3D Printed Diff Guards

[Airmaxx23]

I received my Capra a couple of days ago, it's the first crawler I've had since selling my MOA crawler in 2014.

I wanted to protect the diffs but didn't want anything that left any edges to get hung up on things. I couldn't find anything so I ended up drawing some up and printing them out. They are only 1.5mm thick so there is only a minimal loss of clearance. The front guard is notched for steering linkage clearance.. They do not require any hardware since they snap in place. I abused them for 30 minutes today and they are holding up great.

Let me know what you think.

 

[HumboldtEF]

Nice work! I'm not a fan of diff guards but you just broke the mold

 

[mewalsh100]

Honestly, I've never been one to worry about draggin the diffs, but those look pretty darn slick. Nice design and execution with, as you stated, minimal loss of clearance. Fitment looks superb. I assume they just kind of snap on / around? Also, for those just trying to get a splash of color, aesthetic, they might be nice printed in any multitude of colors.

 

[GA Dawg]

What material did you print those out of?

 

[Airmaxx23]

Nice work! I'm not a fan of diff guards but you just broke the mold

Honestly, I've never been one to worry about draggin the diffs, but those look pretty darn slick. Nice design and execution with, as you stated, minimal loss of clearance. Fitment looks superb. I assume they just kind of snap on / around? Also, for those just trying to get a splash of color, aesthetic, they might be nice printed in any multitude of colors.

What material did you print those out of?

Thanks, they just snap on around the diff, they're not real easy to remove so they won't come off driving. Here's a pic of how they look not installed and a pic of a black front guard.

I'm printing them in Esun PLA+ which is 10x stronger than regular PLA. The orange set has taken about 1.5 hours of punishment in 25 degree Fahrenheit weather and is holding up fine.

 

[Airmaxx23]

After about 8 total hours of driving these are holding up nicely to the abuse.

 

[OnTheTrail]

Nice work! I'm not a fan of diff guards but you just broke the mold

Not a fan either. For $10 you can get a new axle and cover if the scratches get too bad but if I were to go with diff covers, this is the best representation I've ever seen. Just the ability to program the build to take up the least amount of space around the diff is impressive on its own.

You should start to market these Airmaxx.

 

[Phildirt]

I mean how often do you destroy a diff cover/how long does it take to wear one out? Not hating, just a thought. They are cool but the only thing that jumped out at me is they kind of take away from the 'scale' factor you get with a detailed cover. Kind of toy-ish. I suppose they would be at home on a comp rig if you just wanted a slick surface and looks aren't a concern.

 

[Airmaxx23]

Not a fan either. For $10 you can get a new axle and cover if the scratches get too bad but if I were to go with diff covers, this is the best representation I've ever seen. Just the ability to program the build to take up the least amount of space around the diff is impressive on its own.

You should start to market these Airmaxx.

Thanks a lot, I may start printing a bunch and putting them on ebay.

I mean how often do you destroy a diff cover/how long does it take to wear one out? Not hating, just a thought. They are cool but the only thing that jumped out at me is they kind of take away from the 'scale' factor you get with a detailed cover. Kind of toy-ish. I suppose they would be at home on a comp rig if you just wanted a slick surface and looks aren't a concern.

The front edge of the rear diff can get stuck on sharp edges, these keep that from happening. When they're printed in black they are less noticeable, I printed my test set in orange since that was in the printer at the time. I'm not too concerned with the scale look, with the diffs being centered it doesn't look right anyway.