to build a new track. It will work for narrow tracks, it will work for tracks with a wide footprint, it will work for huge tracks, and if you need to downsize, you can pull modules out easily. It's both a platform and a mechanical device.

[ElSecundo]

[waaytoomuchintothis]

So, one platform, that serves to support two sequential tracks, eh? I assume you will start with LeMans, since Spa requires you to have rain immediately after the tires are selected for the race... Maybe beer joint shuffleboard table wax, sprinkled from a height at random places on the track at random times? Nah, everybody who raced at your house would hate you. That won't work. Maybe a slick finish at one end of the track and flat latex everywhere else? As long as Varsha and Hobbs fall all over themselves being glad they aren't on the track at Spa, you can't go wrong.

[ElSecundo]

Modern, actually. Working on Spa right now. It won't be a 'scale representation', because you'd lose the characteristic curves that make up Spa. Eau Rouge would barely be a blip, and the high speed downhill plunge would be a couple of sharp turns separated by 3-foot straights.

Here is the drawing I shared with Eric and Harry. This drawing is not complete, and doesn't show the leg-locks. It also doesn't show the stabilizers, but the track itself will provide important rigidity when it's screwed to the platform. Each module is essentially a scissor-lift with inverted universal joints, allowing the platform to turn and change elevation. There is also a 'universal shim' that will help keep things level through transitions, and can also be used to adjust track camber.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Wait a minute... You mean the track will represent both tracks at once, converting from one to the other by means of jointed sections?

[ElSecundo]

No Rob, just one at a time. But when I want to switch, I don't have to worry about the elevation difference. I just reconfigure the platform to accept the new track layout.

An in the bad news du jour feature, my sander burned up. Need a new one. Problem is, it's also my drill press, so I need a new drill press. I think the side loads from all that spindle sanding fried it.

Crap, more money, and more wasted time.