SVT is Gen-er 8-ing a new thread

[svt923]

So does anyone remember that time way back last week where I shared the broken battery stop I printed?



Yeah, me either. If it wasn't in this thread, I would have no idea.

There was probably something said about redesigning it to prevent breakage. Those events did actually come to pass but in my time honored tradition of complex solutions to simple problems.

Introducing battery stop 2.0.



That isn't even close to the first part, what is wrong with me?

Redcat gives you 2 options: the stock position of low as possible or this optional 3D printed mount that gets the battery forward but raises it way up.



Well, I was thinking (problem #1) that the original battery tray is pretty good but let's see how far forward we can shove it without raising it.

Redcat's optional battery tray is raised because they want to clear the radio box and ESC. Well, the ESC can be easily moved and the receiver box doesn't actually do all that much so disregarding those parts frees me up.

The bare minimum of clearance is over the intermediate shaft between the transmission and transfer case which was exactly the goal.



This is the result of my completely uncertified, untrained, amateur engineering.



My Gen 8's ambition to be a TRX-4 comes ever closer to reality.

Oh yeah, I also included this spiffy hinged strap for 1 pin battery changes.



Bonus feature:



There is now unrestricted access and clearance for adjusting the position of the transfer case. Most helpful for future use.

All for now.

Thank you for reading and may your day be jubilant and filled with good fortune.

[soze]

Nice. I actually prefer velcro for the battery straps, because I use varying sizes of batteries. If you only stick with a specific battery size, I guess it wouldn't matter.

My HoBao DC1 actually has something similar to yours, but it uses a rubber strap that gets stretched over the battery.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by soze

Nice. I actually prefer velcro for the battery straps, because I use varying sizes of batteries. If you only stick with a specific battery size, I guess it wouldn't matter.

The hinged strap setup was mostly an experiment but it came out pretty good. I had another design where the strap pivot and catch could be adjusted for different height packs but never followed through on it. There is a version that uses velcro straps which needs to be tested out. The velcro version should print cleaner and much faster so I may change over.

[rattmobbins]

This thread is hilarious. Love your sense of humor svt!

I got my #teamblue Gen 8 (or is it Gen8?) yesterday and overall am not that impressed. The Velcro body mounting sucks hard, the tires and memory foams suck, the wheels look nice in pics, but in real life I think they suck, the Redcat logos everywhere is super annoying, and the throttle sensitivity in both forward and reverse sucks.

Based on all the positive feedback I was really expecting more from this truck, but it appears the TRX4 Sport still gets my vote for best bang for your buck RTR crawler.

[mgputer]

After having both I would disagree except for the stock foams. The steering geometry needs to be changed. But other than that I'm happy with it.

The TRX4 is more tippy, there is not a seal or bearing on the front axle so it can fill full of sand ruining the bearings or gears. Due to the gear ratio, the drive shafts spin extremely fast compared to other crawlers and are not balanced well, and also wobble on the pinion and trans shaft due to a poor shaft design, so it wears a hole in the spur cover and makes a wonderful noise. It also wore out the rear pinion bearing prematurely. I changed to MIPs and it still did the same thing. The stock TRX wheels are plastic crap also. Crap motor mount and adjustment set up. Is always loose and noisy. Also the parts for the TRX are very expensive from Traxxas. I am sure there is more that I am missing but that is my opinion after owning both.

Originally Posted by rattmobbins

This thread is hilarious. Love your sense of humor svt!

I got my #teamblue Gen 8 (or is it Gen8?) yesterday and overall am not that impressed. The Velcro body mounting sucks hard, the tires and memory foams suck, the wheels look nice in pics, but in real life I think they suck, the Redcat logos everywhere is super annoying, and the throttle sensitivity in both forward and reverse sucks.

Based on all the positive feedback I was really expecting more from this truck, but it appears the TRX4 Sport still gets my vote for best bang for your buck RTR crawler.

[mgputer]

I like the battery tray. I have been going to try a similar idea.

Sent from my Vivo XI+ using Tapatalk

[svt923]

Originally Posted by rattmobbins

I got my #teamblue Gen 8 (or is it Gen8?) yesterday and overall am not that impressed. The Velcro body mounting sucks hard, the tires and memory foams suck, the wheels look nice in pics, but in real life I think they suck, the Redcat logos everywhere is super annoying, and the throttle sensitivity in both forward and reverse sucks.

