TT-02B Plasma Edge II

[skom25 2321]

Hi,

Time for proper build Topic of TT-02B Plasma Edge II. "Proper" because my previous build was more like questions topic. 

I have to say one thing: it will be slow build. I do not see reason to hurry and just think twice before I do or upgrade something. I did some mistakes with my DT-03 and I want to avoid them during this build.

I am still not sure about Hop Ups. I ordered few at start and had few already.

Now I have/ will arrive:

- Aluminium drive shaft and shaft ends

- High torque servo saver

- Adjustable turnbuckles

- Ball joints 

- 3mm shims

- Ball bearings

- Red orings 

- Stainless suspension shafts

I am not sure if I will be able to use the last one. Shafts I have seems to be little long and I am not sure if they will not collide with wheels.

I was surprised that in kit I found Hobbywing 1060 ESC branded as Carson. Great news, because I had plan to order it instead of TBLE from kit. Just to have comparison. Downside is connector for battery: Dean. There is adapter in kit, but I do not want to use it. Probably I will have to cut cables and solder them to adapter. I have not found Tamiya connector to buy anywhere.

Hop Ups questions:

I have plan to buy low friction king pins #54550 to remove some slope in sterring links. Have anyone of you tried this and can confirm that it will really remove some play? I found this advice on RC Racer site, but want to confirm.

What about lightweight pins #53141 for uprights? I really hate look of standard metal ones.

Motor. I see heat sink and motor mount. Both of them will be too expensive. Which one will be better?

Driveshaft shims. Anyone knows dimensions? Again, I found this on RC Racer site but without exact dimensions. I am also not sure, where to install them. Someone wrote me, that shims on photo are on wrong side and will increase gap.

https://www.thercracer.com/2014/08/tamiya-tt02-guide-mods-tuning-and-tips.html

Update:

I cut all parts from sprues.

I do not know why, but windows stickers are from Black Metallic version 😁

I really recommend Tamiya cutters. Quality is very high and makes work really easy and fast. Do not use those cheap cutters.

Next step: Sanding

I will sand cutting marks and all contact surfaces. 

[one_hit 1127]

ESC connector: keep the deans plug and forget about swapping it to a crappy Tamiya plug. The Tamiya plug belongs in the trash can
 

Steering: get the cheap unbranded aluminum steering sets. They are clones of the YR parts. 
 

Motor: buy the cheap, unbranded aluminum motor mount (YR clone). Mount a fan onto part D8

 

Driveshaft shims: No need. I have none on my TT-02 Type S and TT-02B. You will be fine. 

[skom25 2321]

28 minutes ago, one_hit said:

ESC connector: keep the deans plug and forget about swapping it to a crappy Tamiya plug. The Tamiya plug belongs in the trash can

My batteries have Tamiya connectors. I do not see anything wrong with them. I run stock motor.

[Kowalski86 4483]

 

36 minutes ago, skom25 said:

My batteries have Tamiya connectors. I do not see anything wrong with them. I run stock motor.

Tamiya plugs are fine for the stock motor on Nimh power, if you get into LiPOs you'll want to run something else.

[TurnipJF 10444]

9 hours ago, skom25 said:

There is adapter in kit, but I do not want to use it. Probably I will have to cut cables and solder them to adapter. I have not found Tamiya connector to buy anywhere.

The supplied adapter is a bit too long, but there are more compact ones available. These are the ones I use:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253669395537

 

9 hours ago, skom25 said:

What about lightweight pins #53141 for uprights? I really hate look of standard metal ones.

I bought a set, also purely for the looks if I'm honest. I like them. 

 

9 hours ago, skom25 said:

Motor. I see heat sink and motor mount. Both of them will be too expensive. Which one will be better?

A slotted alloy motor mount like the Yeah Racing one contributes to cooling, robustness and gives more gearing options without causing any interference with the shell or other parts. The heatsink only helps with cooling and can get in the way. I'm sure you can guess which I went for... 😁

 

9 hours ago, skom25 said:

I have plan to buy low friction king pins #54550 to remove some slope in sterring links. Have anyone of you tried this and can confirm that it will really remove some play? I found this advice on RC Racer site, but want to confirm.

Even the most basic ballraced alloy steering sets tend to be stronger and smoother than the stock plastic setup, low friction step screws or not. Just be prepared to swap out the supplied bearings and potentially use bearing seating compound if you go budget aftermarket.

I use the GPM set in my TT-02B, which benefited from a bearing upgrade but didn't need any seating compound as the machining tolerances were good. 

