Resurrecting and hopping up an old (Super) Hornet

[JakeRobb 14]

 

18 hours ago, Andreas W said:

In my answer I assumed that you were going to keep the solid rear axle. If you are going the ThunderDragoncy-route with Dragon rear suspension things change a little. Then you do'nt need the balloon rear tires, because now you got a proper working rear suspension. You also got an adjustable motor mount, so you can choose different pinion-sizes according to what you want to acchieve. For the proper looks I then would have got the 2,2 Wild One wheels from JC Racing Products (like Cy is riding) and some Schumacher tires according to preference. 

The endbell is where the motor axle and axle bushing is attached (and the wires, yes). It's fully correct that larger diameter will decrease the torque towards the surface. In your case (given that you run the solid rear axle) i think the BZ has so much torque that you end up with even more top speed and lots of heat. 

I’m sticking with solid for now at least. Will decide if I want to put the effort in on an IRS once I have the steering conquered. The two minutes of run time I had before disaster struck was very promising: with spike tires, it was good fun in my yard and gravel driveway, and wicked fast on asphalt. I didn’t have any issues controlling it, but obviously two minutes is not a large enough sample size!

I’m still waiting to see if I have heat issues. Probably. We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it, as my dad likes to say. I ordered a set of those larger tires, as well as a couple others in more normal sizes but different tread patterns to try. Looking for something with a good balance of acceleration, top speed, traction, and heat that is reasonably well suited to both grass and pavement. I’ll report back when I know more!

[JakeRobb 14]

5 hours ago, WillyChang said:

OP wanted sticks  hence his search for 3GR. 

Downunder cheapest stick Futaba I’ve held is 4YWD for around A$240; 3PV is about A$230. 

Just noticed arrival of T6L in either Mode 1 or 2... priced at A$150ish. Could be decent entry level Futaba for anybody wanting sticks going forward.

Flysky is like A$60ish for T4B or GT2B.

KO is making some interesting gear lately, decently priced vs Sanwa/Futaba too... have you seen their MC8?  A$150 for 6-channel!

 

You got me excited there for a sec, but those are all dual-axis sticks. I want a left stick that only moves up and down, and a right stick that only moves left and right.

The 3GR-2.4 is perfect. I paid too much to have it shipped from Germany (because that was literally the only one I could find), but it is exactly what I wanted! I really like all of the digital tuning options — for example it can limit the rate of change on either channel so that I don’t accelerate or steer too abruptly.

[JakeRobb 14]

I’m coming along on the parallelogram steering. I have something halfway mocked up that seems like it’s going to work! I used some spare bits of thin aluminum plate and shaped them with a disc grinder. Just a few details to work out:

1. The turnbuckles are a bit too long — significant toe-in at their shortest setting — and they’re a bit too bulky at the end. If anybody knows a good place to shop for turnbuckles that actually lets you filter by the key dimensions and end fittings, that would be really helpful!
2. I need to make a piece that links the two sides, and I need to make a mechanism to connect to the servo.
3. Once I have a setup that works, I’m going to re-fab the whole thing with bearings — right now it’s just through holes with screws and nuts. It’s a little sloppy, but suitable for a proof of concept!

Also, the oversize tires I ordered showed up. They are substantially bigger than I expected, but they fit with no interference. I honestly kinda love how it looks with these on. Hilarious in an aggressive sort of way.

So, with those tires on, I had to play a little — even with no steering. So, once again, I hooked up the battery, powered it on, pointed the wheels straight, and goosed it. There’s still enough torque and traction to pull a wheelie from a stop on carpet! I didn’t stay in it, so I don’t know if it can still flip itself over. 

Ignoring the inevitable heat issues that will come from this combo, I’m pretty sure this setup will be an absolute rollover king, and I’m kinda thinking about a wider set of tires for the front, too. 

[JakeRobb 14]