I have been doing a few experimental builds, thinking ahead to next year's layout, and have made a quick video of the results. There is quite a mix of prototypes and scales, although the cars are converted commercial models, not 3D printed.
Pretty amazing. Are you using off-the-shelf products for this magic (specifically the linear motors) or are you custom making these "tracks?" I'd love to learn more about the process. I assume it's not terribly easy else everyone would have trucks and cars running up and down the streets of their layouts, but I don't want to assume.. Cheers -Mike
It is all custom, from the tracks and trains to the electronics and software. There is a commercial product that it evolved from, but it has too many limitations to be useful for what I want to do. The track is just a lot of small printed circuit boards with 3 strings of coils printed on them, soldered together into a complete layout, in other ways much like any sectional track system. I am at the point where I have a program that generates the basic designs of these pieces for me: I specify parameters such as the length and curve radius, then hand-combine several pieces and joiners into a single PCB design (much like a fret or sprue in a plastic kit) which gets manufactured by an electronic supplier. Sounds simple, but there are several years of lessons, mistakes and generally improving results behind it.