Racing tracked vehicle

[Kemenb]

On Friday I went to a company that owns a water jet. They cut insignia from 1.5mm thick inox, and track connecting links from 4mm thick Al 7075. This guy really knows his stuff. Links are so close together that there is very little scrap. Luckily I also took rubber sheet with me. The price for cutting rubber was 129€ and it was too high for my pocket but after few trial cuts and adjustments it was reduced to 40€. Water jet operator was not happy with the quality of his work he seas: "Edges are sloped to the outside, holes are not round! Rubber is hard to cut, it bends a lot!" After I explained that this is the track tread and it does not need to be perfect but cheep he turned the cutting speed to the max and cut the rest of the tread. Parts are still good enough and after few laps no one will be able to tell which ones were cut at slow speed.



Rubber left overs a.k.a. shop carpet, mudguards with my insignia, track connecting links. Middle plate is an ordinary aluminium cut on a laser, very bad surface finish.

[Andy in Cheltenham]

Very good so far

[Kemenb]

Yes and everything fits, so far!
Industrial holders are very useful, this little helper made my life so much easier during track assembly!


Here are few photos during track assembly and then finished tracks side by side.

[Kemenb]

Drive train is installed and it was @#!*@#! to install, very little room. Then I started with track. Track tensioner is working OK, but supervention springs are way too soft, they kind of supported empty vehicle... But with tracks the just bottom out. I have to get harder springs.



@Andy in Cheltenham:"Make read wheels as big as possible" That was a great advise! Bigger wheels go smother over track links too.

[Kemenb]

Finally I took it for a spin!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ql-eIy2 ... e=youtu.be

I had some problems with ESC, one of 8mm bullets that connects to the motor was full of flux and didn't conduct electricity. I still don't know how that bullet manage to stay on a wire, I unplugged it at least 4 times.

At first track fell off few times, then I shortened it for 2 links, that helped a lot. Steering is way too sensitive, I will probably set EPT to +/-30%.
This thing come out heavier then expected, almost 35 kg without li-po.

[Dietrich]

Hi Kemenb,
Awesome build that you have done here, and you have done so much of the design yourself Its an incredible machine.
Please can I ask what the first tracks that you tried were from ??...the ones that you decided to try out at 6 in the morning
Alb.

[Kemenb]

Thank you!
This is my first tracked vehicle build, made from scratch. I'm kid of happy with the result, now it is time to fine tune this beast and then make it go even faster

Youtube cut of a section of subtitles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs6NmCb_dlw

My previous build 6x6:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQnZQG9tUTQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15naduCWgy8

@Dietrich: that track is industrial conveyor belt, I found it near slot machine repair shop, so I guess it was for counting coins, if you want I can make better photos.

[Kemenb]

It was a nice sunny day, so I took few additional photos of my toys:

S8BXe

Shark 6x6


I have to make better body for 6x6, any ideas? Plastic bottle works just fine but doesn't look so good.

[jdflute]

Congratulations on a job well done. Now what do you plan to do with it??

Jd

[Kemenb]

I am not truly happy with tracked vehicle yet, its too heavy for those motors. I will test, race and improve it.