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Old 08-14-2009, 09:50 PM
lornecherry lornecherry is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 207
Quote:
Very enticing progress you're making. I had a few questions:

1. How is the surface material at Keeping clean? How much and what type or routine maintenance is required?
2. From rolled-up to layed-out, does it lay flat? Lumps? Bumps, bubbles?
3. How do the infields, rail system, etc... adhere to the surface?
1) The surface is very simalar to EVA tiles in its ability to shed or attract dirt. In earlier posts, I was adamant that the d'nano's front end was poorly designed in that almost anything fouls the front axles quickly, even on a supposedly "clean" track. With our school programs using 12 cars, this is a problem X 12 that needed to be solved.

The secret to keeping EVA, or any other synthetic foam surface clean is to get rid of static. Static attracts dirt and especially pet/human hair. If a surface is static-prone, even vaccuuming/washing will not keep it clean -- you need to eliminate the problem.

I find vaccuuming and then spraying with Endust (antistatic dust spray) works best. As I have five long-haired pets in my household (not including the kids), finding the best solution to this problem was very important and almost a deal-breaker for the dnano, when I was using both carpet, felt and even EVA tiles. Got rid of the static, changed my furnace filter and the problem is all but gone (my cats live on the track).

To answer your question directly, the surface is very similar to EVA foam -- but because it also is textured, the top of texturing where the car's wheels contact remain clean.

Cleaning your furnace filter and air ducts regularly and doing the wider front wheel mod will also help, as will raising the track off the floor. Of the 50+ materials I tested, it was not the materials themselves that mattered so much for debris accumulation, but rather the static properties. Hope this helps.

2) This first track constructed is more a proof-of-concept than a final-speced product. The base material, on its own, curls up at the edges and does have some interior rolls ... not an issue in permanent installs, but again a major hurdle in making the system truly portable.

I have two effective methods of controlling, and/or completely eliminating, the natural curl in the rolled-up base material, without fastening the base down.

For now, those methods remain proprietary, but will be disclosed once I finalize infield materials/design. I can say that much of the this surface "taming" is done through the rail system and the tension it places on the various surfaces, a method left over from having the same problem with Mini-Z Porta-Trax carpet tracks some 5 years ago.

In sum, I am cautiously optimistic that I have completely solved the problem of an uneven base material and base curling ... however I need to roll-up and and then re-deploy the track at least 60 days continuously before I can be completely confident.

I also want to see if the base material will lay flat without the Porta-Trax rails system ... i.e. with just the infield materials ... and that is something I'm working on now, as I realize that not everyone may want to use our rail system ... in addition to satisfying my goal of keeping the entire system open to multiple build methods.

3. I have not finalized the infield, ... again what you see is merely a proof-of-concept at this stage. The infield is a combination of two different materials with completely opposite properties; however one of those materials (very thick rubber) is hard to work with. I have thus speced a different material that I should receive in early September. We also have some simpler/cheaper solutions to the infield that I am testing, as keeping the current layout consistant from track to track requires expensive water jet cutting, an expensive industrial process not for DIY. And simple is better.

What is ironic, is that the top layer of infield material was once a rejected material for the track base (running surface) and seems awfully close to that used in the HTUSA tracks. I rejected it because it sheds fibers if driven on ... very few, but still enough to make it an issue.
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Please, please keep these questions coming ... especially if you are considering a DIY track, as we want to be sure to address any issues that you have encountered in building your own track and ... make constructing a kick-ass track an easy step-by-step process with no surprises.

Last edited by lornecherry; 08-14-2009 at 09:57 PM.
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