horatio Posted June 11, 2022 Author Share Posted June 11, 2022 6 hours ago, Tug said: 60C isn't hot, it'll only cook if you exceed 80C. Pre-fan, it hit over 160°F. So it's probably only medium rare. 😅 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted July 22, 2022 Author Share Posted July 22, 2022 So it's been a while since I posted here, but I've had some decent sessions with it over the past couple of months. It's a ton of fun! One area of the truck that needed a tweak was with the servo saver. It becomes quite apparent with big, grippy tyres that the servo saver spring is too weak to achieve consistent steering. Yes - you can tighten it up, but then there's very little (if any) saving action left in it. Frankly, the spring rate is just not optimal for this weight of truck. What to do? Replace the spring. Over on another forum, a bunch of us discussed this problem and I suggested we look for getting a spring made to spec, with a higher rate. That's exactly what we've done. The stock spring was tightened about as far as it could go for on road use. This offers little little give, because there was no space between the coils. I can compress the stock spring completely with my fingers. The new spring on the other hand looks like this: The spring shown here has a much firmer rate, it's slightly longer, the music wire is thicker and it's an interference fit into the composite servo saver arm. Stock spring on left, bespoke spring on right. The specs for the new one were carefully considered following careful measurements of the stock item. With these dimensions, we could figure out how much bigger and thicker we could make the replacement. During testing, it became immediately apparent that the steering now was not only more positive, but more predictable, faster and centered with more precision. The result is 100% consistent lock. See here: My first batch are now virtually sold out. If people want the same - just let me know. I'll get another load soon. When you consider how much money people spend on fancy steering servos, with mega torque and speed - it seems futile when the servo saver wastes any effectiveness the servo may have. You need this spring! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kpowell911 Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 You definitely have a point! Stock servo savers are usually poor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted July 22, 2022 Author Share Posted July 22, 2022 1 hour ago, Kpowell911 said: You definitely have a point! Stock servo savers are usually poor Yes. None more so than the pitiful arrangement that Savage had out of the box. It literally had no steering at all. Steering more series of suggestions - it was implied rather than actually applied to the wheels. To get steering, you literally had to take an OFNA monster pirate steering assembly and use that. Yet before getting the servo saver changed - everyone put in super duper high torque servos. They even used 2s Lipos to up the voltage. Result: zero difference. So why is this? It's the same for Arrma Kratons as well, only for them they don't have the luxury of an adjustment collar. It seems like such an obvious oversight. You never have this problem on racing buggies or truggies. Perhaps bashers don't need to steer? 🤣😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kpowell911 Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 5 hours ago, horatio said: Yes. None more so than the pitiful arrangement that Savage had out of the box. It literally had no steering at all. Steering more series of suggestions - it was implied rather than actually applied to the wheels. To get steering, you literally had to take an OFNA monster pirate steering assembly and use that. Yet before getting the servo saver changed - everyone put in super duper high torque servos. They even used 2s Lipos to up the voltage. Result: zero difference. So why is this? It's the same for Arrma Kratons as well, only for them they don't have the luxury of an adjustment collar. It seems like such an obvious oversight. You never have this problem on racing buggies or truggies. Perhaps bashers don't need to steer? 🤣😂 I think RC companies in the RTR business cheap out so much with servos (not just Traxxas, I cant think of an RTR “basher” with a suitable stock servo) they purposely put a weak and sloppy servo saver to stop the stock servo failing the minute you turn a corner under stress. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted July 23, 2022 Author Share Posted July 23, 2022 15 hours ago, Kpowell911 said: I think RC companies in the RTR business cheap out so much with servos (not just Traxxas, I cant think of an RTR “basher” with a suitable stock servo) they purposely put a weak and sloppy servo saver to stop the stock servo failing the minute you turn a corner under stress. I kinda get that for the RTR stuff - "let's not keep having warranty claims on the $15 servo we supply - so we'll put in a spring so weak that it doesn't have to overcome anything greater than 1kg/cm". With predictable results! But why supply the same spring for rollers like the XTR and EXB, which isn't supplied with any electronics? 