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BuggyDad

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  1. So the Mo got a run at Tamiya Junkies but I was too eager. I got it out early, before I was acclimatised to the track, overshot the bend after the straight, hit something solid and broke a front arm. A slightly foolish crash, but not an unusual one. It was bound to happen at some point, just a shame it was so early. It's also the case that I had designed these arms considerably thinner than any others I've done before. They're perhaps only half (or less) as strong as the rears on the Falcon, for example, which I've yet to break, and I think front ones are more in the firing line. I said somewhere earlier in this build thread that I am in part experimenting my way to understanding how big/tough parts should be. I can't realistically do it with maths so what I've got is good old trial 'n' error. Eyeballing a few other 3d printed arms on Saturday, they do tend to look chunkier, more akin to my Falcon rears. I think I'll start by increasing the height of the main spars by about 50% at the inboard end, tapering to less at width, plus running a plate through the whole arm as I did at the rear. That would be a considerable strength increase while retaining, hopefully, decent looks. Another leftfield idea I have is to fix a strip of carbon sheet to the front of the arm, pivot to pivot, but I probably won't - I still want the arm to break first. I don't know when I'll get back to a meet like that but as soon as I can I will, and it's a perfect test bed for this buggy. So in the meantime I think this car should be my number one focus, to beef up the front a bit, and at the same time tackle my other minor niggles, which are: - too much slop in the front hub area. I intend to remedy this by increasing shaft engagement length (in place of 2mm adjustment with spacers, which I don't need) and designing all holes undersized to be accurately reamed to size manually. I've also currently got a mishmash of 5mm adjusters on there, because I experiment with what I've got in the spare box for sizes before fitting new, so that's an easy fix. - a bit too much width at the front, which I intend to fix by redesigning the c-hubs and possibly the uprights too. I may as well redesign if I'm reprinting because of the above slop issue, plus the big opportunity here relied on redesigning the arms, which I'm now doing anyway. Basically, my existing simple C-hub design places the wheel a way outside the suspension pivot - I could redesign to place the pivot outboard on the C-hub but only if I change the arm to clear more C-hub. Should be quite doable and a nice little design challenge. I may or may not redesign the upright at the same time - the current ones are fine but the Kyosho axle I'm using is longer than an M chassis one, so there may be a few mm in that but I'll probably only change it if I can stick with a consistent and big bearing size and if it makes a significant difference. - Rear camber link to spur cover clearance still needs attention -some baggy holes in some prints mean i think I'll reduce my printed hole size for M3 - the body, thin as it is over the rear tower, probably won't last. I probably won't change it now, because I like it, but at some point we'll move to a front half plus tower-mounted wing. - shared parts - as I redesign stuff I intend to keep parts sharing in mind, for stuff like arms and hubs especially. Would be great to run more cars with common spares. - and suspension settings. I think there's a bit too much roll at the moment, with this tending to lift a rear wheel at times. What should I do here? Harden up the front a little? Consider a front sway bar maybe (not designed in at the moment but I always had in mind a place for it) Edit: also changed the thread title
  2. BuggyDad

    Super Falcon

    The Falcon went well on astro at Tamiya Junkies. Loads of running and it drove quite well in the main but gave me a load of ideas to mull over. Once I got some suitable front tyres on it it was able to turn in well enough - the steering works well and the increased throw from my crank system is critical to this, although I suspect it could be improved a lot with suspension setup because it's heavily sensitive to front to back weight transfer and needs driving accordingly. The very flexible front arms were surprisingly less of an issue on the Astro than I expected, but I suspect they still make it very imprecise compared with something more solid. That said, they survived quite a few hits so the flexibility there is perhaps not to be sniffed at. Bearing wheels are a bit of a pain mostly because I want interchangeability, but also because I think I stand a better chance of finding something that looks right with hex. So I need to mull