Aluminum XV-01 Chassis

[bleachbone]

Hey guys, ive been a long time reader and about a 5 month owner of a tamiya XV01. Ive got a few hopups installed, aluminum front pully, traxxas velineon system, and some gmade shocks along with some aluminum suspension mounts on the way. But no matter what i would put into this car, the stock plastic chassis will always feel cheap to me, not to mention the pain in the butt bottom loading battery tray. So, my thinking was, "why not design a fix?". So, here is my plan;
1. Order a 3mm 7075 aluminum plate (enough for two chassis) along with some aluminum rod for the various risen mounting points on the car.
2. Cut the chassis using nearly the same design as stock (possibly changing the design for more suspension travel)
3. Drill and thread the aluminum posts to be used on the chassis for mounting.
4. Drill and countersink all of the wholes needed on the chassis
5. Mount everything up

I feel like it should be a fairly simple project considering i have the tools, and it should result in a better handling and a much more professional looking car. If anybody sees any flaws or has any imput it is all welcome!!
I will be posting any progress that i make on the design and construction of the chassis, hopefully ordering materials in the next day or two.

[grob23]

I'd be stoked to see the final product (and the progress) pics!

I don't currently own an XV-01 but they are dang tempting. This may be just what I need to push me over the edge and pull the trigger

[bleachbone]

I definitely plan to post pics of the whole process i really hope to be able to anodize it as well. and either way i would definitely pick up and XV01, its a wonderful little car. I'm ordering parts tomorrow and should hopefully start working on it this weekend or next

[TURTLE]

Im interested to see this come about and it could potentially be a good thing, but the complexity of this chassis has me scratching my head about how you are going to achieve this. Are you planning dual decks? Are you planning on making the batter top loading? How are you going to mount an underbody? What are you going to do about all the posts for mounting different components?

My biggest concern is although the bottom mount battery configuration seems difficult at first it is actually much simpler and less time consuming then taking the body off, removing an underbody, then removing a battery strap.

Best of luck and I am really interested to see what you come up with.

[bleachbone]

The way i was looking at it, the only real mounting points you would need above a flat aluminum chassis are the front steering rack assembly, which is about 5 different holes. I plan on making it so ill just have 5 threaded posts screwed into the chassis for the part to screw into. For now i dont plan on running mudguard, but i may figure something out to be able to mount those. the rear is almost complete flat as far as mounting things except for some plastic spacers, which would be just fine on the new chassis. I am not planning on mounting duel decks, though if the chassis has issues with strength i may figure something out. The only problem i may see is having so cover up the belt, but honestly ive been running without the cover for months and havent had any issues at all. And for the battery i plan to have it mounting with velcro to the chassis, it may be more difficult to remove with an underbody, but honestly having to unscrew a battery plate was just a huge pet peve of mine. And hopefully at the end of the day it will perfrom better than the stock pastic, but those are my plans so far

[bleachbone]

Just ordered the materials, two sheets of 7075 aluminum at 14" x 5" x .125" and 2 pieces of 7075 aluminum rod at .25" diameter x 12" in length. Now to play the waiting game

[7echo]

When you say you have the tools- do you have a CAD model and plan on CNC'ing out the chassis plate and hole locations? Or are you doing it conventional?

[bleachbone]

I currently do have an Inventor/CAD model i could CNC the the chassis out of. But to start off im going to do it the convention way with a good ol fashion dremel. (though i do have a mill for the holes in the aluminum rod). If there is any interest in perhaps selling it as a product, i have a friend with a CNC i could use to produce it. But i want to try and out and run tests, make sure everything fits, and the like first.

[bleachbone]

Got the materials in today, gonna try to get a prototype made tomorrow

[bleachbone]

I would just like to say that i have a prototype up and running, just need a different pinion. Pics are coming soon, everything fit, and it runs well. I went a tad overboard with the 1/8" thickness, so its a tad heavier than the stock plastic, but plenty strong! And at least the weight is down low.

[bvrc]

I'm probly gonna need to see this beast... got any pics?

[bleachbone]

It was a tough day at work, ill try to get some posted up tomorrow. Its still not all pretty and smooth or anodized or anything, just a rough model to see if it would work.

[pixelnate]

You ever get a chance to take pics of the chassis?

Tappa who?

[stormridersp]

Ive tried my hands doing something quite similar, but using carbon fibre. Be aware that unless you use a pretty stiff aluminum plate, you´re going to need a double decker, which, by itself is not something easily done or projected into the XV-01 chassis. The main problem is how to make the upper deck efficient and at the same time, away from the the moving parts like the steering rack or the awd belt, without weighting more than the plastic chassis.

My results were a very flexible chassis, even using a 3mm pure carbon fibre plate. Its quite light tho I´m afraid that to make it enough stiffer, will definitely make it a lot heavier.

[bvrc]

Good info! Thanks for experimenting!
I wonder if the dual plate setup that the czechs are working on is going to be heavy...? Here's their prototype version...

[stormridersp]

Originally Posted by bvrc

Good info! Thanks for experimenting!
I wonder if the dual plate setup that the czechs are working on is going to be heavy...? Here's their prototype version...

Thanks for picture. From the experience of my own project, what I like and dislike in the Czesc project are:

What I like:
1- Slim chassis, saves weight.
2- Double decker, improves chassis stiffness
3- Short Lipo is the way to go!

What I dislike:
1- Their solution for the steering rack, IMO, couldnt be worse. The servo is not only mounted on the vertical, but inverted, with all its weight high up the chassis.

2- To worse this front CoG height, their upper deck is not compatible with the XV-01´s conventional front sway bar. Yickkks

3- There´s plenty of space in the chassis to mount that short lipo longitudinally along the chassis center line. Although a short lipo mounted perpendicularly won´t increase the body roll as much as a regular lipo, it will increase the body roll.

[pixelnate]

Your criticisms might actually be features. The steering servo is now on the center line of the chassis. And the battery placement could encourage the rear end to rotate around the front for getting around chicanes more quickly, or it could be to put more weight on the back end for jumping better, or both. Of course, they might be design mistakes, but they might not be, either. The Czechs do a lot of RC rallying, so they might actually know what they are doing.

Tappa who?

[stormridersp]

Originally Posted by pixelnate

Your criticisms might actually be features. The steering servo is now on the center line of the chassis. And the battery placement could encourage the rear end to rotate around the front for getting around chicanes more quickly, or it could be to put more weight on the back end for jumping better, or both. Of course, they might be design mistakes, but they might not be, either. The Czechs do a lot of RC rallying, so they might actually know what they are doing.

Tappa who?

I recommend you read these 2 books:

How to make your car handle, by Fred Puhn
Tune to Win, by Carrol Smith

You´ll understand.