Rebuilding the Redline Derby Speedway
I have one of the 4-lane 3DBM finish lines...and it's great. It's lasted me years at this point. It's convenient, compact, and no fuss. BUT...it does have a few tiny little pain points, one of which didn't really rear its head until I got to a full 4-lanes.
First, the one that anyone with a 3DBM finish line knows, is it doesn't allow for flat/flush track. I know this is pretty picky, but since there are sensors in the bottom of the track, there's about a 1/2" rise. This is not a design flaw in the finish line, it's just the way it had to be as an accessory. It's one thing I never enjoyed but just accepted...
...until I added 2 more lanes of track. Before now, I always just ran 2 lanes in the middle, no real issues. However, when you fill it up with all 4 lanes, the track starts to have problems because the connectors on the finish line are too close together. Each lane starts to push up against each other and squish, which causes the outside lanes to be very uneven due to the 1/2" rise.
So my solution was to cut some of my track board, add an "lower support" and then make a tiny shelf on the other side, allowing me to drop the finish line. It feels hacky but it has helped the trash squishing tremendously. The lanes are still very tight but being able to keep the track flat going in (and out) of the finish lines makes me feel a lot better about the running results.
It really bothered me that my 3DBM finish line squished together the outside lanes, so I printed a new faceplate. I noticed the (inner) finish line had some notches in it that could be removed to allow for more clearance between lanes.
I Dremeled out the notches (one on each outside lane) and then filled the hole with hot glue just in case. With those gone, I could space out track connectors just a little bit - like 1mm or so. There was limited room and I had to make sure the cars would still pass over the sensor...thankfully, no problems there, works great.
I also removed the lane numbers in favor of some triangle lane indicators...I think it will show up better on camera, a lot more light coming through now. Overall, I guess they're rather minor changes that no one will really notice but I feel like the racing will be a little more fair now, and less sloppy when it comes to cars flying over the finish.
Cool drag track. I don't have a track yet, but I do have a still action drift course that I've been working on and will continue to work on over the weekend! I like it!
The boards are 1x10 planks from Home Depot. The trim was just quarter round pieces, I forget what size, probably 1/2" or less.
And the magnets have been working very well, I must say. I have one under each lane at the start gate, before the finish line, and on the transition curve to help keep things held down.
AWESOME! Looks great buddy. Im totally stealing the magnet idea.