The Kid's Yeti

[mrmachinist]

Well I bought my 8 year old son a yeti for his birthday 2 weeks ago. I'm running it on 3s since that was what was in the package deal I bought.
So far he's broken the rear driveshaft (replaced with MIP), and stripped the spur (ordered a steel 64T), and lost 2 spring retainers.



I had some downtime at work so I made a set of retainers that won't come off out of some aluminum. I'm not sure if anyone has done this before or not ( I didn't search ) but I thought it was a good idea.






My son want to learn how to use my lathe and mill I have at home so we will be making some parts here and there. I see links in the future for sure.

[Brake Weight]

I don't think I'd turn an 8yo loose on a lathe.

The spring cups look good. If you're happy with the spring rates then it'll be fine. If you want to swap them out you'll spend a little time backing off the ball end.

Why not get some 2s batteries?


#CamBrady2017

[mrmachinist]

I fought losing the retainers on his last truck. I don't mind him having to work to change things on the truck if it keeps me from buying those things in bulk.

We aren't racing this thing just tearing up the back yard so we don't do much tuning anyway.

He's not a typical 8 year old either. Very technical, loves math, hates cartoons and normal toys. My in laws have a construction company so he's driven bobcats, mini ex, compactor, tractors, dozers, rollers, dump truck (auto trans), truck, etc since he was 4. He's better than me on the construction equipment. He learned to drive an old Willy's flat fender with a 3 speed manual at 4 years old. Driving around their 40 acres was awesome to see. I doesn't hurt that he's extremely tall for his age.

He has come to work with me and ran CNC machines, and can do basic drawings on autocad.

I won't turn him loose on the machines but I will let him help and teach him how to do things.




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[Ty1330]

Chewed spur gear is most likely a result of the flexible motor mount setup. If it happens again it would be the first thing I'd suggest to change

[ScaleFreak93]

What about cutting an 1/8" or so slot in the retainers and then drill and tap a couple holes for some small hardware or one for an m3 or m2.5 screw? Then you'd have a clamping retainer without having to take the rod end off.

[mrmachinist]

Originally Posted by ScaleFreak93

What about cutting an 1/8" or so slot in the retainers and then drill and tap a couple holes for some small hardware or one for an m3 or m2.5 screw? Then you'd have a clamping retainer without having to take the rod end off.

That's a great idea, they would have to be made a little different to have some meat for a screw. We have a lake with live tooling at the shop. If I get some downtime I might see what I can come up with.

I sliced my finger open and got stitches yesterday, so doing it at home on my manual machines is out. If nothing else I'll draw something up on autocad and play with dimensions.