over whether to do a hex conversion (which would be easy), whether to design new arms, which is also not difficult per se but which might create an undesirable block/bulkhead weak point (or further highlight the already famous, but somewhat well braced on mine, chassis to Bulkhead fixing weakness). And just maybe to consider designing any changes into the mounting/bulkhead area (less easy) to preempt and solve those weak points. However, right at the end of the day I broke the gearbox housing. It'll have been an impact at the rear wheel that did it, I'm pretty sure, and if I can brace the suspension mounts left to right in front of the arms (already done behind) that'd solve that. However, there's a question around how far to go with this gearbox, which is geared for truck wheels (so I run a very powerful motor just for the top speed - not an ideal solution) and offers no real diff options. So as I see it I have a few options... The easy (assuming I can find room to do it) and cheap gearbox option is to strengthen the design I have and just run it. Another option is to fit a different gearbox altogether. With a combination of carbon sheet and a couple of 3d prints I reckon I could fit a BBX gearbox to it. That has many advantages: - all the diff and gearing options I could want - I use it on 2 other cars (and would nick the BBX's slipper - there's no need for a slipper on that) - 3 gear layout reduces squat (could have a really positive handling effect on this) - I'd design it then to share rear arms and uprights with my homebrew Mohawk buggy - I could, if I wanted, push the gearbox and arms back to extend wheelbase and improve weight balance But that idea has the disadvantages that the BBX box is expensive and the change makes this Falcon even less Falcon. Which brings up a final option, which is to focus my work on the Mohawk as a sort of "platform", but shape a second chassis (or maybe even use the tub) around the Falcon on it, to create a new "Mega Falcon" which is really a variation on the Mohawk. I think with keeping the yellow CVAs it would still look very nearly as Falcon-like as this already does. This uses so few existing Falcon parts that realistically I might as well fix up the current one with the minimum option for the price of the gearbox sprue and some modding time and wait to make a new one until I've refined the Mohawk successfully.
  3. Man, that's pretty. I'm not usually a gold fan but that really suits it. Looks very right. Do you plan funky mods too?
  4. On the Mid? My Mid a couple of posts up has the receiver mounted on the top deck, and my new receiver is taller than that. I guess it might get in the way of a driver figure if you had one but otherwise there seems a fair bit of room.
  5. I wonder how many left pointing models they would have to release to counteract the effects of a right pointing clodbuster? One for @wolfdogstinkus I think.
  6. Well, that was a heap of fun. Lovely to meet new people and chew the fat about toy cars. It was a privilege to meet you @Mad Ax, @naturbo2000, @ThunderDragonCy. Unfortunately, I mostly forgot to take pics. Just this after shot of some rather tired cars: But hey, tired is good, right? Having never run on a track before, there's a big old learning curve I think. Astro really brings out the differences between cars. Wrong tyres are a nightmare (I thought Tamiya Dual Blocks on my BBX would be OK, but they were awful). My Mid, which is stock except for suitable Schumacher 2.2 wheels and tyres, was brilliant. Balanced, predictable, just great. My Super Falcon was my car of the day though (once I put a pair of @ThunderDragonCy's front tyres on it - thanks Cy!) and it got twice as much running as anything else. Low slung buggies for the win. It's probably not very good by any proper driver's measure but I already like how it drives even though there are probably loads of things that aren't great about it. It turns in well enough for the tight bends so long as you tip the weight forward, it's about as quick as anything that's not a proper race buggy, it even seems to jump OK. It did loads of laps both inside and on the big outdoor track. On the negative side it finally blew its gearbox housing at the end of the day, which I thought might be a bit about too much power but was probably just an impact transferred through the rear arm. And I should probably harden up the suspension a bit - it's very soft. My BBX was interesting because what makes it great (composure over rough stuff and low grip surfaces), also makes it a bit rubbish in this environment. It started off understeering terribly, then I put some proper front tyres on it and it became ridiculously tail-happy. Maybe amplified by the new fronts also being so much smaller in diameter tipping it forward. Switched the rears as well (to give it