SCX 24 - Layer by Layer

[shiggy]

Originally Posted by Bray D

The steering servo and motor are pretty weak with the bigger tires and added weight. That needs remedied ASAP.

I’m familiar with the EMAX servos. What motors are people swapping into these little guys?

I have had trouble with the EMax servos glitching and locking to the left. Three different ones on two different cars.
Using the one below for a few weeks with ZERO issues and good power. Less than $13 for 6!
Seamuing 6Pcs MG90S Micro Servo 9G Servo Motor Metal Geared Micro Servo Motor 9G Smart Robot Car Helicopter Plane Boat https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F7VJQL5..._PH9zFbBK6V4T2

[Bray D]

Originally Posted by Gramps

I saw where someone took screws from a servo, maybe a mini not sure, and used it as a replacement shaft in the stock shafts. It was on YT I think they went full droop and didn't use springs or maybe used some 3D printed collars.

That’s an interesting thought. I disassembled the shocks and the stock shaft is just a screw so I’m sure it could be replaced with another one that’s shorter/longer to get the ride height and droop out of it that you’d want. I may experiment with that in a bit. I’ve never run a droop rig before.

[Bray D]

Originally Posted by shiggy

I have had trouble with the EMax servos glitching and locking to the left. Three different ones on two different cars.
Using the one below for a few weeks with ZERO issues and good power. Less than $13 for 6!
Seamuing 6Pcs MG90S Micro Servo 9G Servo Motor Metal Geared Micro Servo Motor 9G Smart Robot Car Helicopter Plane Boat https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F7VJQL5..._PH9zFbBK6V4T2

Good to know! I ordered the 4 pack of Emax’s so hopefully at least one of them goes the distance for me, haha. If not, I’ll definitely keep the MG90S in mind.

[shiggy]

Originally Posted by Bray D

Good to know! I ordered the 4 pack of Emax’s so hopefully at least one of them goes the distance for me, haha. If not, I’ll definitely keep the MG90S in mind.

I had two separate orders of 4 Emax servos.
The first I tried died in 15 minutes.
Second and third had the glitch. (See my post on this forum for details)

Ordered the second four.
Immediately out of the box the first glitched.
Returned the second order.

ZERO issues with the new brand.

[Bray D]

Originally Posted by shiggy

I had two separate orders of 4 Emax servos.

The first I tried died in 15 minutes.

Second and third had the glitch. (See my post on this forum for details)



Ordered the second four.

Immediately out of the box the first glitched.

Returned the second order.



ZERO issues with the new brand.

That's a bit discouraging. If I go through these four I'll definitely opt for the MG90S next time.



My XT30 plugs showed up so I decided to get the new electronics on. I started by stripping the Sidewinder down big time. I bridged the switch wires, nixed the battery wires, and shortened the lead for the receiver. Dropped 10g.








I'd say I'm a novice when it comes to soldering so all of this electrical work made me a bit nervous. This was my first time adding/removing wires from a board.



I plugged it into Castle Link afterwards to make sure everything still worked and it appeared unscathed, so I wired it into the truck. No plug between the motor and ESC, and I used the existing motor wires. Way smaller than the ESC wires, but I figured they were sufficient for the motor otherwise it wouldn't have come with them.



I just zip tied it to the underside of the battery tray. Fits awesome with the new stripped down configuration.








Then I proceeded to power it up to find that I had no forward/reverse. After a brief moment of panic, I read the manual and found that you have to calibrate the throttle for this ESC. After going through that process, everything worked as expected.



It drives really well with the new ESC and GT5 tx. I'm pretty happy with the existing electronics arrangement too, though I might print a new battery tray that has features to help with wire routing and ESC mounting. No big ideas yet, but I'll think on it and see if I can make any improvements over the current setup.



As for the ESC, I should probably seal it up. I've seen where guys use epoxy or plastidip to seal them. I also have a bottle of liquid electrical tape.



No conformal coating and I don't plan to buy any.



Of the options listed, what would you guys do to seal up the Sidewinder board?

[Gramps]

Originally Posted by Bray D

That’s an interesting thought. I disassembled the shocks and the stock shaft is just a screw so I’m sure it could be replaced with another one that’s shorter/longer to get the ride height and droop out of it that you’d want. I may experiment with that in a bit. I’ve never run a droop rig before.

I have seen a few SCX24's running full droop that crawl really well. I guess scale wise it doesn't make sense to me to have a vehicle sitting on the bump stops.

