<span style="font-size: smaller;">Rc comp crawlers</span>

<span style="font-size: larger;"><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">Can some one pleeez tell me how to make a comp tube chassis startinng from the ground up!?!?

thanx

P.S like what type of brazing rod (if any), how to cut thick metal sheets, steel or aluminum...</span></span>

Steve

head on over to www.rccrawler.com there is a thread on there showing how its done. your gona have to doo a little searching for it, but its there.

Best Crawler site on the net!

x2 on what Twiztid Metal said...also check out RC4WD, R2JKustoms, TCS Crawlers....tons and tons of info and project build threads to get you started. RCU has a much smaller following on crawlers/scale trucks but there's people here like me that periodically check up on builds here.

Since you said you wanted to build from the ground up I assume you know a bit about brazing cages and so forth...RC4WD has all your axles, parts, tires, wheels, and very unique chassis that are literally works of art. TCS Crawlers is a good site as well. R2JKustoms make quality scale products as well especially for crawling.

I know that you want to do everything, but seriously you will end up spending more time throwing stuff away or cutting it up for another try and take in to consideration how much money you will be consuming for brazing fuel, rod, steel, plating, and time. Go to RC4WD (http://rc4wdstore.com/2/index.php?os...b5b6e2c7cae168 ) or RCPCrawlers (http://rcpcrawlers.com/) and order a tuber. The King of the Hammers chassis is awesome and they have some others that will end up costing you less then if you tried to do it yourself, and like I said earlier"isn't the time you wasted on mistakes you cut up or threw away worth something".
I design and build RC Products for a living and my time is not cheap, the biggest thing people forget in doing a RC product or even one of there full scale toys is calculate how much time and effort they had to put in to it. Parts are easy, prototyping is time consuming and even getting paid for it it still is not enough for the setup time and the extra effort that you don't get paid for. Don't forget that if you were doing this for your boss you would expect to get paid for doing it, is your free time actually "free" where you have so much you can waste the hard earned dollars, or wouldn't you prefer to be out using your time to break your new toys?

^ Well put! Just remember this, most chassis that are tubers... can be notoriously top heavy (BAD!) when made from brazing rod... now sure you can skirt around that with extra wheel weights but when all is said and done, you end up with one extremely heavy rig that breaks every time you take it out [X(][>:]

I think it would be easier to find a CNC machine shop that can make you up some chassis plates and you just bolt those together, Same idea, different looks yes, but hey, it gets the job done and it weights less [8D]

I am still building my comp chassis on my AX10 and to tell you how much I spent so far I will give you a rough idea:

AX10 kit: ~ $250 (bought as roller but came with four wheel steer upgrade and 2 JR Racing Metal Gear Servos)
Sidewinder ESC ~ $90
Castle Creations BEC 10A ~ $25
Castle Creations USB Programming Software ~ $25
Hitec 7955TG Servo ~ $120
Spektrum 2.4Ghz DX3S System with DSM2 RX ~$350
Hot Bodies Rovers 2.2" ~ $40
Proline Dual Stage Over Sized Memory Foams ~$40
Axial Rear Bent 30* Links ~$10
Integy 55T Lathe Motor ~ $20
Integy Axle Wideners (never used again) ~ $30
Wheel Weights ~ $10
STRC 4 Link Rear ~ $10
Traxxas Revo Rod Ends/Balls ~ $15

Broken Parts I had to replace/upgrades:
Axial Aluminum Clockable C Hubs ~ $30
Axial Aluminum Knuckles ~ $30
MIP Shafts ~ $50
Junfac Carbon Steel Shafts ~ $45
Bent or Stripped out Threads for Lower Links ~ $20
Shocks (Now Using Losi 4" Threaded Shocks Used off eBay) ~ $40
Vanquish Products Incision Chassis (to lower center of gravity and to 4 link rear and to have adjustable mounting used off eBay) ~$25
1300mah 3S LiPo Battery ~ $25
10g Lead Weights for Chassis Balance (free from a crawler buddy)


Total: ~$1300 and that's not including the little stuff here and there you need like zip ties, screws, or other custom fabrication you do. I also have Robinson gears coming in which will replace the nylon internal gears on my other scaler truck that stripped based on the same tranny which is another $45.

My comp rig doesn't even have a DIG unit yet which will be another ~$75 + a servo $35 so after a DIG and my custom wiring for the DX3S two position switch it will run me over $1400.

And it's still in pieces at the moment as I am still working on different configurations and testing.

I agree with GManBill but part of the fun is like upgrading a real car part by part and learning at the same time. The choice is yours.