Spaceman "builds" an ascender

[spaceman5280]

What could I do with this foam....



Homemade dual stage foams?!? What?




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[spaceman5280]

Heat gun+ welding gloves + patient pulling =

The wheels are garbage, but who wants glue on wheels anyway?!?

It worked well, only a little scissor trimming to remove some glue and plastic and viola!


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[spaceman5280]

Squish test: stock on left, dual stage foams on right...


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[spaceman5280]

After extensive testing on the climb ramp I found the single biggest improvement (aside from hanging a brick off the front) was when I zip tied the front axle to the frame. The shocks unloading moved my COG way too far out so I decided to make a device to pull the axle to the frame on climbs.

I’ve seen 1:1’s pull the axle up with a winch so I made a puller upper with a crappy steering servo from my HG and a length of string.

Up



Down


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[CODYBOY]

Nice job being inventive, but way easier to do it in the oven. I put mine on a tin foil sheet and seal them inside it. This knocks down most all the smell and works great. 350 for 30 minutes usually always does the trick, and doesn't harm the wheels.
Ernie

[spaceman5280]

Originally Posted by CODYBOY

Nice job being inventive, but way easier to do it in the oven. I put mine on a tin foil sheet and seal them inside it. This knocks down most all the smell and works great. 350 for 30 minutes usually always does the trick, and doesn't harm the wheels.

Ernie

I have a personality flaw that requires me to do stuff the hard way first

The truth is that I was talking to a crawling buddy with an Ascender newer than mine and he said his foams were shot and I wanted to see my foams. I happened to be at my RC bench so I grabbed the heat gun and gave it a try and the foams were still good, just too soft.

I have two more to do so I’ll use your recipe on those and report the results.


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[spaceman5280]

Update: the new tires plus the axle puller upper plus all the other mods have made this a formidable rig and I was able to do some pretty hard lines at a local crawl spot today.

Bad news, there is a grindy noise coming from the transmission so the Blazer will be down while I investigate and repair.

Good news, I will be able to do some upgrades while it’s in the shop, there will be mechanical upgrades as well as some significant cosmetic changes, stay tuned......


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[spaceman5280]

Comparison pics of the new vs old foam



I’ve concluded that the new foams are worth the effort so I will be converting the other two and mounting on less colorful wheels


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[spaceman5280]

While looking for the drivetrain noise, I discovered that both the front and rear axle ring and pinion mesh was off so bad that the front barely turned and the rear was rough.

I recently installed SSD covers, but I never checked the mesh at all.

I just removed the restriction disappears completely in the rear and the front has one rough spot. It gets better if I pull back on the driveshaft.

With both stock covers on, there is one rough spot on both front and rear, but way better.


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[Natedog]

Good job with the home-made foams, agree baking tires off is way easier.

As far as diffs rough/tight, there should be two shims from the factor, make sure that they are behind the ring gear so as to push it towards the pinion. Ensure pinion and spool bearings are in good shape, not gritty and that the inner and outer races don't have play indicating worn balls inside the bearing. I had this on my SCX10 adn Wraith, but have not had it yet on my Ascenders. After all this a little extra checking and shimming as needed (none of the pinions Ive assembled needed any shims) will help too. I did use a very thin shim on the opposite side of the spool too, this makes it so the spool is meshed well with the pinion and can't move side to side changing the mesh as it runs.

Best and most complete RC metric and standard shim source I've found.
https://www.teamcrc.com/crc/modules....category_id=79

Edit: Don't over-tighten those four little 2mm screws that hold the diff covers on, they have locknuts and the covers fit the axle housing very nicely. Over-tightening them will mess up the gear mesh, I've done it myself before. SSD aluminum diff covers or stock, don't over-tighten.

[spaceman5280]

I took everyone’s advice and left the screws loose on the diff covers because I don’t have time to make all of the adjustments. I did order a grip of 2mm nylock nuts since I have to run loose bolts.


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[Ascender'nMN84]

Originally Posted by spaceman5280

I took everyone’s advice and left the screws loose on the diff covers because I don’t have time to make all of the adjustments. I did order a grip of 2mm nylock nuts since I have to run loose bolts.


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Does it seem to be moving freely or at least better than before?

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[Natedog]

Originally Posted by Ascender'nMN84

Does it seem to be moving freely or at least better than before?

X2

The screws don't need to be loose, just not as tight as you might think.

[spaceman5280]

Originally Posted by Ascender'nMN84

Does it seem to be moving freely or at least better than before?

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The resistance is acceptable for the application with the screws loose.


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[spaceman5280]

Originally Posted by Natedog

X2



The screws don't need to be loose, just not as tight as you might think.

Tomato tomato


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[Natedog]

Grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup, yum!

Just wanted to quantify 'loose'

[spaceman5280]

I was stoked to be past the diff cover bolt issue and my kid and I took the Ascender and the trx4 to a local crawl spot and the servo arm stripped on the ascender and we didn’t have spares so we had to share the trx4 cuz we didn’t bring any backup rigs.

Got home and found zero 23t (solar d772) arms so ordered a couple clamping ones and now we wait....


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[spaceman5280]

Scale lockout hubs


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[spaceman5280]

Snow

On the snowy rock pile




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[spaceman5280]

I didn’t like the black screws and nuts on the wheels so I ordered zinc...






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