A while back I picked up a new redcat rs10. I did a few mods, aluminum knuckles, cheap JX CLS5830 servos, Hobbywing 880 ESC on 3S, axle wideners, and I threw on some RC4WD Bully 2 wheels and tires I had. I liked it but wanted to do something different with it so I picked up a used rs10 and set out to make an 8x8 with the axles. This used rs10 was beat the F up. It came with no wheels and tires, shocks, motors, ESC, half the links, and some of the housings were cracked. I think the previous owner just drug it around behind their car on a rope.
Over the next 6-8 months I started collecting the extra parts needed... the aluminum knuckles, 2 more JX servos, another Hobbywing 880 ESC, axle wideners, picked up 8 desert lizard shocks, and all the parts from Redcat to get the used axles up and running.
After using the Bully 2 wheels and tires on the 4x4, I wanted something more aggressive for the 8x8 so I picked up some RC4WD GENIUS 2.2 tires (to run backwards for gripping) and some chinesium wheels. I bought some links from STRC to finish it up but I still didn't have any frame.
I had seen videos of the 8x8 from NitroRCX and thought a rigid frame was too limiting. Luckily I have a friend with all sorts of toys to build stuff with... 3D printers, tabletop CNC machine, industrial laser cutter, and more traditional stuff like drill press, band saw, belt sander, etc. All the hand tools a builder would need and most importantly, the knowledge of CAD to draw up some frame ideas.
Over the next couple months, I'd go to his place, we'd draw up a frame and cut it out of wood on his laser cutter, i'd take it home, mock the vehicle up, see where there would be clearance issues, go back and modify the frame in CAD, and repeat the process until I was happy with it. Eventually we cut the frame out of 4mm delrin.
My original idea was to have the frame be able to pivot in the middle, to be able to hug the terrain better. The videos I'd seen of 8x8s looked stupid trying to climb things with a rigid frame. The front of the vehicle would be up in the air until it got past the center point and then drop, then the rear wheels would pop up, just looked stupid. I thought my friend and I could design some better. We put this idea on hold until we could drive around a working vehicle to see how it drove, reacted, etc. So this past weekend we finally got to take it out...
Wow, this thing is a beast! 8 wheel drive, 8 wheel steer, I couldn't have asked for more outta this thing. It just climbed...everything. The axles articulate so much, my friend and I agreed that it doesn't need to pivot in the middle though we still might design something to let it swivel left and right to tighten up the steering. That's really the only thing it needs. Which brings me to the current issue...
The Hobbywing 880 ESC only runs servos on 6.0V so the steering was definitely lacking. The JX CLS5830 servos can run up to 8.4V so I picked up a Castle BEC... Any advice on installing the BEC to power all 4 servos?
I hope this is readable and not some incoherent mess of a post. I'll post some running videos and some pics when I get a chance in the next couple weeks
Over the next 6-8 months I started collecting the extra parts needed... the aluminum knuckles, 2 more JX servos, another Hobbywing 880 ESC, axle wideners, picked up 8 desert lizard shocks, and all the parts from Redcat to get the used axles up and running.
After using the Bully 2 wheels and tires on the 4x4, I wanted something more aggressive for the 8x8 so I picked up some RC4WD GENIUS 2.2 tires (to run backwards for gripping) and some chinesium wheels. I bought some links from STRC to finish it up but I still didn't have any frame.
I had seen videos of the 8x8 from NitroRCX and thought a rigid frame was too limiting. Luckily I have a friend with all sorts of toys to build stuff with... 3D printers, tabletop CNC machine, industrial laser cutter, and more traditional stuff like drill press, band saw, belt sander, etc. All the hand tools a builder would need and most importantly, the knowledge of CAD to draw up some frame ideas.
Over the next couple months, I'd go to his place, we'd draw up a frame and cut it out of wood on his laser cutter, i'd take it home, mock the vehicle up, see where there would be clearance issues, go back and modify the frame in CAD, and repeat the process until I was happy with it. Eventually we cut the frame out of 4mm delrin.
My original idea was to have the frame be able to pivot in the middle, to be able to hug the terrain better. The videos I'd seen of 8x8s looked stupid trying to climb things with a rigid frame. The front of the vehicle would be up in the air until it got past the center point and then drop, then the rear wheels would pop up, just looked stupid. I thought my friend and I could design some better. We put this idea on hold until we could drive around a working vehicle to see how it drove, reacted, etc. So this past weekend we finally got to take it out...
Wow, this thing is a beast! 8 wheel drive, 8 wheel steer, I couldn't have asked for more outta this thing. It just climbed...everything. The axles articulate so much, my friend and I agreed that it doesn't need to pivot in the middle though we still might design something to let it swivel left and right to tighten up the steering. That's really the only thing it needs. Which brings me to the current issue...
The Hobbywing 880 ESC only runs servos on 6.0V so the steering was definitely lacking. The JX CLS5830 servos can run up to 8.4V so I picked up a Castle BEC... Any advice on installing the BEC to power all 4 servos?
I hope this is readable and not some incoherent mess of a post. I'll post some running videos and some pics when I get a chance in the next couple weeks