🤔 To be fair, the spring on the XTR was OK for stock tyres on loose stuff.. But take it on grass or tarmac with big sticky on road tyres - there's an obvious problem with vague, wandery steering. I have night/day difference on my XTR now. So much easier to keep it tracking in a straight line, which for me is important if you run next to kerbs or within the confines of a track. Steering that centers is important! Another slightly weird thing was the excessive amount of toe out the truck came with - mine had 3-4° which is waaaaay too much. This combined with the soft servo saver meant that high speed runs were a wing & a prayer job! I've set mine now for 1° toe out, for responsive steering at the entry of corners, whilst still having consistent straight line tracking. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted February 21, 2023 Author Share Posted February 21, 2023 Visiting this thread having just gone over a few sets of my 1/8th wheels. There is nothing to lose by balancing your wheels, though it gets increasingly difficult to balance wheels the smaller they are. IMO, it's better to take reasonable steps to ensure your wheels are as balanced as possible, because besides the obvious improvement in performance, having a car that has less vibration will also reduce wear and improve bearing life. To do a good job, you need a wheel balancer, blutac, pen, golfing lead tape and a digital balance (scales). I use blutac on the rim - in the usual way - putting the right amount of blutac opposite the heavy side of the wheel. Mark this with a pen. (often on off road tyres, you'll notice the heavy part of the wheel is where the manufacturer drills the vent hole in the rim) Once the wheel is balanced as accurately as possible, I then remove all of the blutac and weigh it on the digital balance. I replace the blutac with the same weight of adhesive lead tape. After a bit of experience, you get to know how long a strip of lead tape you need for any specific weight. It's just a matter of practice. If I'm dealing with very small amounts, I often leave the blutac on the scale - let's say it's 2g. I'll add my length of lead tape to the scale and until I get the length I need to total 4g in total - then put the 2g of lead tape on to the wheel. The reason why I prefer lead tape on the rims is because blutac and putty attract a lot of dust and crap. Also, because lead is denser, you require less volume of it to achieve the same result over putty. It's neater and less likely to fall off. Some of my wheels require 8g of weight to balance them! On a set of wheels hurtling at 60mph - that's a lot of unwanted vibration if it's left unbalanced. My truggy wheels have been balanced with a putty that sets hard and this has also worked well to be fair. However, I still prefer the the lead tape - it's cheaper and readily available. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted June 5, 2023 Author Share Posted June 5, 2023 (edited) And now for balancing wheels - we can use these! Edited June 5, 2023 by horatio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted October 26, 2023 Author Share Posted October 26, 2023 So - what's happening to all you Kronos/Shogun/XTR owners out there? You all still driving or is the platform yesterday's news? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 We've just not been out with them to be honest 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted October 27, 2023 Author Share Posted October 27, 2023 Yeah, I've not been out for while with mine either. The weather has been terribly wet. Perhaps I should take up RC boating....🤔 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted August 5 Author Share Posted August 5 Well it's been a fair old while, but I thought I'd post my latest speed run times and details of a few upgrades. The carbon fibre arms were a bit of a mission to source without incurring huge international shipping, but I installed this full set from Italy. The Rocket 4292 was fitted in an attempt to hit some higher speeds by gearing up without risking overheating. This certainly seemed to run with much lower temps, so I geared up using an 18t pinion The torquey motor spun the higher gearing with ease, without breaking into a sweat. I upgraded the centre diff outputs to HD items. The centre dogbone driveshafts were looking a bit sorry for themselves, so I changed these too. The top speed was beaten with this set-up. Not unsurprisingly, geared up like this, it was not as rapid 0-60mph compared to the 825 on 13t. But it was still hitting 60mph in just over 4 seconds. So not long after my last post here on musk forum, I uploaded a video with some onboard footage of my rig blasting around in the wet. I hope this shares a little TC love. In other news, I also managed to beat my Baja 5B top speed, following an upgrade to fuel lines and induction. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted October 7 Author Share Posted October 7 It was time to take some radical steps to improve the drive line on the XTR. Here's what I've done so far: I wanted to make the chassis stiffer, redistribute the weight and optimise the drive line angles - to improve power and efficiency. 5mm Carbon Fibre was selected. This is 40% thicker and still 46g lighter. The bonus of the extra strength and stiffness was that it means that much of the bracing is now redundant - saving even more weight. Mating up the transmission and reconfiguring the steering assembly for a 0° Kick up chassis. Chassis really starting to look purposeful now. M2C carbon shock towers save another 32.5g Removal of braces (except rear body mount braces), radio tray and battery tray results in a total weight loss of 235.5g!! However, the main benefit of all this is the more efficient and powerful driveline - more power to the wheels. And much quieter, too! First speed run opportunity was on a very wet and windy Sunday.... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted October 7 Author Share Posted October 7 This truck now feels like a full on racing Truggy - on steroids! Despite the terrible conditions, it breezed through 61 mph, but unfortunately, a spin resulted in a high speed crash into concrete. 😬 All recorded with the onboard camera. Amazingly, nothing broke. Nada. I need to beat 69mph on 6S. With this, I am confident that on like for like gearing, it will beat my previous speed run - it's just keeping it on the straight and narrow with all this new found power at the wheels. It's so much more aggressive. The Onyx Power System Graphene 6S pack was very punchy, even on 17/46. I just need some tidy weather and maybe I can get this 'Wide boy XTR' over 70mph. 🤞 Video to follow. 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormbringer Posted October 7 Share Posted October 7 good luck 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie1 Posted October 7 Share Posted October 7 That carbon fibre looks like farbon fibre, good effort so far though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted October 7 Author Share Posted October 7 1 hour ago, wolfie1 said: That carbon fibre looks like farbon fibre, good effort so far though Farbon fibre? 🤔 What's that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie1 Posted October 7 Share Posted October 7 9 minutes ago, horatio said: Farbon fibre? 🤔 What's that? Fake carbon fibre- plastic/fibre glass with a skin of carbon fibre put on the outside for looks or plastic/fibre glass that has been hydro dipped to look like carbon fibre. The lightest carbon fibre to use is the none glossy stuff as the shiny stuff has a glossy resin added to it so it looks pretty and adds weight 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted October 7 Author Share Posted October 7 (edited) On 07/10/2024 at 21:05, wolfie1 said: Fake carbon fibre- plastic/fibre glass with a skin of carbon fibre put on the outside for looks or plastic/fibre glass that has been hydro dipped to look like carbon fibre. The lightest carbon fibre to use is the none glossy stuff as the shiny stuff has a glossy resin added to it so it looks pretty and adds weight Nah, it's not fake carbon fibre! 🤣 I had to select the layup and cut the stuff, so I know what it is. It's 0-90-0-90-0-90. I didn't require 45° weaves - being already 40% thicker, much stronger/stiffer than the 7075 it replaces, and lighter - the glossy twill was an option purely for aesthetics, as the chassis is obviously something you have to look at while wrenching on it! 😝 Only the clear coat adds weight. But that's a compromise we live with on WCF parts - otherwise it's fugly for RC use. Gloss twill is much easier to clean and also stronger weight for weight. The M2C carbon shock towers use Japanese glossy twill. They save 32.5g over 7075 towers. Edited October 9 by horatio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie1 Posted October 7 Share Posted October 7 1 minute ago, horatio said: Nah, it's not fake carbon fibre! 🤣 I had to select the layup and cut the stuff, so I know what it is. It's 0-90-0-90-0-90. I didn't require 45° weaves - being already 40% thicker, much stronger/stiffer than the 7075 it replaces, and lighter - the glossy twill was an option purely for aesthetics, as the chassis is obviously something you have to look at while wrenching on it! 😝 Only the clear coat adds weight. But that's a compromise we live with on WCF parts - otherwise it's fugly for RC use. The M2C carbon shock towers use Japanese glossy twill. They save 32.5g over 7075 towers. 1 hour ago, horatio said: Farbon fibre? 🤔 What's that? There is no doubting that being carbon fibre, it was the chassis that gave me that thought where the countersinking had been done that was all 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted October 7 Author Share Posted October 7 It's the real deal. Edges sealed with black Sharpie and Cyano. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted October 7 Author Share Posted October 7 1 minute ago, wolfie1 said: There is no doubting that being carbon fibre, it was the chassis that gave me that thought where the countersinking had been done that was all Counter sink tools dull really quickly with this stuff. 😬 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie1 Posted October 7 Share Posted October 7 Just now, horatio said: It's the real deal. Edges sealed with black Sharpie and Cyano. Fair enough just thought i would ask the question by the way it looked in the pic, you have it in your hand so can see it better than i can in a pic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted October 7 Author Share Posted October 7 (edited) On 07/10/2024 at 22:06, wolfie1 said: Fair enough just thought i would ask the question by the way it looked in the pic, you have it in your hand so can see it better than i can in a pic If you look at the countersunk holes, you can see the layers. 👍 I don't recall any questions - only a statement. 🤔 Fun fact! I started countersinking the wrong side of the chassis. It was the early hours and I'd finished all the Pironi. 🤣 Edited October 9 by horatio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horatio Posted October 7 Author Share Posted October 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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