First attempt at Leaf Springs

[crazyorigin]

Here is what i ended up with for my first attempt at building some leaf springs. I may end up needing to make some longer shackles, but i will get them mounted up before i make that decision. These will sit on top of some locked TLT axles, i still need to make the spring perches. They measure at right around 6" long so they should be plenty flexy. I made them from some Briggs and Stratton recloi starter spring, the shackles i made from some 7075 aluminum so they should be very strong. Let me know what you guys think, they arent perfect, but they should work.

[rcjeepbuilder]

Wow those look great!

[DonsATV]

Originally Posted by rcjeepbuilder

Wow those look great!

X2!!!
How ya plan on mounting them to the axles??

[52crawler]

really like the shackles. how did you make them? looks like you machined them.

[crazyorigin]

The shackles i made on a CNC lathe i operate where i work. It is a 5 axis lathe, with live tooling allowing me to make basicaly anything i can figure out how to tell it to make. I'm not 100% definate on how they will be mounted, but there are flat spots on my TLT axles that sit rite under the chassis i have perfectly, i will make some sort of clamping decive that will clamp to the springs and them bolt onto the axles. I wil also CNC the mounts from aluminum. Thanks for the compliments guys i appreciate them.

[gyrene]

WOW Those look great. I need to make my own springs. I am having a difficult time getting the "factory made" ones to work the way I want.
I really like the scale look of leafs and I'd like to use them more in some builds.

[LIKES2CRAWL]

Cool to see that you made your own leafs, if they don't work to your likings you may wanna look into these.
http://www.rpphobby.com/ProductDetai...tCode=c63leafs

[C*H*U*D]

Originally Posted by crazyorigin

The shackles i made on a CNC lathe i operate where i work. It is a 5 axis lathe, with live tooling allowing me to make basicaly anything i can figure out how to tell it to make..

Very impressive!!

I'd really like to see how you set up your CNC lathe to make these. If you make any more parts, can you take a few pictures of your setup?

[dkur]

Nice!
I would like to see how "flexy" the single spring is.

How did you bend the spring steel without it snapping?

Did you anneal the ends?

[Tomy]

Originally Posted by dkur

Nice!
I would like to see how "flexy" the single spring is.

How did you bend the spring steel without it snapping?

Did you anneal the ends?

x2

Please let us know how you bent the springs. They look great!

[crazyorigin]

I cannot realy tak pictures of my machines at work. Technicaly i can be fired for doing this. Its a pretty high end CNC lathe, its getting a little old now but at the time it was purchased it was top of the line, it is a Hitachi Seiki HiCell, i forget the exact model as we have a few diffrent versions of the same thing. Essentialy the toolholding station in front of the spindle that holds the stock mives up, down, left, and right as well as in and out. It is also equipped with live tool holders (motor driven tool stations) that come straight out and out at a 90 degree angle allowing many diffrent options for tools like endmills and drills. The tool turred holds 10 tools, 5 live, 5 non, and there is a rear auxiliary tool turret that will hold 12 more tools that can be changed out into the fromt turret via a mechanical arm setup that changes the tools.


i heated the ends of the spring with mapp gas from a blowtorch. I got it glowing red and bent it around another bushing i made. I found if you let it cool naturaly, which it cools very fast, rather than quench it with water it makes it less brittle. It is still brittle, but unless i realy slam into something very hard i doubt they will fail.

[DonsATV]

Originally Posted by crazyorigin

i will make some sort of clamping decive that will clamp to the springs and them bolt onto the axles. I wil also CNC the mounts from aluminum.

That sounds about like how I mounted my leafs to my Axial axles on my Willys since I didn't feel like trying to drill 8 holes in spring steel. I sandwiched mine in between 2 pieces of aluminum with a piece of cutting board in there also and couldn't believe how well it bites on the spring.





I'm sure yours will look 1000x better than mine but all I had to work with were basic hand tools.

[crazyorigin]

Nice job on making something on your own, all you need is simple hand tools and a little resourcefullness. The cutting board was a good material to use as they are generaly always a very durable plastic material. I may end up using an old cutting board we have for a skidplate, i didnt realy think about it until now, i will see, i hope it is not the only one we have in the house or the ole' lady may not be pleased.

Did you run a spring under setup on those axles, or just inverted leafs?

[monkeylube]

Let us know how well they perform. they look good.

[DonsATV]

Originally Posted by crazyorigin

Nice job on making something on your own, all you need is simple hand tools and a little resourcefullness. The cutting board was a good material to use as they are generaly always a very durable plastic material. I may end up using an old cutting board we have for a skidplate, i didnt realy think about it until now, i will see, i hope it is not the only one we have in the house or the ole' lady may not be pleased.

Did you run a spring under setup on those axles, or just inverted leafs?

Thanks!! The cutting board I found at Wallyworld on the clearance rack. Yeah I'm running spring under on that rig.

[crazyorigin]

That undercariage looks fimiliar. Isnt that a willy's jeep build?

[DonsATV]

Originally Posted by crazyorigin

That undercariage looks fimiliar. Isnt that a willy's jeep build?

Yup!! Mine. Hard to believe a single spring and stock bruiser shocks hold up a 12 lb rig.

[crazyorigin]

I mounted up the front end to see how it would look. Shackles were hung in front as i hear it offers better flex, feels better that way too, tried it the other way around, also the angle of the spring was akward with shackles in the rear. I need to stretch the rear of my chassis to fit my clod repro body. The shock is just laid in place, if they work well without the spring on them i will turn down the threads on the shock bodies. Now i need to build some shock towers, and either narrow the chassis or build my shackles with an offset level to clamp onto the spring. We will see, likely the chasis will get narrowed as it will be the easiest route.



Wow! a 12 lb rig, that thing is a tank! I plan to keep this light and hopefully build a little high horse mud rig. I have some big sheets of clear plastic much like the lexan body's are, i want to seal evreything off under the body to keep it clean/dry.

It will likely not be beautifull but it should get the job done. May go with a traxxas waterproof/brushless setup/small lipo, or sidewinder, havent decided. I'll get the transmision figured out first, i was thinking of going with a 1/18 scale brushless system and a 1/16 slash/revo tranny to keep weight down, but it will likely get very hot with the big 2.2 wheels/tires, not sure, the mini route will be cheaper yet which is apealing too.

I was going to go with chassis mounted steering, but i think i will end up leaving the servo on the axle. it should work better that way, plus it will be easier to do, i'm trying to keep this thing simple so far, i usualy get carried away. I just talked myself out of making a new chassis, it would be a shame not to use this MFM chassis i got with the other parts, its pretty nice.

[crazyorigin]

I got the holding blocks for the leaf springs done today. I may angle them, not sure yet, but i will likely need to to prevent driveshaft bind, i gotta see how far i can even go w/o throwing the caster way off. I drilled out the 2 holes on the bottom of the TLT axles striaght thru the plastic housing, it threads into the lower block, the top block has a .015x.250 slot in it to lock onto the leaf spring, and that bolts to the lower clock. The top blocks are drilled and tapped on the sides on 2 places on each side of the block. this will be for mounting shocks, and some traction bars as i think i will get a good bot of axle wrap with the motor i want in this. The chassis cross pieces will need to be narrowed a little bit, i dont want to run the framerails any closer than they are to prevent problems setting up the tranny.

I may do the steering behind the axle to keep it out of harms way. I plan to get some aluminum knuckles for the front, clocked C's if i can find them, and the knuckle eliminator on the rear soon. I plan to run 2.2 Mud Slinger tires on this, not the yokohama's pictured.