Based on all the positive feedback I was really expecting more from this truck, but it appears the TRX4 Sport still gets my vote for best bang for your buck RTR crawler.

All those complaints are stuff that usually gets changed out on a RTR anyway. The underlying chassis is solid which is the important part, everything else is a never ending battle to personalize your truck. I forgot to mention that I never used the stock radio (which is supposedly the cause of the throttle resolution issues), it was swapped out for a DX5 Rugged before ever driving the truck.

The TRX4 Sport is good too, especially this one:



Makes me think of Jello and slow motion for some reason.

Originally Posted by mgputer

The TRX4 is more tippy, there is not a seal or bearing on the front axle so it can fill full of sand ruining the bearings or gears. Due to the gear ratio, the drive shafts spin extremely fast compared to other crawlers and are not balanced well, and also wobble on the pinion and trans shaft due to a poor shaft design, so it wears a hole in the spur cover and makes a wonderful noise. It also wore out the rear pinion bearing prematurely. I changed to MIPs and it still did the same thing. The stock TRX wheels are plastic crap also. Crap motor mount and adjustment set up. Is always loose and noisy. Also the parts for the TRX are very expensive from Traxxas. I am sure there is more that I am missing but that is my opinion after owning both.

You must have gotten the worst TRX4 in existence.

Originally Posted by mgputer

I like the battery tray. I have been going to try a similar idea.

I'll have to get pics of the newer version of the tray, it prints way better.

And with that, we smoothly transition into new fruits of 3D printing.



Enter the new Bowhouse high clearance skid for the Gen 8.

One of the first things you will notice when you get it is that the skid is really hefty. There is clearly a lot of material that goes into making one of these. That material, by the way, is glass filled nylon which holds up in skidplate use better than the carbon filled nylon material.



Look, no more hump! Rejoice Gen 8 owners everywhere!

The side by side with the stock skid really sells it.



A lower angle shows the hump is gone but the bottom is not perfectly flat. There is a subtle pyramid shape to the bottom to keep that ability to rock off a high center.



All the stock holes are there so everything should mount up the same. One difference is the Bowhouse skid does not have the extra protrusions for securing the electronic tray screws. Those screws will have to be secured with locknuts or you can cut the pieces off the stock skid to reuse them.



Installation time:



One nice thing about the Gen 8 is to get the skidplate out, you only have to undo the rear bumper mount and shock tower brace screws on 1 side. That is only 4 screws in addition to the skidplate screws. I feel like it is about 200 screws to get the skid out of my TRX4. Also, locknuts are no longer required to hold on the rear upper link screws.

So the only way to get rid of the hump on the bottom of the skid is to raise the transfer case. There are homemade mods to remove the hump but these all requiring lifting the transfer case straight up by a significant amount. The Bowhouse skid only raises the larger portion of the transfer case and mounts the whole thing on an angle so it doesn't have to be lifted as much. The input side of the case remains in the same position so the stock battery tray doesn't need to be trimmed.



All mounted up.



Fitment was confirmed with the stock battery tray before going back to my tray. All the holes line up and no clearance problems.



And the moment we have all been waiting for:



Oh yeah, that's the good stuff. So smooth, so much clearance.

Well, that is all for now. Still working on a few more things (possibly including joining metal with fire) for a longer update but I get excited by fresh, new parts.

[DukeMinnix]

I'm super jealous. As soon as I caught wind of this I messaged David aka new2rocks about it. I hope to have one of the first few off the line when released. Fingers crossed

[Jim85IROC]

That new skid does appear to be really nice.

[allanon1965]

while I think the skid issue is overblown, I do like the fact it is much sturdier and may end up getting one.

[DukeMinnix]

Originally Posted by allanon1965

while I think the skid issue is overblown, I do like the fact it is much sturdier and may end up getting one.

its absolutely overblown. Its not much different than the HPI venture skid and haven't really heard any peeps about it on that platform. I think most of the noise makers are just redcat haters and want to find something to complain about in all honesty.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by DukeMinnix

I'm super jealous. As soon as I caught wind of this I messaged David aka new2rocks about it. I hope to have one of the first few off the line when released. Fingers crossed

It's good to have friends.

