These are the finished pictures from the tiny track dog project. (Man, that was a long time ago.)  And the results were: success!  They worked like a charm.  There was no cable slip, no binding in the track, and the travel noise was minimal.  We noticed that the UHMW bowed (approx 1/32") at the bottom when the cable was tightened down, which was expected from such small bits of hardware.  Nick simply pre-tightened the cable, and carefully shaved the dogs on the tablesaw – done.

The track was shaped from composite lumber (Home Despot decking).  It ended up cheaper than the equivalent amount of UHMW, slicker (& quieter) than lumber and was less fiddly than strips of maso or arboron.  It was also much gentler on our blades & cut mucho quicker than UHMW would have.

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