1/8 Electric Taken to the Text Level!

[SpEEdyBL]

Updates: (2 entries, one from last week, and one today posted into one)

Sorry it has been a while. Been busy lately.

Peformance:

Overall, the buggy is much more responsive with a little bit more steering - something that my original 8ight has been dying for. ...And no more traction rolling . Weight bias with the 3000 mAh packs is 48.5F/51.5R, verses the original 8ight E's 47F/53R.

So far I have completed a few indoor races and a few outoor races with some pretty outstanding results! For one, no DNF's and all finishes in the top third of the pack except when my esc unplugged from my reciever on one occasion. (It wasn't plugged in all the way).

The outdoor races were the real test as I had to run 30 minute mains in a field of mainly nitro on a very large dirt track of 40 second laps. Still I was able to complete all three mains with 2nd, 5th, and 2nd, out of 7, 15, and 7 respective fields that included sponsored drivers, adding a lap to my total each race. Next time i will be trying a brand new set of AKA enduros, instead of year old city blocks with the outer pins gone.

I timed a battery change with my velcro solution (entering pit lane to exiting) and it took 27 seconds - still slower than nitro's three 7 second pit stops, but I think I can chop off 5 or so more seconds with better communication with the pitman and neater wiring.

The total mAh that my 3000 mAh 6s sets took was 4000 mAh each time, with a single set lasting over 21 minutes during practice, but at race pace. Last year on the original 8ight chassis, my Tekin 1900 on 4s 5,000 lasted 19 minutes on the same track, so quite an improvement.

The Tekno Neu 1509 2.5Y (1450kv) motor was topping out at 160F geared 12/46 which matches the top speed (maybe slightly faster than) of nitro. The light motor was a good concept, but it is causing more problems than it is worth. The motor leads extend over th batteries, making battery changes more difficult (unfortunately it is not a good idea to bend or cut those types of wires). It's also way more powerful than I thought it was going to be. I was looking for something with less punch than my Tekin 1900 on 4s, but it ended up having considerably more. For fun i put 17 tooth on for running in the street, and it could still pull wheelies with ludicrous top speeds.

So far, the velcro has been working well in terms of holding the batteries down. I still have not made a chassis brace yet, but I have gotten away without one sor far. My first priority is to remake the chassis with better jigging in the machine. The pockets ended up being to deep in some places because the aluminum sheet bowwed upward during cutting. Some places are paper thin and have caused me to worry. There are also some slight changes that I want to impliment that will relieve stress at the hole locations where I can see some cracks initiating.

This saturday is another outdoor raceday. Next week I will build the chassis. I will have more pics once I get a hold of a decent camera.

Saturday Race results:

2nd out of 13 this time in the 30 minute A-main. The aka enduros were great. Better grip overall so very consistant, but less peak grip than the worn city blocks. I should start machining the new chassis on wednesday.

[Semi Pro]

great update, pm me and let me know if you could have another one of your chassis made, i would like to buy one and try it out

[suicideneil]

Brilliant work, I'd love to see manufacturers adopt that chassis layout in the same way they've adopted Mike's motor mount designs ( albeit with some interesting variations )

[SpEEdyBL]

Here are some pics of the new chassis. Still need to add the finishing touches & bends, but otherwise everything went as planned. I used a 1/8" aluminum plate as a back brace to keep the chassis from flexing so much while I was machining. So... I ended up with two new chassis! One 3/16" thick with pockets, the other 1/8" plain. Clever huh?

I will be trying both. They both weight about the same, but the 1/8" has a lower polar moment forward and back. It also flexes more so I may bend up the sides. The 3/16" has everything sunken in, so everything sits about 2-3mm lower.

I also made a new motor/servo mount as seen in the second pic. The third pic is just of the front shock tower I made next to the stock one.

Semi, I am just going to say it here. I can't sell any of my work. I am just a student not a machinist. It takes a lot of time for me just to make one part, let alone replicas. You'd need all 8 parts to make it work anyway. Not only that, but it is against the rules of the shop to be distributing my stuff.

Now if I end up working with a company to design a 1/8 buggy, I can assure you that it will be far better than this!

[thzero]

Great work!

[lincpimp]

I like this, very forward thinking here. I could see a really nice cam type battery hold down and some permanently mounted power cables. That would eliminate your battery changing issue and hold the packs in at the same time. I will attempt to illustrate my ideas on that and post here. Keep up the good work!

[SpEEdyBL]

Thanks! Got to race it at the indoor track yesterday and took the win and tq in a field of eight or nine. First win for me at that track with more than three other people in the race . I am experimenting with battery straps instead of the velcro holding the pack. I think I can make it so I can change batteries in a reasonable amount of time. Two straps that go across the entire chassis.

[SpEEdyBL]

Originally Posted by lincpimp

I like this, very forward thinking here. I could see a really nice cam type battery hold down and some permanently mounted power cables. That would eliminate your battery changing issue and hold the packs in at the same time. I will attempt to illustrate my ideas on that and post here. Keep up the good work!

Yes... please show me your thoughts! One thing that you have to click release the batteries would be nice - like a seatbelt or bicycle helmet.

nice BL buggy bud.
does it run good?

[Thomas]

Nice idea and execution. Your layout and powertrain are very similar to mine, I just didn't make a new chassis.
I would definitely recommend some sort of battery holder, which keeps them from moving when nose landing from jumps etc.