Extended CRT.5 - MetalMan Style

[MetalMan]

Last night I started work on extending my CRT.5, after finally getting a sheet of 1/8" thick 6061-T6. The extension is a standard 1.5" over stock, to use stock center-rear dogbone in the front. The chassis also has the motor/diff offset 1/4" from center to the right side, and the chassis is 1/2" wider than stock (to let the battery have more room to lay down).

Servo will be an Airtronics 359, battery is a 3s 4000mah 20C, and I hope to throw a Neu 1509/1Y smooth can into it (but 9L to start). The chassis took 4 hours to make, but still needs servo mounts, battery mount, chassis cutouts (to reduce weight), and chassis bracing. I'm looking at making a battery holder based off of Serum's recently posted design.

[jnev]

Sounds very cool. But you give us this info without any pics...?!?!

[BP-Revo]

Sound cools. I'm also interested in Serum's battery design. I think if there was some sort of system on the truck with a few plugs, and then a housing to which the battery gets secured and plugged into. Then the housing itself can be attached to the module on the truck, and secured via a body pin.

This way, you can have say, 2 or 3 housings per truck (and then just switch out batteries within the housing, if you need to). This way you only need a few housings, and not one housing per battery.

I look forward to seeing it in person.

[MetalMan]

There's nothing too spectacular yet, but here are pics of the chassis:





You can see stock braces, but those will go away when I figure out what exactly I am going to do for bracing. So far I'm thinking of a single full-length chassis brace that will connect at the current rear chassis brace position, and will be secured to the chassis where the stock rear brace mounts, at the middle of the chassis, and at the front.

[lincpimp]

You could make the braces look like the bomp proof truck, mini style.

Sounds like a good idea to tie the front and rear bulks to the center bulk. It will make it stronger up and down as well as torsionally. Thinking about something like this for my mbx conversion to an on road car, like the ultra gtp.

[starscream]

Its looking good MM

Did you get your plate from onlinemetals.com?
A 7075 plate would only cost a little more and you wouldn't need chassis braces.

[MetalMan]

My inspiration for the chassis brace actually came from BPP, from a couple years ago. This will be the first time I will try it, though.

The plate was originally 1/8" x 6" x 48", and I got it through Speedy Metals on Ebay for $20 shipped. I've gone with Speedy Metals and this same deal for a couple years now, and for the price, have been very pleased.

[lincpimp]

I too have used speedy metals with great results. I also need to pick up some more 6061 1/8 for my aftershock conversion.

[Serum]

must have been a pain to machine! what did you used to cut it?

[MetalMan]

Scroll saw, and drilled with drill press. The cutting is slow, and not as precise as I would like, but it gets the job done pretty well (as you can see). This is the same way I make all of my parts.

[rchippie]

Looks goos so far . Did you put kick up in (bend up) the FR ?. You could also make two short braces & connect them to the center diff mount from the FR top plate & the RR bulk area to stiffen up your chassis, but remember some flex in these cars is good. It is possible to make the car to stiff.

[MetalMan]

The front has kickup, that matches the stock chassis. It is actually looking like I will have to make at least two braces to brace the truck well, as a single full-length brace wouldn't fit properly and would require too much work to make possible.

I managed to finish the servo mount, and I must say, I haven't seen anything like it before .

[MetalMan]

This truck is getting close to finished. Servo's mounted up, the chassis brace is completed and mounted (although I need to shorten the screws on it), the battery tray is done and just needs to be mounted, and all the electronics are mounted.

Unfortunately this battery tray was not designed with the same style as Serum's quick-release tray. That would have taken too much time/effort for me at the moment to design/cut, so I went with a design I've used before:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...o/IMG_5562.jpg
This one is better thought out and more sturdy, not to mention better looking, and it will mount directly to the chassis by 4 screws. Velcro will still hold the battery in from the top. The front of the battery holder has a bent "arm" to keep the battery from sliding forward, and there will be a velcro strap in front of that to keep the "arm" from breaking.

The chassis brace is a two-piece design, with a 1/4" thick polycarbonate rear brace, and an 1/8" thick 6061 aluminum 3-point brace. The aluminum brace attaches behind the center diff to the rear brace, in front of the center diff to the chassis via aluminum angle, and below the front top plate via aluminum angle. The polycarb rear brace allows the chassis some flex, but overall the chassis has virtually zero chance for flexing.

Pics would be up, but I'm at school and won't be home for a few hours.

[MetalMan]

The truck is finished! Enjoy.

[BP-Revo]

Looks good - but where's your Neu?

I look forward to seeing it in person tomorrow.