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Step 3Making a jig
To ensure you can make consistently spaced track, a jig must be made.
To start, place a ball bearing on a piece of your board and cut two lengths (~10cm) of straightened wire.
Bring these pieces of wire together until they lift the ball bearing from the surface of the board. You might need to experiment a little here to get a good gauge (track spacing).
Next you will need to find something to stick on to the board to make your jig. We found match sticks to be a perfect size for the spacing of track so we got 3 match sticks and glued them to the board. You will need to ensure that the space between them is snug on the wire but not so tight that you can't move the wire up and down in the jig.
We started with standard length match sticks but soon found that we came across difficulties when trying to make more complex parts of track, like corners. We ended up chopping match sticks in half lengthways, this seemed to give us a workable solution.
To start, place a ball bearing on a piece of your board and cut two lengths (~10cm) of straightened wire.
Bring these pieces of wire together until they lift the ball bearing from the surface of the board. You might need to experiment a little here to get a good gauge (track spacing).
Next you will need to find something to stick on to the board to make your jig. We found match sticks to be a perfect size for the spacing of track so we got 3 match sticks and glued them to the board. You will need to ensure that the space between them is snug on the wire but not so tight that you can't move the wire up and down in the jig.
We started with standard length match sticks but soon found that we came across difficulties when trying to make more complex parts of track, like corners. We ended up chopping match sticks in half lengthways, this seemed to give us a workable solution.
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