Feeler/Preview - JCAD Scale Tech Wraith Chassis Rails

[monkeyracer]

This project isn't dead!

Ok, I've been thinking about how I want to do this product, and how to retain some durability. I've decided to use bent metal with 3D printed adapters rather than the whole chassis being 3D printed. There were a few reasons I wanted to do it this way;

- I didn't want to depend on shapeways and their long delayed order times.
- I wanted something strong and durable, and still lightweight
- I can 3D print the adapters in house, and turn around time should only be 2 weeks if I am out of stock.

Here's a picture of what I was planning on doing:



This still maintains all the original mounting points, and still clears the interior like the original cage, so there are no modifications necessary. The Red parts are the 3D printed adapters (They will be black by default, but can be printed in various colors.)
I'm planning on having these cut from Aluminum to keep it inexpensive and lightweight, but if there are enough that want steel (to be able to weld to it) I can have a small run of steel made up.
I need to get a metal bending brake to be able to make these, so I'm looking for one that can handle 3mm/1/8"/8 gauge metal.
This also should be less expensive than the shapeways version since I can order in bulk and print in house.

I'm also working on the SCX width skid version as well, but need to figure out the bends and geometry for that.

I'll be looking for testers soon, so keep an eye out for more details for that (don't PM me asking to be a tester for this though, there will be information posted about how to express your interest.)


Any questions, suggestions, or comments welcome.
Stay tuned!

[monkeyracer]

Thread looking for testers for this is up:

Testers needed for new product - Wraith Chassis rails

Ask any questions here in this thread.

Thanks!

[DrDiff952]

I am interested in these products. My local club doesn't allow my wraith on SCX-10 axels in 2.2 weekend warrior class because it lacks frame rasils and SCX-10 mounting points. This could satisfy their rules and end their bias against my rrig!

[monkeyracer]

Originally Posted by DrDiff952

I am interested in these products. My local club doesn't allow my wraith on SCX-10 axels in 2.2 weekend warrior class because it lacks frame rasils and SCX-10 mounting points. This could satisfy their rules and end their bias against my rrig!

One main point of this chassis is to legalize wraith chassis vehicles that want to run in class 2.

Local clubs always have final say on what they determine is legal for their competitions, and SORRCA has final say on competitions they oversee, but the main reason wraith chassis' are not legal for other classes is because of the tube frame rails. You aren't likely to see that type of chassis on a daily driver.

This is the easy bolt-on swap to stiffen/strengthen up the chassis, become class legal, as well as increase performance (using the same geometry idea from my RULRs).

Pricing can not be discussed in this section, but think somewhere in the range of an SCX chassis kit.

Hopefully I have prototypes in the hands of testers before the end of the month, and I'm hoping for a release date before Halloween.

[Richterat83]

Curious how this will work with keeping the stock grille guard or is that out of the question?

And will it require shock hoops as your first pic shows or will it retain the stock cage shock mounts?

[monkeyracer]

Originally Posted by Richterat83

Curious how this will work with keeping the stock grille guard or is that out of the question?

And will it require shock hoops as your first pic shows or will it retain the stock cage shock mounts?

This is intended to maintain all existing mount points. This includes the front bumper, the rear sway bar, front shock hoops, etc.

As far as the shock hoops go, the rear will have the option to use the wraith rear shock mounts, or SCX10 rear shock mounts. For the front, that will be decided from prototype testing. I will try to accommodate the SCX10 shock mounts for the front, but that is not in the design yet.

[Shizanester]

I'd be down for a pre-order. I'll bet if we got the word out more on Facebook and such, we could get 200 ordered.

[monkeyracer]

Pre order will come some time after testers have them in their hands, and have a chance to install and verify there's no major change needed.
Roland rock shop posted on the wraith owners Facebook page, but when the pre order is ready, feel free to post it all over the interwebs. I know not everyone sees this forum, and exposure is always good.

[Dave1966]

I would be interested for the right prics

[monkeyracer]

Teaser...

[jpf]

Now lets see a Teaser for the scx10 skidplate!
And damn that looks nice

[monkeyracer]

Originally Posted by jpf

Now lets see a Teaser for the scx10 skidplate!
And damn that looks nice

Those are still in the works. Lots of different geometry to play with there.


More pics:

[mjc597]

Wow, those look sweet !!

[2.slowduo]

Those look great. I would be interested in a set as well

[Shizanester]

Hey, I just thought I'd check in and see how progress is coming. Me and a few guys in our crawler club INWSC are definitely interested in these.

[monkeyracer]

The project has stalled slightly. I'm still trying to decide what I want to do with this. There is obviously demand for them, but as the testers have discovered, you would be forced to go with CMS. (Not a bad thing I think because if you are getting scale rails, you will likely want the CMS)

A redesign is in order, for sure. Although, my schedule just got a whole lot tighter. I go to school, work a part time internship, a third job (gotta pay bills, school is not cheap), volunteer for my school's Forumla SAE race car team, and run JC Auto Design. So, it may take some time to get the redesign done and tested.

For the testers, I appreciate your patience in the process, keep an eye out soon for some information about the second prototypes.

[Dready]

Any News?

[monkeyracer]

Originally Posted by Dready

Any News?

Most of the design effort has been put into the Karnage SSR chassis as the option for those wanting to use an SCX10 Skid and a Wraith Cage. For those wanting the wraith skid and cage, but with the aluminum rails, I am not completely dropping the project, but I would guess that it would be after April before I got a good chance to get those developed.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Updates? Please please please please please...

[monkeyracer]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

Updates? Please please please please please...

Since you said please...
I'm getting to a very busy time of the semester (multiple projects are due before the semester is over) and all my energy and effort has been directed there for now. It won't take very long to update the design, just need to make sure it clears the servo, and tweak a few dimensions, but I need to have a good amount of time to actually get that in the computer.