comparable tyres to the Falcon) and it was well enough balanced front to rear but still insensitive and slow to react. A bit of a blob. I think with its height it can't handle much grip really, and it's too slow for a big outdoor track. It's wonderfully composed over bumps, gravelly stuff, but I certainly didn't get it singing on astro. Next time I'm on astro I'll try going back to the dual blocks on the back but to pair them with some really soft but bigger diameter fronts I have. Also lower the ride height. Maybe that'll give it enough front grip to turn ok without too much grip overall. Like the BBX, my DT-03 is set up as a basher to take the rough ground. I only gave it a brief run and didn't change tyres for it, so it wasn't much good (although it did occur to me that back-to-back the old Tx on it felt sluggish compared to my posh one). The homebrew buggy Mohawk sadly didn't get a proper run at things. It was driving really well but I snapped a front arm early. Although there will be a load of setup changes required, I'm pretty sure it'll be good, but it didn't get much of a test, only a few indoor laps. In hindsight I should've left it til I'd got more used to the track and out of the habit of running into that wall 😜. So for 3d printed arms it was a tale of opposites. Overbuild them and they tear your gearbox apart: Under build them and they fall apart: Overall, lovely day. I'm keen to do another one sometime soon and hopefully I can modify both Mohawk and Falcon a bit in the meantime to get them performing a little better. And bring a rally car instead of the DT-03. Maybe also kick me into building my TD4 too, as a genuinely suitable car (for which I have some spares!).
  7. This is the new one, as comes stock in the rereleased Mid. Ah ha, so my problem isn't unique, anyway. I have backed mine off only as far as I dare, which isn't much, because I want to retain some decent engagement with the locking portion of the nut. The result isn't really any significant change in the setting from stock, in that the torque required to overcome the slipper is still more than my motor/pinion can deliver. However there is at least a better chance than before than in the case of a shock the slipper might budge before something breaks. I think the nut is essentially an M4 wheel nut, so a slightly lower profile nyloc might be available but it needs to shift somewhat more than the ~1mm I've gone so far, so I'm skeptical that'd be enough. Another possible solution might be to reduce the Spacing the gearbox side of the slipper, where the manual calls for a 2.7mm spacer and a 0.3mm one. Perhaps combining reducing that 3mm down to say 2-2.5mm and a low profile wheel nut could be an option, together enabling just enough adjustment. Curious design though, and I'm surprised this hasn't come up on the forum before, or maybe it has? I couldn't find it anyway.
  8. If you're talking about the thin wera one, then I think they might do two different tips - normal and hex plus. If that's the case, don't discount the hex plus on the basis of the other ones. I haven't tried those thin ones (except for the tiny sizes) and I'm with you - I like a bit more handle.
  9. This is my approach. I have very few spares but 5 cars, so I figure that's plenty to go at. I'd be going some to break 5 cars. Plus it's not racing so presumably not so hard on them (unless you want to be). See ya there! *must not forget my batteries....
  10. Packed up my car also. Very much looking forward to this. I'll be the fellow with no idea what he's doing, and a flask of hot sausages. If you wouldn't mind, have a quick look and tell me what I've forgotten, would you? 😉 Fitted makeshift shock tower protection to all cars bar one, and found out that I can do click and collect at Schumacher HQ which is just up the road. So, all in all, a good day.
  11. This is the driver I use: https://toolstoredirect.co.uk/products/wera-05023105001 (the product is right, shop picked at random). I don't buy sets because my RC use is 90% 2mm. And I have a 1.5mm one like this: https://toolstoredirect.co.uk/products/wera-05118066001 I also use their hex plus bits for power screwdriver use.
  12. Phew. A bit wonky left to right but functional. I'm calling that a result and I think I've earned my lunch. And another half a notch on the score sheet for buying a second hand 3d printer, which could be another solution to this kind of problem (albeit probably not this exact problem, for which the pop bottle bottom is probably a better answer).
  13. I like Wera Hex Plus. They are shaped slightly off a regular hexagon to give more engagement and deeper into the corner, to be a bit kinder on your screw heads. They're also just well made tools. And the drivers are nice in the hand too.
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