The Blu Beast rebuild

[ardinmcallister]

I love my capra, but honestly I was just getting so bored of the cage look. So I decided I was going to rebuild it with frame rails and a real body. Little did I know that in the end I would customize nearly every single part that was printed for the build.

Shoutout to Tinkercad, because without it I wouldnt have been able to build this at all!

Here's what I started with.

Not too bad, no? It performed wonderfully, it just got BORING.

So I picked up a set of V1W chassis rails from Spare Time Hobbies, a pack of printed parts for a capra build (Optimus 3 build), and the STL file pack for the V1W.

Here's where I ended up. I spent hours in tinkercad modifying already rendered STL files, but I'm so proud of where its ended up.

Specs:
Crawlmaster Sport 540 16T with a 11t pinion
Hobbywing 1080 running 3S 1500mAh lipos
Jconcepts F-250 Tucked body
Spaz Stix Sapphire Blue Pearl over black backing
Integrated DSM Recovery hook
front end stretched out with Jato rod ends
Samix brass knuckles and portal covers up front, just portal weights in the back
Injora 35kg HV servo for steering
Amazon 35kg HV servo for 3-position dig
Green springs all around, although I think the front could handle a little more stiffness

Injora "Austarhobby" tires with a messy combination of foams. I'm using the red ring from the Injora "dual stage foams" and then a medium hair donut on top of that in the rear. I'm currently printing out a TPU ring thats hopefully more flexible than the red ring so I can use it up front with the hair donut for a more "squishy" front end.

I also designed that roll bar and printed it in TPU. At 100% infill, it seems to flex just a little more than nylon, which is fine since I cant print nylon yet. I'm thinking about making an exo cage for the truck body using the same TPU, just because I think it might look cool.

Now I just need to find somewhere to mount the plate in the back. Thinking about hanging it off the roll back with a pair of zip ties

Two more action shots, just cause.

 

[ardinmcallister]

Just a couple quick updates.

First: I had to narrow the front bumper by about 5mm on either side. It was catching in the wheels at full lock.

Second: Pretty sure 2 full size servos and lights were just too much for the HW1080 built in bec because I got a couple brownouts. I'm slipping a cheap bec in to run the steering servo. I'm mostly putting the steering servo on it because its the easiest way to wire it in right now, but also I figure then its got the 5A peak overhead to itself.

And finally, Third: I'm trying something new with the foam setup. I printed a ring of cheap TPU with 5% gyroid infill to hopefully add some sidewall support to the hair donut. The ring has fins around it so that the donut doesnt shift side to side. I've got a couple with 10% infill on the printer now for the rear. I wont be able to test them for a couple days due to rain, but I'll update when I do.

At this point, its not even about saving money. Foams are a bitch to procure sometimes, and I want to see how it'll do. So much of this truck is 3D printed, why not try it?

PS: Oh yeah, I got my plate mounted.

 

[ardinmcallister]

Super quick update this time.
We're headed out tonight to test the foam setup, but I wanted to post that I finally got some trail lights installed!
Ended up buying this 16 LED light bar on amazon for $13 and throwing away the mounting hardware. Slapped together the mount pictured below in tinkercad instead and printed it in TPU.

 

[ardinmcallister]

Well I put a set of 4.7" Baja Claws on it and thats it, these are definitely the right tires for this rig. Spent 2 hours at the local "Rock" and it. was. glorious. I was pulling lines that my friend was having issues making all night.

Foams are pro-line single stage closed foam in the rear and injora dual stage in the front with purposely ruined foam.

 

[garyk]

I've been pondering a tpu insert in place of the inner foam. You didn't end up liking that setup you tried?

 

[ardinmcallister]

Originally I had pulled the Baja Claws off another truck to try them out. The TPU ring idea needs more work for sure, but it did show promise. Biggest problem I'm getting is that the TPU ring slides on the beadlock ring. Also, it almost feels like the TPU needs to be a more high-flex tpu than what I'm using. Maybe I'll try printing a couple out of some better stuff.

I'm actually in the process of swapping the TPU ring into the front now because those ruined foams up front are just too ruined and I'm getting too much tire flex.

 

[garyk]

Gotcha, thanks. I think you could change the 'firmness' of the tpu insert with different infill or inner structure design. I'm getting a roll of tpu to play with, but I need to just get my printer dialed in with it first.

 

[ardinmcallister]

You are 100% correct. Right now these are simple shapes on tinkercad that I print on their side with no top or bottom layer, and the plan was to vary the infill percentage to get the desired squish. Thing is, this black TPU I'm using is not some thing properly flexible like ninjaflex or anything. I've got some much more flexible tpu that I want to try still at 5-10%, but my printer has been busy with parts for refitting my 10.3 with a new body and tpu prints excruciatingly slow.

At one point I found an stl file that someone had made for SCX24 foams out of TPU, but I cant find that anymore!

 

[ardinmcallister]

Quick update. For now, front foams are XL hair donuts. They seem to be giving me the support I needed for now. Summer is getting busy and I just dont have the time to tweak the tpu rings. I'll have to deal with that once fall comes maybe?

I also discovered that 5/0 size treble hooks with the barb ground off work REALLY well as a hook for my recovery strap. Gives me something to grab on to while positioning the hook.

In the meantime, here's a decent action shot from tonight, pulling one of the hardest lines at this spot. Also, this is the last picture with body clips in the front! Once we got home, I got my hood vents installed.

I swear, they're straighter than they look. They're an odd, slightly trapezoidal shape.

 

[ardinmcallister]

Took a trip to the north shore and had some fun with the beast. There really wasnt much that it couldnt crawl. Baja Claws seem to stick like mad to the slickrock in Duluth

Above is a waterfall that dried up in our current drought. We (my wife and I) crawled down it, and then I crawled back up it because I mean, LOOK AT IT. It was so much fun to get up.

Now that the Beast is "complete", I'm working on a 10.3 baja bug. Been doing some interesting 3D printing for that build, so we'll see what comes. Maybe I'll make a thread in the 10.3 area at some point, but I wanted to drop a teaser.
Our very last stop was Two Harbors Lighthouse. My favorite spot. I had just installed the lights on the Bugg, and it was the perfect time of night. I had to run it. It was absolutely magical.

 

[Tmaxxed]

Very nice build. You from Duluth? I live in that area.

 

[ardinmcallister]

Thanks dude. Nah, I'm from down in the cities. The wife and I cruise up that way every few weekends though. You stayin out of those wildfires?