[Bray D]

Originally Posted by Gramps

I have seen a few SCX24's running full droop that crawl really well. I guess scale wise it doesn't make sense to me to have a vehicle sitting on the bump stops.

It's worth trying out if nothing else. Cheap experimentation.

I'd be more excited about it if I could fit internal springs in the shocks. I feel like it'll be floppy without springs. I'll give it shot though.

My 1:1 is nearly a droop rig. I have just over 3" of compression with 10"+ droop. If I were running air bumps they would be touching the pad at ride height. It twists up pretty good.

[Bray D]

The trans work that Gramps did motivated me to strip mine down to check for improvements. It looks like the bearings on the input are snug, but the output shaft bearings are a bit loose in the housing. They have to be a slip fit to get the case together, so I didn't do anything about it.

The pinion that came with my 050 motor has a sizeable section that's not splined, forcing the spur further out on its shaft. The spur was floating axially without a spacer, so I printed one to take up that space. Just doing that quieted things down a bit, though it's still not perfect. I think I could open up my mesh a bit. Either way, it's back together now and I've been running it around the house.



I had to trim my fenders to fit the new tires, but it was minimal. I didn't even have to take the factory flares all the way off.



With things progressing towards suspension mods, I wanted a way to quantify performance. I found an RTI ramp assembly on Thingiverse so I scaled and printed that. Unfortunately I don't have any superglue and using epoxy didn't work so well. The cure time is too long for these tiny parts.



With the assembly failure, I modeled and printed my own 1 piece ramp.







I was surprised to see that it scores nearly 1000 with the current arrangement. All I've done is add the Scramblers with CI's soft foams. The shocks are in the OEM position right now.

That's a 20° RTI ramp. I'll likely model and print a 25° version so it taxes the rig a bit more and I can use it for reference measurements when playing with the shocks and such.

I'll see if I can add both the 20° and 25° versions to Thingiverse so you guys can snag them if you want. There's already one out there so I don't feel like I'm infringing too much.

[Gramps]

Originally Posted by Bray D

The trans work that Gramps did motivated me to strip mine down to check for improvements. It looks like the bearings on the input are snug, but the output shaft bearings are a bit loose in the housing. They have to be a slip fit to get the case together, so I didn't do anything about it.

The pinion that came with my 050 motor has a sizeable section that's not splined, forcing the spur further out on its shaft. The spur was floating axially without a spacer, so I printed one to take up that space. Just doing that quieted things down a bit, though it's still not perfect. I think I could open up my mesh a bit. Either way, it's back together now and I've been running it around the house.



I had to trim my fenders to fit the new tires, but it was minimal. I didn't even have to take the factory flares all the way off.



With things progressing towards suspension mods, I wanted a way to quantify performance. I found an RTI ramp assembly on Thingiverse so I scaled and printed that. Unfortunately I don't have any superglue and using epoxy didn't work so well. The cure time is too long for these tiny parts.



With the assembly failure, I modeled and printed my own 1 piece ramp.







I was surprised to see that it scores nearly 1000 with the current arrangement. All I've done is add the Scramblers with CI's soft foams. The shocks are in the OEM position right now.

That's a 20° RTI ramp. I'll likely model and print a 25° version so it taxes the rig a bit more and I can use it for reference measurements when playing with the shocks and such.

I'll see if I can add both the 20° and 25° versions to Thingiverse so you guys can snag them if you want. There's already one out there so I don't feel like I'm infringing too much.

I used Plastruct Bondene Cement for Styrene to stick PLA parts together. Not perfect but works pretty well. I got it at Amazon but most LHS should have it too. It's' real think and it wicks in to the joint.

[Bray D]

Originally Posted by Gramps

I used Plastruct Bondene Cement for Styrene to stick PLA parts together. Not perfect but works pretty well. I got it at Amazon but most LHS should have it too. It's' real think and it wicks in to the joint.

Nice. I'll have to get some. I just used what we had on hand and it didn't go so well. Having a dedicated adhesive for PLA assemblies would be nice.

I went ahead and uploaded a 20 and 25 degree RTI ramp to Thingiverse. I think I did that right, haha.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4605130

[Bray D]

The battery mount took some thinking. It's still nothing too novel, but I added a couple features that make it work a bit better with my setup.

I nixed the front tab and replaced it with a slot to collect the wires coming from the ESC. The underside got a recess to place some mounting tape and a guide rail of sorts to keep the ESC in line with the tray. I made the battery strap points vertical so I didn't have to wrap the strap around the tray anymore. This version keeps everything up top and still holds the battery securely to the tray.







