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jonboy1

WPL D12 wheel adaptors

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For the front axles can you not just use M-chassis freewheel axles? Or are they the wrong size for the axle bearings?

It's a shame those rear ones can't accommodate a short M4 screw or set screw instead of relying on threaded plastic. I'm guessing the head of an M4 screw wouldn't pass through the smaller hex shape (on the chassis side)?

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25 minutes ago, ChrisRx718 said:

For the front axles can you not just use M-chassis freewheel axles? Or are they the wrong size for the axle bearings?

It's a shame those rear ones can't accommodate a short M4 screw or set screw instead of relying on threaded plastic. I'm guessing the head of an M4 screw wouldn't pass through the smaller hex shape (on the chassis side)?

They aren't a direct fit on the fronts. I did try and it can be done though. You need the M-chassis front axles and a pair of bearings (4 in total) but you will also need to bore out the hubs to fit the bearings as they are a bit bigger than the plastic ones in the kit. Don't try and press them in - it'll break the hubs - trust me, I found out the hard way!

The other issue with using the M-chassis hubs is they want to spin in the bearings, so to tighten the nut you have to machine the head on the spindle to have a couple of flats on it so you have something to torque the nut against, hence the hex I put on the printed part.

Sadly not about the M4 screw through the hex. The hex is 5mm (from memory, maybe 6) so there is almost zero material left for a M4 thread to pass through with clearance. Plus you would still need a custom hex adaptor to go from the 5mm to 12mm.

I personally think the material I advise using is more than good enough for use - it's not far off the carbon plastic you get on the hop up parts, which take thread forms very well. Plus its not a very high stress feature - all the torque from the motor goes through the hex, it's only the lateral force of the wheel in a turn that pushes against the thread (which if you are drifting should be pretty low, otherwise you'd not be drifting)

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22 minutes ago, ChrisRx718 said:

For the front axles can you not just use M-chassis freewheel axles? Or are they the wrong size for the axle bearings?

It's a shame those rear ones can't accommodate a short M4 screw or set screw instead of relying on threaded plastic. I'm guessing the head of an M4 screw wouldn't pass through the smaller hex shape (on the chassis side)?

I know a few guys who used something to fit M-wheels onto the D12. I will ask them and let you know.

@jonboy1 nice 3D printed hubs. But when I looked at the price, $20 per set ($40 in total), it's almost the cost of a D12 ($49). Honestly, it is expensive. More expensive than Tamiya aluminum hubs ($12-18 set of 4). Someone will eventually come up with an aluminum upgrade for that which will be even better.

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48 minutes ago, Nicadraus said:

I know a few guys who used something to fit M-wheels onto the D12. I will ask them and let you know.

@jonboy1 nice 3D printed hubs. But when I looked at the price, $20 per set ($40 in total), it's almost the cost of a D12 ($49). Honestly, it is expensive. More expensive than Tamiya aluminum hubs ($12-18 set of 4). Someone will eventually come up with an aluminum upgrade for that which will be even better.

See above for how to use the M-Chassis hubs

I agree about the price, unfortunately that's almost all Shapeways production costs  (I make about $5 on a set of 4) so I'm sure people will copy my design and print them for themselves for less. Can I stop them? No. Does it bother me? Not really. Will "someone come up with an aluminium upgrade for that which will be even better"? Yes, I'm sure they will, and I hope you enjoy using them. I'm not twisting anyone's arm into buying these - I developed these for myself and offered them as a product for anyone else interested. If no one wants them - fine - I honestly don't care - I have mine which is all I wanted.  

 

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I just stated that the hub set being offered is really expensive. Considering it's plastic. That's in a consumer's point of view. 

Now from a builder's point of view, those threads may not even last for normal regular bashing. Axle threads are supposed to be made in metal and not plastic. Even 1:28/24/20/18/16 RC scales uses metal as axles and not plastic.

