[WIP] Lil Pete - RC Truck

[clarkdef]

I present Lil Pete, I named him after an old fella at work, because while he's not much to look at, he can sure work for his money. This is a working process I am waiting for a motor controller to get it up and running and the look may change to suit the motor controller.

This really was a build with no overall presentation goal, I merely started clicking pieces together. My main goal was to build a truck that had the power to climb decent inclines and traverse grass fairly effortlessly at a decent speed.

The first picture shows this attractive beasts nose which like Pete is a giant servo.

4x buggy motors with 1:3 ratio means that uni joints would not work so I found an odd way to make up the rear suspension. It's very easy to change out the cogs to different ratios out on the field. It is yet to be seen if this rear suspension will be any good, but it seems fairly tough. The front sub frame is pulled back heaps to give a lot of castor, it's really the only way to prevent those steering rods popping off all the time.

With the hood up you can see I have included a floor pan to protect the receiver or motor controller from any splashes from beneath. The seat comes forward also and that is where the battery is conveniently stored.

So far the car with battery weighs 1080 gram, which isn't too bad. More information to follow, my electronics should be here within the week. Cheers for reading.

[AndyCW]

This looks promising. 4x 5292 motors at full throttle will suck that battery dry very fast. Hopefully the structure and gears hold together. Keep us posted with what happens when you out in the motor controller.

BTW which controller are you getting?

v/r

Andy

[clarkdef]

Yes you are correct, battery might last 30 mins, I would like a 1500mah that would give a better play time. Motor control https://www.pololu.com/product/777. This is something I have been wanting to get for years now but with a weak dollar and terrible postage costs I could never justify it... But I had a weak moment.

[aminnich]

I was expecting a little peterbilt, but Your crawler is just as cool. Nice job dude

Edited November 23, 2015 by aminnich

[AndyCW]

I also use that motor controller. It's good stuff. Building structures for this power level is a new challenge.

You might want to investigate using small turntables for the pivot points on the rear swing arms so that the drive axle isn't also load bearing. Otherwise; I foresee bad things happening to those 5.5 stud axles and their mates on the front side of the swing arm.

Looking forward to videos.

v/r

Andy

[clarkdef]

I was expecting a little peterbilt, but Your crawler is just as cool. Nice job dude

Ha the only war this thing is going to get over rocks is to ram it self up them :D

I also use that motor controller. It's good stuff. Building structures for this power level is a new challenge.

You might want to investigate using small turntables for the pivot points on the rear swing arms so that the drive axle isn't also load bearing. Otherwise; I foresee bad things happening to those 5.5 stud axles and their mates on the front side of the swing arm.

Looking forward to videos.

v/r

Andy

Let's see how they go. I hope the whole thing works, knowing my luck I'll blow the chip up! I plan to get a video very soon.

I have the motor controller and am building it into the frame work, unfortunately my cool floor pan has to go :/

[z3_2drive]

Nice to see you making another beast of a vehicle I had an idea similar to your rear suspension, though I never built it because I thought 12t gears would never hold up, so I can't wait to find out how it turns out! Looks really robust, good luck!

[clarkdef]

I am happy to report, that 12 tooth gears seem to hold up no problem! The car needs improvement in areas like the steering response and weight, it's ended up weighing 1.2kg which I don't like. Here's a video of some random driving.