| Slot Car Corner offers a complete track braiding system including:
Braid - This is high-quality, 1/4" wide tinned copper braid
(non-magnetic) just like the braid used by commercial raceways.
This braid provides excellent electrical connectivity with very high "ampacity"
(safe current carrying capacity) without the drawbacks of copper tape
(e.g. limited ampacity, breakage, lifting, electrical connectivity issues). Unlike
the flimsy metal spools some of our competitors use, our braid is
spooled on high-quality, heavy duty plastic spools. These spools
provide much better protection for the braid during shipment.
Note: We also offer narrower 3/16"
braid based on requests from a small portion of our customer base.
The wider 1/4" braid is much more commonplace (commercial tracks have
been using it for almost 50 years...) and the special 2-sided tape (see
below) is only available in 1/4" wide rolls. For these reasons, we
recommend the 1/4" braid and related system components unless you have
some specialized requirements and/or understands the trade-off's using
the 3/16" braid (e.g. using contact cement to secure it to your track)..
Two-sided Tape - This is special two-sided tape which is easy
to install and provides a bond similar to contact cement for securing
braid to your track (gains). As you unroll the tape, the adhesive
on one side is exposed which gets carefully pressed into the track
"gain". Once the tape has been installed in the track gain, a
special protective backing is removed which exposes the adhesive on the
other side of the tape (the side of the tape facing upward) the braid
will be attached to. The tape has none of the drawbacks
associated with contact cement (toxic fumes, limited working time,
mess). Designed for use with our 1/4" braid, the tape is sold
in 180' rolls.
Note: The special 2-sided tape is
NOT available for the 3/16" braid we offer.
Special Router Bit - This is a special high-quality, carbide
router bit with a 1/8" pin in the exact center of the bit. The
center pin rides in the track slot which keeps the router bit perfectly
centered - the result is both "gains" are the same width around the
entire layout (even in the corners). In contrast, using a router
base with a 2 pin setup and a standard router bit will result in
gains with different widths in the corners (one will be a little too
narrow, the other a little too wide). The bits are available in
two (2) widths - 3/4" wide for use with 1/4" braind and 5/8" wide for
use with 3/16" braid.
Finally, we don't just sell these items - we have actually used them
on numerous tracks here in the northeast United States and Quebec.
We know from firsthand experience these products work very well and are
confident they will for you too! For more information
about braiding a track using this system, please take a few minutes to
review this
illustrated how-to article. |