Grasshopper/CW-01 gearbox outdrive adapter - 3d printable.

[Ziddan 836]

Back when i was building up the chassi for my Midnight Beetle i had decided i wanted independent rear suspension and less unsprung weight.

What i initially tried was the 3d printed grasshopper trailing arm conversion by miniguy71, i run that on my Sandhopper, works great there after i thickened up the sides of the gearbox a bit, the initial print i did flexed which caused the spur gear axle to slip out of position.

But i couldnt get it to work with the CW-01 motor adapter plate/10 tooth pinion, it would require redesigning the gearbox and long hours to print each test/iteration.

After having a think i instead decided to risk the spare gearbox i had (due to the Sandhopper not using the original one) and try making it work with outdrives.

The think came down to "Ill need a place to put the left side bearing as the slot for one goes if i cut the axle off and the axle spacer needs to go in order for a drive cup to reach the diff".

As things turned out it wasnt very hard

This is the bit i designed, it slots into the left side of the gearbox.

I cut the axles off flush with the outside of the gearbox, to get the left outdrive in place i had to open up the hole a little so that it could butt up against the bearing, im using the diff output gears from the grasshopper trailing arm conversion.

For the actual suspension i cut the original front pivot/mount of the gearbox and used the arms from the trailing arm conversion by miniguy71 and my personal remix combining the grasshopper conversion mount with files for an extended cw-01 wheelbase mount.

miniguy71 does not allow for derivative creations based off his stuff so unfortunately im unable to share the mount i used to attach the gearbox to my chassi.

This is what it initially looked like.

And here it is on my Midnight Beetle, i just added some vertical braces to hold the gearbox in place, due to the extended wheelbase i had to move the shock mounts backwards in order the clear the motor but it works and looks great when the body is on.

After poking at it a bit i realized that with the extension i was having a lot of flex in the rear deck which i sorted by adding in the 45 degreeish braces going from the rear deck to the gearbox mount, triangulated and strong now

Anyways, no idea if anyone else will have need of this but it easily allows for using a proven solid gearbox/diff in custom builds.

The file is attached below:

Grasshopper-CW01 outdrive gearbox adapter.zip

[pastimesteve 48]

Hello! Really cool modification. Thanks for sharing. Miniguy doesn't really share printer setting recommendations for his parts.

Would you mind sharing the settings you found that worked well for his parts, along with best filament? Sorry, I'm a bit of a newbie.

Thank you!

Steve

[Ziddan 836]

Sorry, i had completely miss you question but i figure i will add it here in case anyone else comes looking:

I dont recall my settings

Its not a super high tolerance print so anything that gives you good strong prints with okayish accuracy on hole sizes should be fine