mick8488

Oh I thought you meant that the servo saver (stock or upgrade) doesn't function properly anyway in addition to not fitting. My bad.
Mick

clp.eng

My Feedback: (10)

Hi fella's. It's been awhile. I hope everybody is out there driving the wheels off their min-buggies!

I had mine out in the street yesterday & managed to bend one of the rear dogbones. The replacement set is like 15 bucks, so before I spend that kind of money, I was wondering if there is a better solution? Like some hopup or other that maybe more robust?

Does anybody know what the shelf time is for NiMH packs? Mine had sat for a couple of weeks & didn't last very long when I took the buggy out. I know I should have charged them before I went but I went out on the spur of the moment!

Chuck

xy3lug

Hey, how's it going? Sorry to hear about the dogbones, stupid question but have you tried bending them back? They sit fairly loose in the cups so Idon't think it has to be perfectly straight.

I know there are quite a few aftermarket CVDs, but besides being slightly more efficient I don't know if they'd be an improvement durability wise. If you look around some you can find the official Losi CVDs for just a couple bucks more than the stock ones, and I haven't heard any horror stories about them so that may be worth a shot in the dark.

I think the accepted shelf time for NiMHs is something like 20% drain per month? I've had much worse luck with mine though (various brands), I don't have a percentage but it's bad enough that I re-charge any that have been sitting around for more than a week or two.

clp.eng

My Feedback: (10)

xy - yea I spent some time with a small anvil & small hammer followed by a couple of pliers. It looked pretty straight to me when I put it back in but it was still rubbing. Maybe something else is damaged. I'm also a bit nervous about buying something even if it's SUPPOSED to fit the buggy as we all now know that's real iffy!

I was wondering if [link=http://www.myatomic.com/catalog/viewsku?sku=LOSB1248&q=losb1248#]this[/link] might work? Yea it says performance enhancing not durable! LOL

What exactly does CVD stand for? google keeps telling me about cardiovascular disease - which I'll probably get if I stay in this hobby! LOL

Thanks for the info on NiHMs. The MFRs don't say much on their web sites about things like that. I've had AA NiMh's on the shell for months & they were fine when I went to use them.

took the Slash out on the street this afternoon & one of my neighbors comes out with a NIKKO from about 10 yrs ago. So we're tearing up & down the street when we notice some activity down at the schoolyard. We wander down there & there's a guy with his kid & their new Rustler. So for the next 20 minutes we're spitting wood chips all over the playground! great fun. That Rustler was super fast w/ a BL motor.

Chuck

clp.eng

My Feedback: (10)

xy - I tried the guy on ebay & he wouldn't take less than 9 bucks for the replacement part. Since I needed more stuff (car & heli), I just got the stock replacement parts from MyAtomic. I was worried about those CVD's not fitting!

Thanks for the links!

Chuck

xy3lug

Cool, no problem, hope that works out! Hopefully the new ones will last a whlie, kind of sounded like the dogbone getting bent was a freak accident anyway (I'm sure this is a failure of my imagination, but I really can't think of how that can easily happen without breaking a bunch of other parts first).

I think CVDs stand for Continuous Velocity Drive or Constant Velocity Drive? I personally don't see a dire need for those for the Mini-T line, I can't feel any binding with the dogbones (I'm sure a motor would feel it even less), and unlike the RC18T there's no problem with them popping off and don't seem to wear out as fast. Plus my rubber boots won't fit over CVDs!

clp.eng

My Feedback: (10)

Got the links & some other parts this week but the out of town family is visiting this week & staying at the house so no time to fix it.

xy - I have no idea when I did the damage so can't say for sure what exactly happened. I noticed it when I was removing a stick stuck in the suspension last time I had it out.

Chuck

xy3lug

Yep, imagination failure, now that you've said it I can totally see how a stick getting jammed up in the wrong place at speed could result in a bent dogbone without touching anything else.

I haven't had much time to work on my buggy either, but I've been putting in a few hours here and there for the past several weeks and finally got it to a point where I'm almost happy with it. Installed some armor on the bottom (the front also serves as a weight to keep the wheelies to a minimum; it's just Pinecar Derby weights with a piece of titanium stuck on top). I also installed a brushless motor, it's just a $15 guy from Hobbyking meant for air use, but from some short indoor runs I did it's got plenty of kick to it, even using the stock battery. I intend to use a 3s LiPo in the end, which should kick it up another notch (and which is also the reason I chose such a huge motor, from my experience with my RC18T the normal 1/18th size brushless motors seem to be extremely limited by heat, and I've been continually frustrated that I can't run it on 3c without it getting quite hot after a few minutes. Hopefully this large motor and large esc (a 60a one for 1/10th cars) should make that a non-issue and I can bash to my heart's content and hit some crazy speeds).