Originally Posted by Jim85IROC

That new skid does appear to be really nice.

It should be a popular one.

Originally Posted by allanon1965

while I think the skid issue is overblown, I do like the fact it is much sturdier and may end up getting one.

I find that for the most part it isn't a problem but when it is a problem, it's a big one. There have been more than a few situations when driving the skid snagged on the hump and basically rotated the truck off line like it was on a turntable.

Originally Posted by DukeMinnix

its absolutely overblown. Its not much different than the HPI venture skid and haven't really heard any peeps about it on that platform. I think most of the noise makers are just redcat haters and want to find something to complain about in all honesty.

Mr. New2Rocks hates the Venture skid, I was out with him the first time he really got to drive it and the skid was hanging up a bunch. That is why Bowhouse makes a skid for that too.

[crazhorse]

I got a 3D printed flat skid for my gen8, after installing on the crawling outing left rear upper link mount broke, after fixing on my next outing the right rear upper link broke fixed it on my last crawl the upper right front broke... now I’m back to the stock skid.

[Jim85IROC]

Originally Posted by crazhorse

I got a 3D printed flat skid for my gen8, after installing on the crawling outing left rear upper link mount broke, after fixing on my next outing the right rear upper link broke fixed it on my last crawl the upper right front broke... now I’m back to the stock skid.

3D printed parts are heavily dependent on the materials used, the printing type, and how well dialed the printer is. All of the printers that DIYers have at home are FDM... it squeezes the plastic through a nozzle and builds layer upon layer. These are nowhere near as strong as some of the other types of printing that places like Shapeways and others use, usually SLS.

While not as strong as an injection-molded plastic part, SLS-printed parts can be very strong, especially when they're well designed.

I designed and printed a bulkhead for my Clone Hammers that supports the shock towers, and the steering. My steering bell cranks are printed also. My printer is just a cheap FDM printer and I print in PLA, which is notoriously weak. My print is holding up very well except for one thin area that the cage mounts to. As long as you design the part to be robust enough in the areas that need it, the part can be strong.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by crazhorse

I got a 3D printed flat skid for my gen8, after installing on the crawling outing left rear upper link mount broke, after fixing on my next outing the right rear upper link broke fixed it on my last crawl the upper right front broke... now I’m back to the stock skid.

What was it made out of?

If it was the 3D printed flat skid I have seen floating around, it copies the geometry of the stock upper link mounts and doesn't adequately reinforce them to make a structurally sound printed part.

[crazhorse]

Yeah I talked to another 3D printer guy who told me he’s been running a 3D printed skid for a couple of years no problem... I also got a set of high clearance links from the same place as my printed skid and it hit on the trans in the left side of my scout, so I went back to my stock links... sort of shot myself in the foot on buying from that guy.

[mgputer]

I like the skid but I think that will be something further down the road as I haven't had any issues with it as of yet. Looks well designed.

[crazhorse]

Originally Posted by svt923

What was it made out of?



If it was the 3D printed flat skid I have seen floating around, it copies the geometry of the stock upper link mounts and doesn't adequately reinforce them to make a structurally sound printed part.

I’m not sure, my fault for not studying up on what the printed material was, I don’t take it easy on my crawlers so it needed to be pretty tough stuff...

The front link where it broke the whole layer separated cleanly.

[mgputer]

Originally Posted by crazhorse

I’m not sure, my fault for not studying up on what the printed material was, I don’t take it easy on my crawlers so it needed to be pretty tough stuff...

The front link where it broke the whole layer separated cleanly.

If it pealed the layers apart, it was probably not set up right. I have a PLA printed skid on my Wraith and that gets pounded. Never broke yet after many tumbles.

Does the person that printed want to share the file? I'm sure most of us would love that!

[crazhorse]

Originally Posted by mgputer

If it pealed the layers apart, it was probably not set up right. I have a PLA printed skid on my Wraith and that gets pounded. Never broke yet after many tumbles.



Does the person that printed want to share the file? I'm sure most of us would love that!

It was from a one man rc company I saw on fb, don’t know if he has the file available to print yourself or not... his web shop today shows to be down for a few days I was going to check to see if he listed what he prints the skids out of I know he does them for several different crawlers though.