Thread: Thomas The Tank Engine track router bits

I would be interested in this too. I was looking at my lads track the other day, and trying to work out how I would route a curved track piece

Originally Posted by BeanerSA

I would be interested in this too. I was looking at my lads track the other day, and trying to work out how I would route a curved track piece

The instructions for doing this are a free download from here.

Craig

Originally Posted by Morbius

The instructions for doing this are a free download from here.

Craig

Thanks for that.

I also came across this site which has some interesting ideas, such as bridges etc.

Craig

G'Day Craig, Thanks for the website in the USa to get the router bit sets; BUT I was wondering if anyone has actually made there own tracks and could give us a rundown with pointers or pitfalls, thanks. Cheers, Crowie

Crowie,

I am looking at buying a set, and would love to know about the quality of the Carbatec ones.

This is really a niche within the hobby. Finding hints and tips for this is pretty hard, and I am guessing that there aren't a lot of people who are doing this, frequenting this part of the forum. I did find a Yahoo! group that is dedicated to it, but there's not a lot of action there just now.

I am starting to think that I'll just have to bite the bullet and buy the Carbatec bits so I can post a review and some pics.

Craig

To make straight track to go with my 5 year old's Thomas trainset I used a 6mm straight router bit to cut the tracks then cut female connectors at both ends [using a drill and bandsaw] then using straight and curved router bits from a standard bit set I produced a length of timber with male male connector cross section which I then sliced into individual connectors.
I have only recently tried cutting curved track. for this I again used the 6mm router bit, having cut on my bandsaw a curved piece the same dimension as the timber between the tracks on a bit of purchase curved track. Then set up a 'pin' above my router bit, screwed the template onto the timber that I wanted the curve on and by running the template against the pin you get curved track on the underneath of yoru timber. The hard bit was positioning the pin exactly above the bit in the router table.