hi, Over the past 10 plus years, I've built 20 or so PETS (Portable, Elevated, Track, Systems - or Permanent - - - ). They are scattered from coast to coast and from North to South. The oval that used to be used near the pool at Diamond Head was one of mine. If you would like to contact me off list, I'd be glad to share some experiences I've encountered with building them. First off, if you do not use anodized aluminum (it is difficult to weld), you should prime and paint 6061 after fabrication. No, aluminum does not rust. By definition that only happens to ferrous metals. Aluminum is easily degraded by salty atmospheres, many weak acids, most common air pollutants, etc. My home track has survived 10 years of salty air, tropical thingies (Andrew, and two this year) and lots of use. I touched up the paint for the first time last summer. The Alusuisse material - Dibond - seems to be the best answer for surface material. A little costly, but it is light weight, strong, comes in different colors, and is easy to work with. Ron Brown recently resurfaced his PETS ( I call it the "Brown Bean" because it is kidney bean shaped) with Dibond and seems quite happy with it. I have a portable track here also with Dibond on it, and it is doing great. Keep your stream up! Walt
----- Original Message ----- From: "John R. Page" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Small-scale live steam discussions" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 6:11 PM Subject: Re: [SSLiveSteam] Rasied Track ideas > I've been digesting many elevated track designs over the last couple of > years. > My current thinking is to use aluminum right angle longitudinals and cross > pieces, to which expanded aluminum sheets are bolted. Several angle-iron > tracks have been built with expanded steel or concrete reinforcing > screening; > either assembled by welding or in one case using nylon tie straps. The > only > downer is weight (plus you better keep them well painted to avoid rust and > corrosion. Aluminum will be lighter and not require painting. Downside: > materials expense. And I should learn aluminum wire welding for such a > project. My modular pieces would be designed to stack in a pickup truck. > > Still toying around mentally with several ideas. > > John P. > Medford, Oregon > _______________________________________________ > SSLiveSteam mailing list > Send messages: [email protected] > Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/sslivesteam > Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html > > _______________________________________________ SSLiveSteam mailing list Send messages: [email protected] Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/sslivesteam Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html