The Yeah Racing set that I use in my on-road TT-02 Type S is better still, with good machining tolerances and good quality bearings as standard.

Both options were considerably more affordable than their Tamiya equivalents.

[droidy 91]

6 hours ago, skom25 said:

cheap cutters

Save the cheap cutters for very hard glass reinforced plastic which might blunt or break your nice new cutters.

[one_hit 1127]

8 hours ago, skom25 said:

My batteries have Tamiya connectors. I do not see anything wrong with them. I run stock motor.

Those Tamiya plugs are rated for only 15 amps MAX while Deans are rated for 60 amps continuous and up to 75 amp burst. Deans are cheap and I suggest swapping out the connectors on your batteries to deans instead, or better yet, XT60. One day I’ll swap all of my stuff to XT60. Those Tamiya plugs will eventually loosen up as you connect/disconnect and even if using the stock silvercan, they can overheat when using lipo and aggressive gearing. Ask me how I know.  

[skom25 2321]

Thanks for advice! I use NiMh for now. If I will see that something is wrong, I will change them. Now I do not want to do this, because of lack of experience.

Someday I will just buy batteries with different connector and stick to them. Changing connector on ESC will be easy, because there is no risk. Batteries are more dangerous, so at least for now, I do not want to do this.

[skom25 2321]

First Hop Ups arrived:

I have just realised, that "HEX" on ball joints means that they have Hex slot in head... I am not sure if I like this design.

I ordered also sprue A. It is nice set, because contains parts which will wear down: shocks towers, chassis covers, suspension sleeves, servo mount etc. Very nice compared to DT-03, where you have to buy whole chassis to get shock towers.

[alvinlwh 7419]

Don't worry about the Tamiya connectors which is fine for your current application. I did change for Dean's and then XT60 as I got more aggressive with lipos, but at this moment for you, there is no need to change. They maybe "bad" in many others usage but adequate for you at the moment.

[skom25 2321]

Thanks! I was little worried, so thank you for calming me down.

I will also try to bend connectors from time to time, to have tighter fit.

[TurnipJF 10444]

1 hour ago, skom25 said:

I have just realised, that "HEX" on ball joints means that they have Hex slot in head... I am not sure if I like this design.

Those are excellent for mounting shocks to the stock shock towers, as you can access the hex with your Allen key even if the shock is in place. You can therefore easily take the shocks off and put them on again without having to pop them off the connectors, which means you won't be stretching them each time, so they won't wear out as quickly. 👍

[alvinlwh 7419]

1 hour ago, skom25 said:

I will also try to bend connectors from time to time, to have tighter fit.

You will know when it is time to change when you run into problems. I changed from Tamiya to Dean's because lipo comes with Dean's. And then I changed from Dean's to XT60 because the Dean's are too loose and disconnected when driving my rally build violently. Even brand-new matched XT60 do pop, but at least their electrical connection are more protected compared to Dean's where I worry about some loose piece of metal or conductive stone or something can cause a short.

Like I said, you will know when it is time to change.

[one_hit 1127]

I suggested switching your batteries to deans because I believe in the “do it right the first time” mentality. Yes it’s fine for your use case right now, but if you ever upgrade to a hotter motor or lipo power, you will have to change the connector. Since you will be cutting and soldering the adapter anyway, you might as well just change your battery plug to deans and be future-proof. 

[skom25 2321]

@one_hit I totally understand you, but I do not have any plans to go for more powerful motor and LiPo batteries. Someday it will happen, I am sure, but not for now and not with two models I have.

To be honest, I do not understand that pursuit after more speed and power. I run my cars on tight, technical asphalt courses and for me, 540 TT motor is enough. I prefer to focus on precision and technique, not on going straight without control.

If it will happen, probably I will just go for a new set of electronics and match everything. 

I am also trying not to do things "for future". I did this with my other hobbies and really regretted in many cases.

[one_hit 1127]

11 minutes ago, skom25 said:

@one_hit I totally understand you, but I do not have any plans to go for more powerful motor and LiPo batteries. Someday it will happen, I am sure, but not for now and not with two models I have.

To be honest, I do not understand that pursuit after more speed and power. I run my cars on tight, technical asphalt courses and for me, 540 TT motor is enough. I prefer to focus on precision and technique, not on going straight without control.

If it will happen, probably I will just go for a new set of electronics and match everything. 

I am also trying not to do things "for future". I did this with my other hobbies and really regretted in many cases.

