Redcat Volcano Home Depot Aluminum Roll Cage

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Xaitone

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It doesn’t seem like any 3rd party companies make stuff for the Redcat Volcano. I wanted a roll cage so I decided to make one from aluminum bar and channel. This is it so far! Needs a roof and ?
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Looks pretty good, but pretty sure it's going to bend like a wet noodle when you land on your roof. The flat stock that lowes/home depot sells is very very soft and bends easily. I made an awful looking one for my stampede 4x4 to try to keep the body from crumpling on landing. It's just a loop with a brace about half way up keeping it from folding in on itself, but it still bends side to side some. It's twice as wide as the stock you used and easily bendable by hand.

Yours looks very nice though.
 
@Xaitone that looks really good and I'm not sure I'd even want to run with a body on with a roll cage like that.

I would be a little cautious for the reasons @olds97_lss pointed out, just to see how well it holds up. I don't really have any experience on the Home Depot aluminum bar.
 
Thanks! Yeah, structurally sideways it’s tough, but a landing upside down will likely squash it a bit. I’m adding vertical supports (tubular 7071 Alum) that will hopefully rectify that. (They’re essentially straight lower crawler links). With those it will be mounted both to the chassis and the shock towers.
 
Another idea that might be worth mentioning @Xaitone, would be to maybe add a couple smaller pieces around the two big humps. Or maybe using something like a piece of sheet metal on top of them. Kinda add to that cab like feel - that is if you didn't want to run a body on it.
 
Thanks WoodiE. Yeah, I don’t plan to run a body. Hopefully the vertical supports will add a lot of strength.

Its actually my girlfriend’s and I’m building it for her.
The one I built for my Volcano is awesome functionally but I already had the side plates from an old cage that I chopped up. I used Crawler links, flat aluminum bar and thick aluminum corner braces to build it.
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Another idea that might be worth mentioning @Xaitone, would be to maybe add a couple smaller pieces around the two big humps. Or maybe using something like a piece of sheet metal on top of them. Kinda add to that cab like feel - that is if you didn't want to run a body on it.
I was thinking of using lexan but I really like your sheet metal idea. A lot.
 
Thanks WoodiE. Yeah, I don’t plan to run a body. Hopefully the vertical supports will add a lot of strength.

Its actually my girlfriend’s and I’m building it for her.
The one I built for my Volcano is awesome functionally but I already had the side plates from an old cage that I chopped up. I used Crawler links, flat aluminum bar and thick aluminum corner braces to build it.
View attachment 94302

That cage looks pretty stout. I'd say change those cross links from blue to either black or gold to match the rest of the color scheme. :D
 
Well, I added the aluminum posts and took it out for a little light bashing. Broke the servo arm and the battery flew out but the cage held up! I need to add smaller vertical supports in the back, from the bed rails to the chassis (all are on order in blue- the big silver ones are temporary) and a cross brace on top with a sheet metal roof (thanks @WoodiE). I rolled it on purpose over and over (just full speed then hard brakes- I put 35w oil up front) and the cage actually lets it roll back onto the wheels. Next time I’ll see if it can handle some heavier bashing. The posts look askew in the pic but they’re not.
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That looks awesome.... i made one using same materials for an XTM Mammoth several years ago. It held up well until it ended up clipping a brick staircase at WOT.
 
That looks awesome.... i made one using same materials for an XTM Mammoth several years ago. It held up well until it ended up clipping a brick staircase at WOT.
Yikes. Do you have any pics?
 
I did at one point...not anymore. That was nearly 10 years ago. It was a big truck. I sold it to a buddy that was there at the time when it crashed. He repaired it and not sure what he ended up doing with it after that. I do like your design better.
 
I did at one point...not anymore. That was nearly 10 years ago. It was a big truck. I sold it to a buddy that was there at the time when it crashed. He repaired it and not sure what he ended up doing with it after that. I do like your design better.
Thanks! I made another one out of PVC. Well, even 1/2” PVC is WAY too heavy so this is 1/2” CPVC which is half the size (I know, doesn’t make sense).
Not sure how it will hold up but I’m making another similar one wrapped in fiberglass.
This one is done but not mounted to the chassis yet. 1/2” CPVC is 5/8” OD or about 16mm so I ordered some RC landing gear skid mounts to do it.
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Is the cage hindering performance (like messing with the center of gravity). also, where does it mount to on the front and back
Do you mean the aluminum one? The stock Volcano has 8 shocks but I run 4 slightly longer ones (120mm I think?). 4 rear Stampede/ Slash shocks work well too. Anyway, those two aluminum channel cross members screw into the shock mounting holes that are no longer being used on the other side of the towers. The vertical supports just have a screw from underneath. As far as performance, I haven’t noticed anything at all. It’s pretty light and sits way lower than a body would. Mind you, it’s my gf’s truck and she runs it on 2S. It keeps up with my 2WD Slash VXL on 3S though (which is annoying lol).
The cage for my Volcano (gold one) doesn’t affect anything as far as I can tell. I have a cheap HobbyStar 550 3500kv (which is brutal- I recommend it) on 3S and it does standing backflips. The pic is a screenshot from a video of that. Point is, the cage doesn’t hinder it.
The CPVC one still hasn’t been used.
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@WoodiE I totally forgot to post this but I did go ahead and use your idea. Very stable. This is it fully mounted (and painted it differently).
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Do you mean the aluminum one? The stock Volcano has 8 shocks but I run 4 slightly longer ones (120mm I think?). 4 rear Stampede/ Slash shocks work well too. Anyway, those two aluminum channel cross members screw into the shock mounting holes that are no longer being used on the other side of the towers. The vertical supports just have a screw from underneath. As far as performance, I haven’t noticed anything at all. It’s pretty light and sits way lower than a body would. Mind you, it’s my gf’s truck and she runs it on 2S. It keeps up with my 2WD Slash VXL on 3S though (which is annoying lol).
The cage for my Volcano (gold one) doesn’t affect anything as far as I can tell. I have a cheap HobbyStar 550 3500kv (which is brutal- I recommend it) on 3S and it does standing backflips. The pic is a screenshot from a video of that. Point is, the cage doesn’t hinder it.
The CPVC one still hasn’t been used.
View attachment 94376View attachment 94376
Ok thanks. The only thing i have upgraded is the motor. i went from brushed to brushless
 
Definitely a necessary upgrade. Be sure to get a good Lipo or your brushless motor won’t perform properly!
 
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