Router Bit Review – Traintrack set from McJing

$106 in GST and postage from McJing. Excellent customer service btw.

First impressions of the bit set.

The double track cutter is very good – I found it very easy to produce as much straight track as I wanted. I like the finish, and the radius at either side. It appears to have a slightly different centre to the commercial track, but not enough to cause a problem to the vehicles. In reality, the base matches very closely, but as it has a radius on the edge, it appears to be a wider tread than it actually is.

The single track cutter is much wider, and contrary to what the documentation (web) says, I don’t believe this cutter is for curves. I don’t see why you cannot use the double cutter, so long as you have a good jig to feed the curve into the double cutter, so that it meets at bottom dead centre. Instead, I think this cutter is better for making unusual tracks (y sections, X section track etc), and possibly for roads – using the wider sweep to get rid of more wood in a pass, but there would be better ways of doing it than this.

The ends require more setup than I imagined. The female end isn’t too bad – needs to be exactly centred obviously, and the right depth. However you can’t aim for a perfect fit, as the intended recipient would have too much trouble taking it apart! If you intend to mix and match this track with genuine Thomas track, then obviously this is the primary consideration for tolerances, bit depth etc. If not, then the job is a lot easier.

The bead cutter (for making the male end) is trickier to use and get just right. Again, it is a matter of getting it to match both the Thomas track, and the cutter of your female end of the track. Whether you need to make 2 passes for either the male, or the female end to increase clearances will be a matter of experimentation.

I got quite a lot of chipout, even with backing, but then, Thomas track isn’t made from crappy pine. It may be better to predrill quite a bit of the female end before routing it, and cutting away a lot at the male end. With a bit of trial and error, this will work.

You will definitely want to make the track in large batches – once a bit is set up with the height and fence right, you won’t want to have to change it until all possible cuts are done!

It would definitely be in your best interest to make a template piece (perhaps from some better wood), to use to reset up the bits next time.

So, final verdict. Good – but I think I need to refine my processes. Some of that does come down to pine being what it is, and perhaps the bits are not as sharp as they need for getting the best out of cross-routing a material prone to chipout. (The actual track bit had no such problem – cutting with the grain obviously). However, putting in more time to fine-tune the process should result in results that are very acceptable, and nothing beats the look on a young face when you increase their stock of track from a couple of metres that came with their set, to 10, 20, 30 metres (or more!). Also, with the single cutter in particular, all sorts of buildings etc are possible (storage sheds, crossovers etc). You can also use this set to work with the plastic commercial track, using a dovetail bit instead of the round male & female. There is no reason why you couldn’t produce adapter pieces, so that the recipient can mix and match the 2 types of track!

Curves will be a bit challenging, and a jig will be a must. Patience, and perseverance, but then, that describes everything to do with woodworking.