When you have a wooden routed track this theory is easy to try on your
track. If you are using
plastic track then it will be more difficult to make this.
There is a link on the slot main page to some information on making
your own wooden straight track!
Well the theory is this, on each lane you create a dead strip section
this section is split
up by three gaps in the metal of each lane. This way creating two pieces
of metal strip
which are not connected to the power supply. these two pieces are connected
via 10K
resistors to the parallel port. This way creating a switch. When the
car passes over the
two separeted pieces of track it will with the braid close the connection
between the two
pieces of track. Then it sends a signal to the parallel port on which
the software can react.
There are two things to consider :
1. The speed of the car is to fast to make a connection between the
two pieces of track, this wil
cause the software not to detect it.
2. Sometimes the gaps should be different sizes (bigger) depending on the scal cars and braids used.
This setup needs some expirementing before it works oke.
Here is the Picture which will probably explain it better then the text you just read !!