Remote Control Truck - Version 2
In high school I built a remote control truck with functional suspension in the style of a desert prerunner. I learned and grew so much while completing the project, and by the end my abilities had outpaced the limitations of the design I started with. Even though the truck drove (for a little while), I always knew I could improve it substantially. Ideas stewed in my head for four years until I picked this project back up during quarantine. The build thread has excruciating detail and lots of photos. A summary of the recent work follows.
I began by addressing all of the issues I had with the previous truck. Imperfect suspension geometry, home-made front control arms were never quite straight, poor weight balance, and a difficult to remove battery topped the list of improvements I made. I bent 3/16" steel rods and brazed them together to form the frame of the truck. There is roughly twenty feet of steel rod in the truck, but the frame weighs under two pounds, less than 25% of the weight of the completed truck. The front suspension pieces are held together by a 3D printed bulkhead, allowing me to iterate quickly to improve fit and strength.
In less than two months the new chassis, front suspension, and supporting parts were complete. Many parts are re-used from the previous iteration, keeping my costs very low. This chassis is much stronger in necessary areas than the previous design. For example, the structure behind the front bumper is meant to protect the plastic body in a collision.
With the body shell on it looks just like a small Ford Raptor, complete with off-road modifications. Just as I planned, the second version of this truck is far more functional: it drive straighter and more predictably through turns, I can change the battery without a complete disassembly, and much more. I have a variety of variables I can tweak to further improve driving characteristics: sway bar stiffness, spring rate, damping and rebound, tire stiffness and much more. I still break it every time I drive it, because that happens when I push my creations to their limits.