poor judgement

check the vids in the first post on [link=http://www.modellinc.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=270]here[/link] for what 7075 aluminium alloy can take... bit nice that eh?

Scouser

Those photos look just like my workshop!! I guess all the good manufacturers use it for a reason. Makes you think doen't it, that guy builds a 7075 ali custom twin engined TMaxx and I have trouble getting a decent gear mesh!

mulletman

man that vid is amazeing!

rolland

I probably recieved a faulty shock tower but it really doesn't bother me that much because I got my chassis off of Ebay for 50$ and the actual chassis and braces are the important pieces.
I will buy a replacement when they are available but I probably won't use it. The stock ones are a whole lot stronger and I will use those instead, especially on the rear.
When I do get replacement towers I'm going to take them to some CNC people that I know of and see what can be done about the design issue. I believe that it is more of a design issue than a materials issue. If you compare them to the stock towers they just don't look as strong.

rolland

poor judgement

quick update... for what its worth...

emailed renegade, got an instant response, good guys - "still waiting, will keep u informed"

also took the liberty of asking jt racing to change the design for the next batch. i suggested making the large hole thru the tower a good bit smaller. dunno what they will make of that, but its worth a shot i guess... oh i also sent a pic of where mine broke, and told them that we were having probs at that point on the tower...

wait and see.

rolland

I have recieved the sam e-mail from Renegade but I have still recieved no response from JT.



rolland

poor judgement

just got a mail from jt racing, should hear something in a week or so he reckons. good stuff!

renegade should also know whats going on if jtracing dont get back to u, theyre very helpful people there.

poor judgement

heard nothing from jt racing im afraid, despite another email to them asking about the towers.

a uk company called highpath (via scouser) sent this tonight:

"Thank you for the photos. We assume the bits you need are the 2
identical parts under the main chassis. (yep, thats righty)

If you send us one of these (to get the holes in the right place - please
tell us if any of them can be omitted), we can make 2 beefier copies of
it, using thicker and less brittle material.

We also propose reducing the size of the central cutout and we'd like to
make the 4 'arms' wider. Bearing this in mind, you would need to provide
a sketch showing any clearance needed for components in close proximity.

For a pair of un-anodised plates such as I've described, the cost would
be £ 100.00, or your could have 5 pairs for £ 200.00 - maybe you could
sell some to the other people you mentioned? UK postage would be £ 3.00.

(If you want us to do some more in-depth designing then the price would
be higher.)

Let me know if you're interested."


yea.... £20 each, doesnt look good does it now? this aint good. anyone else done any good?


right - just emailed jt again... will see how we go...

Scouser

Jeez mate, £100 for a pair of shock towers!! WTH? You did say aluminum and not platinum right? When I spoke to them about a year ago, they gave the impression that it would be in the 30-40 quid range. I take it you will be exploring other avenues then? Any local engineers that'll do a one off?

rolland

Even if you could order and sell the 5 sets I'm afraid the price would still be to high.
I only paid 55.00 US (of ebay) for my chassis. Just to save the money I would suggest finding the aluminum and breaking out the Dremel.

Thanks for looking. I sure wish JT was more helpful. I still haven't received a reply to any of my e-mails (3-4 total) and I'm starting to not want to do business with them anymore.

Has Renegade had any success with them? They said they would let me know when they had them but no word yet.

I did contact New Era and they said that they weren't interested.


rolland

poor judgement

tbh i could live with £20 for one as a one off, but its hard to swallow and i would never be able to sell on the other 9 towers at that price.

i hear u rolland, my chassis was the same price - i think i was also watching the one u bought!

sooo, i just emailed highpath back, giving them the feedback on the price, and offered to do the CAD drawings myself (dont panic, im a drafty) and a few other suggestions () to try to get the price down... its the best shot i know of at the mo... desperate or what? but if u dont ask...

ive just about given up with jt racing tbh - anyone got a working phone number for them? gonna email renegade too, or ring, see if they have heard anything... ouch - my phonebill... bloody toy cars cost a fortune!

Scouser

Hope they go for it mate. If we could find three other UK CEN owners that would be prepared to spend £40 on a pair of shock towers, I would go in with you. Problem is, I don't think there is anyone else out there who would do it! Surely they are going to drop the price if you send them the CADs though, I would imagine the bulk of that £100 is the design work they would have to do.

poor judgement

if the cnc will take a drawing straight from the pc, then it should remove all design and cnc programming costs - depends on their setup.

just got a mail back from renegade tho:

"I will contact them (JT Racing) again this monday and let you know I will get them for you how many shock towers do you guys need altogther.
Thanks
David RCP"

Right - place your orders here then guys! If u are in the UK I am willing to get them sent to me and then pass them on if thats any good to you?

