Modifying ThunderShot family chassis for square lipo packs - talk to me!

[nowinaminute]

Anyone done this? Straight forward?

Took my TD out for a nice beach run yesterday with sand paddles and a 3900KV brushless and it ate batteries! My two rounded 4000mah 2s lipos didn't last too long! 

I could either buy a couple more rounded packs (not ideal in the current UK financial climate, the less money I spend now, the less chance of freezing to death this winter ) OR convert the chassis to fit square packs as well. I have 2x 8000mah and 2x 5200mah hard case packs. I'm pretty sure those, along with the 2 4000mah packs, would give sufficient run time!

So I'm just wondering if anyone has done this modification and has any tips/advice before I start hacking away?

Cheers, guys!

[nowinaminute]

The more I look at it, the more it seems like it will just be a simple hacksaw job? Just need to try and make it relatively neat...

 

[Grumpy pants]

33 minutes ago, nowinaminute said:

The more I look at it, the more it seems like it will just be a simple hacksaw job? Just need to try and make it relatively neat...

 

I can’t give any tips on your TD, other than maybe use a Dremel or similar if you have one in your tool kit 👍

[Andreas W]

I have not started the build yet, but based on how it looks on the M-05 I am currently building I would have used a file. Then you have control on how much material you are removing.

[markbt73]

I just looked at my un-built Terra Scorcher's chassis. It looks fairly straightforward to square off the openings, but one thing I will suggest is to drill a tiny hole where you want the corner to be, and then cut from the opening up to that hole. That way, there's still a tiny radius at the corner, not enough to get in the way of the battery, but it will help prevent cracking at the corners.

[Ziddan]

Its pretty easy, i used a drill for the corners and just cut/filed away excess material.

 

[nowinaminute]

Based on the small amount of plastic needing to go, I just used a hacksaw blade and went at it lol. Very easy to do.

Just used the tops and sides of the slots as a guide to start sawing into the material. Bit rough and ready but it does the job. I used a file to tidy it up a little and a round file in the corners to take the right angle away. I might add a couple of bits of felt tape inside the chassis to prevent any chafing, especially on sand runs.

But anyways, now I can run it until I get fed up and not until the batteries run out!

I'll add a couple of pics shortly.

 

[nowinaminute]

Not pretty but it will do! I could keep working at tidying it up but it seems pointless really, it will get all scuffed up in there after a few beach runs, anyway. I'll just get a new chassis if I ever sell it or want to make it look pretty again.



I was a bit worried about the pole connectors on my hard case lipos fouling the battery retainers but if you take them off and then insert the battery, there is room for them to go back on!



So that's about it! Hello boredom limited runtime!

[nowinaminute]

On 6/12/2022 at 5:08 PM, nowinaminute said:

I was a bit worried about the pole connectors on my hard case lipos fouling the battery retainers but if you take them off and then insert the battery, there is room for them to go back on!

....just remember the polarity when you pop them back in.............

 

 

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In other news, the Hobby King X-car 120a can sustain a brief period of reversed polarity and still work. The latter statement is not related to the former........I swear......