I still have a couple things to sort out, like armoring the top (using a judicious amount of fuel tubing and zip ties); Chuck, your pics earlier in the thread showing the wear and tear are going to be really helpful in identifying the spots I need to protect, so thanks in advance for those!

clp.eng

My Feedback: (10)

Are the stock shocks going to be able to handle all that extra weight? As soon as you said "wheelie", I said "What wheelies?" Ah, BL motor! That is a big esc & motor for that buggy. Full report after you road test it please!

Glad to be the "sacrificial lamb" for your reinforcements! LOL My Slash is showing the same kind of wear. It's those d@mn curbs!!!! I think I have enough parts to build a whole new frame for the mini so let it fall apart! I guess I better get the same stuff for the Slash.

Chuck

clp.eng

My Feedback: (10)

Oh, BTW, that buggy looks TOO clean & neat - get it out there & make it look used!
clp

xy3lug

The stock shocks seem to be holding up surprisingly well, right now I have zero preload on them and they're at that sweet spot where they remain compressed about a centimeter when the buggy's on the ground. The springs might actually be a little too strong, I might swap them out for softer ones if they cause too many rollovers. Are you still using the stock ones as well? I remember you have a bunch of different ones but can't recall which you're using at the moment!

Yeah this thing wheelies at surprisingly low speeds (like within a couple feet at quarter throttle on carpet), I may need to add more weight to the front if it becomes a problem on the road. Quite different from the RC18T, I couldn't get that thing to wheelie if my life depended on it.

I'm gonna give the buggy a good bashing session as soon as Ire-stock on zipties-though I'm probably taking this 'once of prevention over a pound of cure' philosophy too far, I'm sure karma will catch up and it'll break in two and catch on fire the second it hits the dirt . . .

clp.eng

My Feedback: (10)

Very interesting, I just replaced the dogbone & cup on the wheel & it's still rubbing - better but not perfect. I put the old ones back on & noticed that wheel hangs down a little further than the other wheel. I'm beginning to think the shock maybe a 2nd problem. Maybe time to rebuild again. Stock plastic with 30 wt oil.

xy - Vids of the maiden voyage in the real world, please! Maybe there's some way to put the aitfoil upside down & turn it into a wheelie bar!!

What type of surface will you be running it on? For the Slash on the street I had to add a preload clip & move the lower shock arms out a space.

"..., I'm sure karma will catch up and it'll break in two and catch on fire the second it hits the dirt . . ." LMAO!!!!!! Definitely want to see the vid of that!!!!

Chuck

xy3lug

That must be really frustrating, trying to diagnose RC car problems is definitely my least favorite part of this hobby. And by 'diagnosing' I of course mean wasting a bunch of money replacing half the parts on the car before realizing the problem is a rock stuck in the wheel or solar flares. Maybe if you take a picture of the area someone here might have had the same problem and be able to recognize it.

I'll probably be running most of the time on asphalt (I managed to stumble across a huge and apparently abandoned parking lot a while back), though I love running in mixed terrains when I get the chance, snow, water, dirt, gravel, all that good stuff whenever Ican find it. I'm sure I could get away with stiffer springs on anything except asphalt or carpet, but since I'm surrounded by either of those 90% of the time I'll grudgingly have to adapt.

I went out and bought a thousand zip ties and went crazy with them. Suffice it to say I'm happy with the armor, and I'm even digging the "ran 300mph into a zip tie warehouse" look. Vids whenever the temperatures cool down enough that I don't melt my tires/have a heat stroke. And who needs wheelie bars when you can zip tie zip ties onto more zip ties . . .

xy3lug

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhmmuECPxTw[/youtube]
Full link

Trip report:

Very nice acceleration; the wheelies don't come as easily as they do on carpet, so I don't think I need to add any more nose weight after all. The speed was a little disappointing, but I was expecting that to a degree, since it's only a 3790kv motor. I don't think it's much faster than stock (I've only run stock indoors at low speed so someone else will have to confirm), though it looks a lot faster due to the acceleration. Thankfully there's a good amount of room for improvement; this was on the stock NiMh, so I should get even better torque and more speed on 2s and 3s LiPos, and the big block motor mount gives plenty of room to gear up (I have a 15 or 16 tooth pinion in there right now with a 58 tooth spur, but I should be able to fit one of those 20+ tooth Mini LST pinions).

Heat seems to be a non-issue (at least on a NiMh), it was in the high 80's today and the motor barely broke 100F after about 10 minutes of running. I tried my best to get the buggy to roll over to see how the armor would hold up, but never managed it, probably because of my soft shock setup. The softness wasn't too great on the patchy asphalt I was running on, since it bottomed out easily when running over the bumps (you can see a couple instances in the video where the buggy actually ricocheted off the ground); the armor took all of it though (pic of the carnage attached), and the shock setup works really well otherwise so I don't think I'll be changing anything yet.