It's tough to print cleanly, so I opt'd for a heavily supported print making the ESC mounting surface the top. That kept the underside clean for mounting. Top is a bit ugly, but it's covered by the battery anyways. This was a pretty coarse print too as I wasn't sure if I was going to end up using it.

I also swapped to JST connectors. I bought a lipo for my transmitter and saw that it required JST, so I figured I would make my whole system consistent. I should've gone with it in the first place. I'm a lipo newb, but I'm learning. I'm also pretty good with a crimp tool now, haha.

Little did I know, the JST for the battery was larger than the connector for the receiver and wouldn't fit through the slot on the tray so I notched it. The notch doesn't bother me too much. I may just rock this as-is without printing another one.









I'm pretty happy with it. Now that everything is secured and wired properly I can get back to driving the thing. I need to go find some rocks.

[Gramps]

You description was excellent but I need pictures.

[Bray D]

More picture issues!?

They're showing up for me. Can anyone else see them?

[Gramps]

Originally Posted by Bray D

More picture issues!?

They're showing up for me. Can anyone else see them?

Problem on my end, i see them now

[SCX10 JK]

Originally Posted by Bray D

That's a bit discouraging. If I go through these four I'll definitely opt for the MG90S next time.

My XT30 plugs showed up so I decided to get the new electronics on. I started by stripping the Sidewinder down big time. I bridged the switch wires, nixed the battery wires, and shortened the lead for the receiver. Dropped 10g.



I'd say I'm a novice when it comes to soldering so all of this electrical work made me a bit nervous. This was my first time adding/removing wires from a board.

I plugged it into Castle Link afterwards to make sure everything still worked and it appeared unscathed, so I wired it into the truck. No plug between the motor and ESC, and I used the existing motor wires. Way smaller than the ESC wires, but I figured they were sufficient for the motor otherwise it wouldn't have come with them.

I just zip tied it to the underside of the battery tray. Fits awesome with the new stripped down configuration.







Then I proceeded to power it up to find that I had no forward/reverse. After a brief moment of panic, I read the manual and found that you have to calibrate the throttle for this ESC. After going through that process, everything worked as expected.

It drives really well with the new ESC and GT5 tx. I'm pretty happy with the existing electronics arrangement too, though I might print a new battery tray that has features to help with wire routing and ESC mounting. No big ideas yet, but I'll think on it and see if I can make any improvements over the current setup.

As for the ESC, I should probably seal it up. I've seen where guys use epoxy or plastidip to seal them. I also have a bottle of liquid electrical tape.

No conformal coating and I don't plan to buy any.

Of the options listed, what would you guys do to seal up the Sidewinder board?

I've used the Plastidip method for years and had no issues at all I just dip the whole board like twice maybe three times and let dry between coats. Had 2 esc's done that way for 5 years still no issues. Did several servos as well. I also use the liquid in the can not the aerosol variety.

[Bray D]

Originally Posted by SCX10 JK

I've used the Plastidip method for years and had no issues at all I just dip the whole board like twice maybe three times and let dry between coats. Had 2 esc's done that way for 5 years still no issues. Did several servos as well. I also use the liquid in the can not the aerosol variety.

Good to know. I think it's wired up for good finally so I can look at sealing it up. I don't have plans to have it around moisture, but I just feel like it's good practice. I'll check out the liquid Plastidip. I've never used either variety.

[Bray D]

I could tell that the battery/esc shifted the weight back quite a ways, so I removed the metal sleeve from the rear wheels and replaced them with printed plastic sleeves.

As it sits right now, it’s just under a 60/40 weight split. Crunching some numbers, it looks like brass knuckles and diff covers will put me really close to 60/40 with a good chunk of weight down low. I’ll likely pick those up if I can find any in stock.

[Bray D]

The limited range of the body hinge has always driven me crazy. I tried remixing the one on Thingiverse to be stock height but I failed, so I started from scratch.





I also pulled the springs out to make it a droop setup. So far so good! It’s surprisingly stable and predictable.

With the super low ride height, I had to cut the rockers and print some boat sides.

[Gramps]

That's the way Axial should have designed the hinge

[Bray D]

Originally Posted by Gramps

That's the way Axial should have designed the hinge

Fully agree. Axial made the arch face backwards so it limits travel. If they would just flip the orientation of the arch, it would let it drop back further and give us more room to work.

I suppose it's worth noting that you can't just flip the hinge either - the body holes are offset from the chassis mounting holes so it won't fit backwards.