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1 hour ago, jonboy1 said:

See above for how to use the M-Chassis hubs

I agree about the price, unfortunately that's almost all Shapeways production costs  (I make about $5 on a set of 4) so I'm sure people will copy my design and print them for themselves for less. Can I stop them? No. Does it bother me? Not really. Will "someone come up with an aluminium upgrade for that which will be even better"? Yes, I'm sure they will, and I hope you enjoy using them. I'm not twisting anyone's arm into buying these - I developed these for myself and offered them as a product for anyone else interested. If no one wants them - fine - I honestly don't care - I have mine which is all I wanted.  

 

Not knocking your designs for one moment - honestly it's great work and I appreciate all the effort it must have taken to put those together. I just wondered whether there were any possibilities to improve the rear ones with a metal thread from a screw.

I wonder if an M4 set-screw could work, if the plastic part just had a 4mm (or 3.8) hole in?

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56 minutes ago, Nicadraus said:

Ooohh.... Someone sounds *******ed.

I just stated that the hub set being offered is really expensive. Considering it's plastic. That's in a consumer's point of view. 

Now from a builder's point of view, those threads may not even last for normal regular bashing. Axle threads are supposed to be made in metal and not plastic. Even 1:28/24/20/18/16 RC scales uses metal as axles and not plastic.

No I'm not *******ed.

Saying something is expensive because it's plastic is quite ignorant. An ABS body for a Mountain Rider is what $50? A 1:18 scale plastic model is $200+ and some people think that's good value. Not only does the cost depend on the material being used (plastic is not just plastic, there are thousands of different types that have different properties) but also the work that goes into the design and manufacturing. 3D printing is still a fairly expensive process - if you wanted a 1:18 scale model car 3D printed you would be looking at about 3-5x the price you currently pay. As I said, I only added about $2.50 profit onto these parts, so it's almost all process and material costs. I have no control over that - I paid the same costs myself. That's just the cost of 3D printing using decent materials. I've offered them with a cheaper material but I, as you state too, don't think that would be very advisable for running. As I said, not all plastics are equal.

Yes, an aluminium version of these adaptors could be better (again depends on the grade of material as aluminium can be softer than some plastics) and probably would be cheaper made in China where labour is super cheap and they can make thousands of them for not much outlay. But currently that is not an option available to buy, so choices are limited. I don't have a hobby mill and lathe, if I did I'd make them myself out of aluminium instead of 3D printing them. So, if people want to put different wheels on their D12s and don't have access to a mill/lathe/3D printer, what are their options? Are you going to make some and sell them? 

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9 minutes ago, jonboy1 said:

So, if people want to put different wheels on their D12s and don't have access to a mill/lathe/3D printer, what are their options?

Conversion, custom fitting and retro fitting. That's where ingenuity comes in and creativity works when resources are limited.

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1 hour ago, Nicadraus said:

Now from a builder's point of view, those threads may not even last for normal regular bashing. Axle threads are supposed to be made in metal and not plastic. Even 1:28/24/20/18/16 RC scales uses metal as axles and not plastic.

From a Designers point of view, that is a fake statement. I design tools for downhole drilling and we often use a material called PEEK which is an incredibly strong, tough and resilient plastic that is used on many threaded, bearing and sealing applications in which metal cannot be used. 

The reason metal is used in the applications you mention is because they are cheaper to make in metal when length of service vs material cost is applied. A plastic that works in a similar way to a metal in a thread, bearing etc has a higher unit cost. Where you don't need the strength of metal, plastic is cheaper - hence why Tamiya chassis' are normally plastic, not metal.

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1 minute ago, Nicadraus said:

Conversion, custom fitting and retro fitting. That's where ingenuity comes in and creativity works when resources are limited.

That's exactly what designing a custom part on 3D software is.

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hey all, just wanted to publicly apologise for my tirade here yesterday. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did, sorry.

I chatted to @Nicadraus through PM and we're all good :) thanks man ;)

 

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and just to add, there are a tonne of alloy wheels etc specifically for the D12 available now on aliexpress

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