Overall quite satisfied!

vectorhive

it sure looks fast! thanks for the posts, interesting work!

clp.eng

My Feedback: (10)

xy - glad the armor worked out for you. Is that aluminum? It looks pretty beat up. Certainly the acc was much more than stock but it was hard to tell about the overall speed. It looked faster than mine. Check my buggy vids (clp9999) on youtube & see if you can tell.

What exactly is the purpose of all those zip ties? LOL

You might try moving the shocks out & adding a spacer if you're going to spend most of your time on asphalt. I need to do that as well since I only run it out in front on the cement street.

Keep us posted as you tweak the ZipTie Buggy!

Chuck

P.S.

I just noticed in the pic there seems to be an added "rollbar" across the front shocks. Explain please!

xy3lug

Thanks guys!

Yeah the skid plate is a thin piece of aluminum stuck to the bottom with some thick double-sided foam tape, it helps absorb the impacts since aluminum is relatively squishy and the foam is . . . foamy. Can't think of a worse RC maintenance job than swapping out a cracked chassis!

It does look faster, maybe it's the angle of the video or something like that though - when I was running it I definitely found myself 'tapping my feet' waiting for it to make it across the driveway. I've learned that a good time to upgrade my RCs is when my eyes glaze over and I start daydreaming while waiting for the car to get from Point A to Point B . . . upon which I inevitably drift off into Point C (typically a light post) and have to upgrade regardless.

I'll try moving the shock position around, that's a good idea and I've never really played with that before!

That rollbar's basically just a paper clip wrapped in heatshrink, it's job is to crush under impact and absorb the shock. Useful for hard-bodied cars like the DB when they go airborne and do those nasty 'backflops' at high speed. I have something similar on my RC18T from a few pages back since I'm not using a lexan body on it. Also makes a convenient carry handle!

And hey, some people support breast cancer research, other people support our troops, I support the zip tie industry . . .

xy3lug

I put together my Mini Slider yesterday with a brushed Venom Fireball motor and took it for a spin; it can't wheelie even though the front end's lighter than the DB, but I think it's actually noticeably faster, even with a lower gearing! Mitigating factor might be that the DB battery's not fully conditioned yet, with less than 3 cycles on it, but still, that's pretty good for brushed, even against a lower KV motor. I'd definitely recommend the Fireball as a cheap (<$10), drop-in (the only mod you need to do is solder on the right motor connectors) upgrade.

I was also browsing through a toy store at the mall and found one of those finger skateboard ramps that's perfect for 1/18 scale cars. Only $2! (The prices seem much more expensive online though.) I already had a bike ramp I got from Toys 'R Us for $10, but this one has a much steeper angle and for the price I couldn't pass it up.

Full link
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezdLEqFtXQU[/youtube]

madmax22

xy will this motor fit in the stock mounting holes? http://hobbycity.com/hobbyking/store...idProduct=4195 looks like the same as your with a different KV, wanting to put it in my Mini-t

xy3lug

I think that motor's smaller in size than mine (this is the one I bought) but the mounting holes look like they're the same, which means you'll need to buy a big block motor mount (and modify it a little) to get it to fit. The stock motor mount holes are too close together for it, though it may be possible to drill out new holes if you're careful and the old ones don't get in the way-you need the holes 16mm apart.

Another problem is that the motor shaft is 2.3mm, so regular Mini-T pinions (2mm) won't fit. The little mount for the motor's bearing also sticks out, which will probably cause fit problems as well (I made sure to buy a motor that is completely flat on the ends to avoid this).

I recommend 1/18 EzRun motors if you don't want to do a lot of modification, these are the same size as the one you linked but the motor mount/shaft dimensions should be Mini-T compatible (the link has measurements for the motors, so I would double-check them with your motor mount dimensions; should be compatible, though). If you want the size of motor I put in, you'll need that big block mount and have to do some modification-but as you can see from my previous posts, the speed is not that great, and Ican't seem to find a similar size/shaft size motor with higher kVs, so it may be best to just use regular 1/18 size brushless motors.

madmax22

cool, you wouldnt happen to know how far apart the stock holes are would you?

xy3lug

I just measured the stock holes at 14mm from the center of one hole to the other, so the 1/18 EzRuns will fit.

clp.eng

My Feedback: (10)

xy - PLEASE tell me no zip ties were damaged during the filming of that vid! Way cool!

Chuck

xy3lug

Tragically there was one casualty-as you can see in this picture, one of the zip ties were ground down halfway through; later on it disappeared entirely, and the fuel tubing was ripped off. I've subsequently doubled the zip tie density in that area!

clp.eng

My Feedback: (10)

OMG, xy! I am so sorry for your loss! LMAO I just built an 8" ramp for the Slash but after seeing your vid (again) I might try the DB on it. The trouble I forsee is the fact I did not angle any of the surfaces. The Slash handles them w/o a problem but I'm not sure if the DB will. Forgive my ignorance but what the heck is a "finger skateboard ramp"??

Chuck