RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Little track shoes falling off... time to research into a 3D printed track shoe.
Will post the STL file once done.

Found a few bit of rubber dirt at the suspension area. Turn out that the vibration of the wheels seems to be rubbing on the head of the screw that is securing the suspension arms.
Even the use of 4 spacers sometimes does not clear the screw head.
Time to replace them with button arm screws to have more clearance.
That screw is a M3x20 but unfortunately, I can't find the half threaded version. Replaced with a general full threaded screws to monitor the performance.
I reckon some day, I will probably replace the suspension arms with a 3D printed version.

Working on new modification to the chieftain suspension.
Basically, I dislike the plastic suspension arm with the plastic shaft that holds the bearings for the centurion wheels.
I made a 3d printed replacement with a metal shaft instead. Design is still being refined at the moment.

Curious if anyone else might be interested in this design or maybe you could give some comments.

This is the initial version mounted on.
At the same time, replace the arm holding screw with a flat head screw. With the change of screw, I can take out one 1mm spacer and bring the wheel closer to the hull. This allows for slightly better track alignments.

STL files are the track shoe is available off https://cults3d.com/:2061922

Do comment if it works for you. Many thanks.

It's good of you to make the STL files available for free. Although I don't run my tanks very much, I am always learning about potential problems, so I am watching about your work on solving the problem with the screws contacting the idler wheels. Thank you for posting this information.

Herr Dr. Professor wrote: ↑Wed Jun 12, 2024 3:51 pm It's good of you to make the STL files available for free. Although I don't run my tanks very much, I am always learning about potential problems, so I am watching about your work on solving the problem with the screws contacting the idler wheels. Thank you for posting this information.

Thank you for the encouragement. Will post more as I progress along.

I am very close to the final design of the revised suspension arms, and this have been mounted to be tested upon.
This revised suspension arm replaced the original with a hex aluminum metal support with bronze bearing sleeves.
The bearing sleeves give good support to the wheel bearings and are secured with a M3 screw.
An additional 1mm spacer is used to provide the offset spacing to the wheels.
The whole assembly can be removed via removing the countersunk screw that secure the hex support.

I think this design will definitely provide a stiffer wheel support when rough running.

Take note, this is still in prototyping. STL files available off https://cults3d.com/:2076622

Do comment and advise if further improvement can be made.

That is really taking shape. I admire the engineering and work going into this!

Been a while since I updates on this.

I have been working on a Tamiya Battle Unit (TBU) for the Haya Chieftain, and continue my journey of learning modelling of 3d printed parts.

Once, I don't intend to use the BB gun, I took the approach of removing the BB tray, and recycled the mounting to be the mount for the TBU unit. This allow the TBU unit to be mounted on the loader hatch, rather than the commander hatch. I intentionally design this to be a two pieces approach than a simple piece at the moment. The reason is that I realised there are different Battle IR unit out there, Tamiya, Impact, HL, etc, and they are all slightly different on the mount.

I modeled the Tamiya style connector and holder, to be place on the lower mount. Hence... the final result become such The TBU base connector is well covered under the hatch when not in used. Let me know of any comments, and if you like this design approach.

Looks good. I've been using just a generic STL for my mounts. I can cut it down to the right height depending on what hatch I'm mounting it in, but I like the mount you made.