You will understand the pursuit for more speed and power once you are long enough in the hobby and start to outgrow the kit motor. Faster motors do not necessarily mean no control. Anyway since you so sure to stick with the kit motor, the prop shaft, motor mount and heatsink aren’t really necessary. I’d upgrade the steering instead, it’s an upgrade that you will definitely feel immediately versus the motor mount and heatsink that you don’t really need if you’re staying stock  

 

[one_hit 1127]

@skom25 try to search around for cheap TT-02 parts. Here in the popular local e-commerce site I can buy a TT-02 steering set for less than $5 and the motor mount for less than $4 (which I did). Prices below are in Philippine pesos

[Kowalski86 4483]

1 hour ago, skom25 said:

To be honest, I do not understand that pursuit after more speed and power. I run my cars on tight, technical asphalt courses and for me, 540 TT motor is enough. I prefer to focus on precision and technique, not on going straight without control.

If it will happen, probably I will just go for a new set of electronics and match.

I think that's a smart plan, build your buggy, get used to it, then in time experiment with more power if you feel that it needs it.

If you're going to run your TT-02B on asphalt I do suggest different wheels and tires, they take anything with a 12mm hex so you can buy a cheap generic set. Same offset front and back.

Hex Head screws give you a nice grip, and hex head tools don't scratch as bad if you slip up. They're nice to have if you have the right tools for them.

[skom25 2321]

19 minutes ago, Kowalski86 said:

If you're going to run your TT-02B on asphalt I do suggest different wheels and tires, they take anything with a 12mm hex so you can buy a cheap generic set. Same offset front and back.

Probably I will use Block K. I have them on rear of DT-03 and difference is huge compared to stock Spikes.

[alvinlwh 7419]

23 hours ago, skom25 said:

- Stainless suspension shafts

I am not sure if I will be able to use the last one. Shafts I have seems to be little long and I am not sure if they will not collide with wheels.

Get yourself some M3 spacers, Tamiya or otherwise, if necessary to center the shafts. Replace your 3 x 32 screw pins with 3 x 37 shafts.

 

[skom25 2321]

@alvinlwh

I bought two sets for DT-03 and used only four. I have four 37 mm shafts and will use them.

Update:

Diffs ready. I mounted almost all parts on drill and sanded edges, to remove all imperfections and excess of material. Probably it will not make any difference, but at least I know that I done everything I could. Somehow, I think that big two gears inside diff need some sanding. They touch diff body and should be perfectly smooth. Straight from box, they have quite a lot material on edge. It is like plastic "hair" on edge.

Of course I did not sand gears mesh. Only top part of edge, but still I sanded probably no more than few hundreds of milimeter. Anyhow, that part of gears do not engage with others, so it will not be issue.

I really recommend to use sand paper on "cross" which holds gears. There is line where moulds are joined together and gears do not spin freely. Few passes of 800 grit, than 1200 and 2500.

I am really sorry for little chaotic description. English is not my first language and sometimes is hard to explain more complicated things.

[alvinlwh 7419]

20 minutes ago, skom25 said:

I bought two sets for DT-03 and used only four. I have four 37 mm shafts and will use them.

These shafts pack are my bulk buy items which I keep quite a few on hand, I have lost count of how many sets I bought. I recently found some on AliExpress and will be trying them out in the future. I had changed from Tamiya to AE for my M3 spacers too.

[Kowalski86 4483]

17 hours ago, skom25 said:

  really sorry for little chaotic description. English is not my first language and sometimes is hard to explain more complicated things.

I didn't have any problems understanding your description. It's odd how gears in some kits need to be sanded down and others come in a bag already sanded (like my M05).

[alvinlwh 7419]

25 minutes ago, Kowalski86 said:

It's odd how gears in some kits need to be sanded down

It really depends on how fussed you are. Some will even polish all mating surface. Personally, I just let them run themselves in. 😁

In all seriousness, I remember seeing somewhere that rough diff gears is not important at all as they don't normally turn much, nor at high speed, unless the car had "diffed out", which then don't matter much.

[skom25 2321]

You are right. Internals do not turn too much. In my case, it is part of fun. I like to do this, just for satisfaction. It is also habit from static models, where smoother = better.

1 hour ago, Kowalski86 said:

It's odd how gears in some kits need to be sanded down and others come in a bag already sanded (like my M05).

I believe it is related to chassis level. More expensive chassis = better quality. Probably sprue with gears is much cheaper than single gears in mould. Of course, if you do not like sprue with gears, you can go to LHS and buy Hop Up diff. Business is business 🤑