We need a total tho - I want at least a pair, its my understanding that Scouser and Rolland also want a pair each? so thats 6 if Im right on that guys.... Azzman - u want a couple? Just need a number so we can get something moving.

rolland

Yes I would like a pair depending on price. If they want what you can have them made for then no, I would rather wait and see what you can get them for after you do the design work. From the sounds of it your design will be alot stronger than JT's.




rolland

azzman

I agree, Im not impressed with JT design along with the rest of you, so only would consider an improved version.

poor judgement

sounds sensible mate.

i was thinking of practically filling that centre hole, leaving just enough to get all plugs to the rx thru, should ppl want a rear mounted batt or rx. also i was thinking about slightly enlarging the shock mount arm part and having 3 rows of holes - sound good? or just fill the hole - keeping it simple?

forgot - jt said if they did a new batch then it would be with a much smaller hole... they said...

poor judgement

ok - i just mailed renegade to explain that we only want a revised design from jt, or we will go private.

rolland

If JT isn't going to offer a stronger design I'm not that interested in them either. I would end up shelving them and using the stock towers.

A smaller hole will be fine and I think that the lightening cuts are unnecessary, they make the part look good at the expense of some strength and the weight savings isn't going to be that great. The shock mounting holes are fine, they offer plenty of adjustment options. I think that the overall outline of the JT tower is also fine I see no reason to change it.

The price should come down quit a bit if the hole is smaller the lightening cuts are not made and you do the cad design. The majority of the work could even be done on a water jet and then the cnc for the shock holes, thats if a water jet can't do the holes I'm not that familiar with them.


rolland

poor judgement

got a mail back from renegade in reply to me mentioning upgraded towers are our only interest:

"I will get the info for you. and all the low down.
Thanks
David RCP"

water jet cutters can cut the profile no probs - i believe, the holes however would still need to be drilled - in my experience anyways.

I will get some drawings done asap, but its gonna be the last thing i can do for a while, as stated in my other post. [&o]

rolland

Thanks for looking into this for us. I am having no luck what so ever.

rolland

poor judgement

right, i got a reply this morning from high path... its a big un, but i thought u had best be put in the picture... includes the mail i sent:

Dear Rob,

Sorry I've been so slow to answer this email. We're very busy at the
moment, trying to finish a lot of things before our annual holiday, which
starts at the end of this week. (I regret that we'll be closed between
Thursday 22 September and Thursday 06 October - cycling round Flanders.)

On 18 Sep, you wrote:
> Hi,

> Yes it was the two identical items in the photo.

> I have asked about on the RC forums etc, and I am afraid that the price
> is just too high, especially with anodising needed.

> Understandably a small order will produce a high price, due to setting
> up the CNC program etc. So I was wondering if it would help to cut the
> costs at all if I were to produce a CAD drawing, in AutoCAD .dwg
> format, that you could use. I have produced similar drawings before
> for Shand Engineering, (very pro outfit) which were sent directly to
> their CNC lathe - I have worked for them as a drafty for a while. They
> wont touch private jobs like this though. Would this be an option?

We can read most DXF files, although in our experience AutoCAD tends to
produce disjointed profiles which require a degree of 'touching up'
before sensible CNC programs can be produced.

But your drawing would probably save us some time nonetheless and we
could reduce the price to £ 90.00 for the first pair. I'm sorry it isn't
less than this, but one-offs always take a long time to jig up.

> The original manufacturers are still kicking their heels and not
> replying to emails from anyone it seems, so you guys are still my best
> chance of getting these towers.

> As a side note: If you would be interested, I could supply the complete
> chassis from JT Racing so that you could do a run of uprated chassis'
> for all the CEN Funfactor owners out there. Its a kind of entry level
> truck that is very popular as its quite versatile - allows Monster
> Truck, Stadium Truck and Rally Car setups all from one chassis, and
> its also quite fast. I am unsure of copyright laws regarding this as
> you could alter the design enough from the JT chassis, without
> actually making that many changes. The reason I suggest this is that UK
> owners are very limited in their upgrade options, and I am sure this
> would prove very popular on Ebay or similar - and the towers would be
> cheaper! I have almost completed a chassis with a centre differential
> for the Funfactor, which is also gaining a lot of interest.

> CENs website is www.cenracing.com to give you some idea of the chassis
> setups etc. I also produced a simple site as I got tired of requests for
> pics of my mods -
>
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robert....semidecent.htm

I'll discuss this with Lewis in the morning, but please don't hold your
breath!

> Apols for the large email if this is not your kind of thing, but if you
> dont ask...

That's fine Rob.

> Kind regards
> Rob

Best wishes,
Chris.

they seem very honest to me, i have some experience of the kind of setup they have, and the costs involved. they also have a point in regard to autocads exporting of dxf files - they can be a right pain...

sooooo - anyone tried ringing jt racing? im struggling to get through from the uk - had no probs with renegade tho. maybe best to see if renegade can pull through with jt.

Scouser

Can't say fairer than that really. When I spoke to them they sounded decent blokes, that's why I mentioned them. It would be great if they did decide to develop a new chassis design, as he says though, I wont hold my breath. Cheers for the update mate, let us know if they contact you again.

5150_UK

Can anyone tell me where I can buy those hop-ups in the UK?

poor judgement

not sure that the chassis is available anywhere other than in the US. i believe that everyone here who has the jt chassis, including myself, got them from the states.

keep an eye open on ebay, i picked mine up for $55 incl p&p - cant argue with that. it was direct from jt racing, good luck in trying to make contact with them tho.

www.renegade-rc.com may be able to help u out, they are good guys, and have contact with jt.

hope that helps

5150_UK

Awesome. Many thanks for your help!