New track
Please help me design this track. Vote at the end. I have a friend who has some pull with an aluminum extruder in Dallas. He also just had a nice inheritance $ and he wants me to help him design a PWD track. He wants it to be super easy to use and set up. So my design started with a shipping box which he might use to ship his track. His design is like a 4 lanes wide aluminum version of the wooden design shown in the Cub Scout Leader’s How To book of 1985.
So I designed him a shipping box to pack his track in and ship to his customers by UPS freight. It is 8ft 9in long by 24 in wide with top slotted sides and ends of white pine 1 x6 and 3/8 in plywood bottom. The top is slide in/out 1/8 Masonite 8 ft long with a 9 in separate lift out piece at one end of the box. In this end the customer can reach in to find 2 lawnmower size wheels and a ½ in axle for them that inserts through holes in the box end bottom sides. The customer can also slide out 2 wooden 1 x 4 4 ft long handles to attach to the sides of the opposite box end with thumbscrews. In effect one person can now wheel the box around like a wheelbarrow.
The 8 ft ramp, section 1 bottom, has cross pieces and 3 items, each with one end hinged to the ramp bottom - the long 4 ft main leg pair, the brace for these legs, and a short leg pair about 7 ft from the ramp front. For shipping, these 3 items are folded to the ramp bottom and placed next to the shipping box bottom. Next is padding and then the section 2 4 assembled lanes are placed on top of the ramp and the Masonite lid closed with a few thumbscrews. The one person can lift the handles, 40 lbs, and wheel the 80 lb box to a pickup or van and load it with no more than 40 lbs lifting needed. The wheels and handles are then stored back in the box end. When the customer gets the box, he can deploy the wheels and handles and wheel it into the gym closet or directly to the race area.
Now it’s time to set up the track. The wheels/axle/handle are removed and the box lid slid off. The Section 2 lanes are lifted out and put aside for the time being. The Race Boss reaches in and lifts the ramp top about 4 ft and the main legs fall vertical. The brace end is then attached to the front legs cross piece with a thumb screw. The short rear legs are swung down to vertical and the ramp is now sitting up with its legs in the box. It could be lifted out of the box and the box sent to the closet. Now here is a problem, namely my friend does not want the legs to be hinged under the ramp and swing down, but rather to be hinged to the bottom of the shipping box and swung up to connect to the ramp underside. This makes the shipping box permanently a part of the ramp. I offered a compromise. Drill ½ in holes, an inch or two from the bottom, through the sides of each of the front and rear legs and matching holes in the sides of the box like where the wheel axle goes. The when the legs (1 in aluminum U channel) come down they can be secured to the box by running an axle shaft through the front and the rear holes. Thus the box can temporarily be made integral with the ramp. But my friend still wants the support legs to have hinges to the box bottom and be permanently attached to the ramp.
Please vote 1) Make box temporarily attached to ramp structure with hinges on ramp bottom.
2) Make shipping box permanently attached to ramp structure with hinges on box bottom.
Thanks a bunch, Doc Jobe
Please help me design this track. Vote at the end. I have a friend who has some pull with an aluminum extruder in Dallas. He also just had a nice inheritance $ and he wants me to help him design a PWD track. He wants it to be super easy to use and set up. So my design started with a shipping box which he might use to ship his track. His design is like a 4 lanes wide aluminum version of the wooden design shown in the Cub Scout Leader’s How To book of 1985.
So I designed him a shipping box to pack his track in and ship to his customers by UPS freight. It is 8ft 9in long by 24 in wide with top slotted sides and ends of white pine 1 x6 and 3/8 in plywood bottom. The top is slide in/out 1/8 Masonite 8 ft long with a 9 in separate lift out piece at one end of the box. In this end the customer can reach in to find 2 lawnmower size wheels and a ½ in axle for them that inserts through holes in the box end bottom sides. The customer can also slide out 2 wooden 1 x 4 4 ft long handles to attach to the sides of the opposite box end with thumbscrews. In effect one person can now wheel the box around like a wheelbarrow.
The 8 ft ramp, section 1 bottom, has cross pieces and 3 items, each with one end hinged to the ramp bottom - the long 4 ft main leg pair, the brace for these legs, and a short leg pair about 7 ft from the ramp front. For shipping, these 3 items are folded to the ramp bottom and placed next to the shipping box bottom. Next is padding and then the section 2 4 assembled lanes are placed on top of the ramp and the Masonite lid closed with a few thumbscrews. The one person can lift the handles, 40 lbs, and wheel the 80 lb box to a pickup or van and load it with no more than 40 lbs lifting needed. The wheels and handles are then stored back in the box end. When the customer gets the box, he can deploy the wheels and handles and wheel it into the gym closet or directly to the race area.
Now it’s time to set up the track. The wheels/axle/handle are removed and the box lid slid off. The Section 2 lanes are lifted out and put aside for the time being. The Race Boss reaches in and lifts the ramp top about 4 ft and the main legs fall vertical. The brace end is then attached to the front legs cross piece with a thumb screw. The short rear legs are swung down to vertical and the ramp is now sitting up with its legs in the box. It could be lifted out of the box and the box sent to the closet. Now here is a problem, namely my friend does not want the legs to be hinged under the ramp and swing down, but rather to be hinged to the bottom of the shipping box and swung up to connect to the ramp underside. This makes the shipping box permanently a part of the ramp. I offered a compromise. Drill ½ in holes, an inch or two from the bottom, through the sides of each of the front and rear legs and matching holes in the sides of the box like where the wheel axle goes. The when the legs (1 in aluminum U channel) come down they can be secured to the box by running an axle shaft through the front and the rear holes. Thus the box can temporarily be made integral with the ramp. But my friend still wants the support legs to have hinges to the box bottom and be permanently attached to the ramp.
Please vote 1) Make box temporarily attached to ramp structure with hinges on ramp bottom.
2) Make shipping box permanently attached to ramp structure with hinges on box bottom.
Thanks a bunch, Doc Jobe
