Dr Honda

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Hi Guys,

I have had a few requests to produce a batch of my “ARO” FunFactor shock towers. So… I have. If anyone is interested… please PM me.

Now for the hard part… and I hope the old timers’ wont kill me… the new price is only $25 a set plus shipping. The reason the price dropped is because my new machines runs so much faster.

fastxr

Forgive me for being a bit out of the loop here, but what advantages do your shock towers have? Any pictures?

Dr Honda

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Good questions.

My towers are 3.2mm thick, and are made from a much stronger alloy. They can take hard rollovers better than the stock units. They also have more holes for more adjustability. Along with that, they have holes much higher than the stock towers, which will allow you to mount inexpensive “T-max” truck shocks (or 1/8 scale buggy shocks) on your FF/MT2. These towers were actually designed as a group effort on this board about two years ago. So, they fixed every complaint with the stockers, at the time.

I also believe they will fit the NX, but I have not had anyone confirm that.

I hope a few of the old timers’ can chime in here.

Here is the thread that started it:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_30...y_Honda/tm.htm

There are some good picture around post 191.

Scouser

I have them fitted to my Fun factor and they are one of the best upgrades you can make. The CEN towers were prone to bending as the ali was a bit on the soft side. The JT Racing towers were 7075 and prone to snapping in a hard crash. Dr Hondas 'ARO' towers were thick enough not to bend and the ali was pliable enough not to snap. Also as already mentioned they gave you the opportunity to run 1:8 scale buggy shocks on the 1:10 scale FF, allowing you to inflict much more abuse on your poor truck than was previously possible! I am sure I have some pictures somewhere on my desktop, if not I will take some later and upload them so you can see the difference.
1000 posts!

poor judgement

Yep, these towers helped me get my FF to drive properly and fiddle with mods to my hearts content really. The material used is not just thicker, its a lot tougher than either the stock towers or the old "uprated" JT Racing items, which were far too brittle. The stock ones are just very soft.

In that link that DrH posted, theres a good pic on post 175, bottom of page 7 of exactly what you get. Seriously - these are far from any mass produced cheap crap, theyre properly made, custom parts from an enthusiast.

Bargain price for sure there Doc, ha, I wont hold it against you! Good to hear things are rolling again/still - Are you planning on anymore RC chassis parts? I expect there to be some holes in the market somewhere, ie, listening to what people want.......?

Dr Honda

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Hi Poor Judgment,

Glad to see you are still here.

Well… to be honest, the motorcycle parts are keeping me busy. But, I have personal interest in RC stuff. So, I will help fill in the gaps as I see them, or as people request them. Even though on my website, I only show parts for “Victory” motorcycles… I do a line of sport bike parts under a different name, and I do a lot of “one-off” parts for the Harley market. The one off parts are my real money makers.

The towers were requested by 3 different people, but I didn’t have time to get to them for 3 months. But… that’s partly because I forgot about them. But I got a PM from a member who had been patently waiting, and I felt guilty for not doing them faster. So, I actually put off a job that would make me 10 times the money on Monday to help out you guys.

The only down side to all this is that the US Postal Service doesn’t have a cheap, fast way to get parts to the UK anymore. They farmed out all the international to FedEx, so the cheap price is $40. (far cry from $5.50) There is still a service for about $11, but I think it will take a week or two. (I think you got your stuff in 3 days before)

Anyway… I’m always a PM or email away.

fastxr

Those look pretty darn nice, I'm in for a set. I like the fact I can run buggy shocks on them.

Dr Honda

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Fastxr... sending you a PM.

fastxr

PM back at ya!

Dr Honda

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Fastxr... got it.

On the original post... there are a few shots of my old machines. Here are the new ones. ($130K for them)

BTW... the stack of alloy on the work bench are frames for the UAVP guys.

dustin7837

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*Droooool* [X(]

Beautiful setup Doc.....

Just out of curiosity, did you have any training as a machinist? I know you said you were a chemist before. If you don't mind me asking that is.

fastxr

WOW That is some seriously nice equipment you got there!

Dr Honda

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Fastxr...

Thanks... the reason I spent the $$$ on the new machines is because my home machine shop turned into a day job. Oh… and... your parts went out today.

Dustin...

Nope... no training as a machinist. I learned as I needed. I do have a few buddies that are in the trade who have shown me a few of their "Tips-n-Tricks" and that has helped. But, it's not that hard with modern equipment. Most cutting tool manufacturers (the endmills, the sharp thing that is actually cutting) will tell you how fast you can feed their tools, and you start to get a feel for it as you run parts. I guess I need to add, that the old timer's in the industry were VERY SKILLED!! to operate a manual machine, and produce a good part is not easy. Or, even on the older CNC or NC machines... it took skill to make them make a good part. But now... I have a digital probe that can find my part, and measure it to a few microns. The probe is actually more precise than the machine could ever be. I also have a digital tool setter. I can tell the CNC control to "Touch off" all my tools. It will do it automatically, and when it’s done... it knows what all my tools are. (takes a few minutes) In the old days... you would manually have to set every tool, and could take 30 minutes or more. Then, if you screwed up... you would make bad parts. Last thing... I'm not making parts for aerospace either. If I have a few thousandths tolerance... I'm fine for the stuff I'm making.

So, really... I'm not that good... I just have good machines, and computers do all the work. The industry now has gone from being a “Machinist” (skilled trade) to an operator. (button pusher) The real skill is in the engineering, and the CNC program writing. And having a background in Physics, and Chemistry helps there. Not to mention, I like to get my hands dirty, and work on my stuff.

Dr Honda

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The first batch is sold out... But since I still have people wanting them, I will makup a few more. So... PM if you want them.