Axial - Project 2.0

[Webbage]

Hey man, get a female on that battery as soon as possible. If you leave a male connection on it, the exposed metal from the connector will touch other metal stuff if you aren't really careful, which will cause it to arc out and could ruin the battery, or maybe cause more problems than that. I had a battery kaboom, and I would advise being REALLY careful. The things like the motor mounting to the tranny are things that you will learn and be able to improve on when you take it apart next time.

Fair point, I mummified the tabs in tape for now, I'll swap it over and make a splice when I get back. As I'm going away my batteries have all come off the trucks and gone into the ammo tin (so yeh, it's good job you mentioned that, it's metal!!)

Performance-wise it's got surprisingly good wheel speed considering, and when I step up to 9.9V A123s I think it'll be pretty pokey. The torque is, as expected, totally awesome. I *have* to get a 45T for my WK (which is being converted to a rock racer) when I get my BEC from CKRC, It'll transform that rig at very little cost.

 

[CharliesTheMan]

I highly reccomend going to a 35 turn holmes hobbies handwound motor in your rock racer. It will give you more torque than most 45-55 turn motors, but still give you incredible wheelspeed. I have one in my comp rig and I like it so much I just ordered a second one while I could. Also, Holmes Hobbies will have a 45 turn handwound in stock if you really want one, I think in about a week, but I really reccomend the 35 turn especially for a rock racer. If you have room for a puller motor in the wheely king, there's no other crawler motor like it that will give you INSANE torque coupled with more wheelspeed than anything else on the market for crawlers. You'll have WAY more torque than a high turn or brushless motor, however you'll be able to do backflips and donuts like with a basher motor, and it's so powerful that you can gear it however you would like. The 35 turn is about the closest that I've found to the 10 turn motor without actually being a cobalt puller motor. It's a 540 can motor.

 

[Webbage]

All in good time, it's a low priority project at the moment. I want a Cobalt Puller for the Axial at some point but I need to beef the drivetrain up a bit first

 

[Webbage]

Woohoo! Took it out for a play today on my mini-course in the back garden. I was soon romping about the course with ease, despite the ground being a bit wet and my Axial is still running on M3 Flat Irons (borrowed off my WK until I get my Claws made up). Either my course is too easy (hey, I still get stuck plenty) or my rig's turned out pretty good

Pictures to follow...

 

[CharliesTheMan]

Well do you think it crawls better than your wheely king?? I've been waiting for weeks to hear what you think of how it compares!

 

[Webbage]

Well do you think it crawls better than your wheely king?? I've been waiting for weeks to hear what you think of how it compares!

Erm... man you know it was so obvious I actually never thought to say

Yes, it's worlds better in every way. More grip up front, more torque, more control, low CoG... it's just a world apart.

Very, very pleased with it overall. I played with it for over an hour (on 1 1500mAh stick pack no less ) just need to get in there and start tinkering with the stuff that doesn't quite work. It DESPARATELY needs a smaller battery pack though. The XC-1 shell doesn't work at all well with the stick pack where I have it. I think you'll see why when I post the pics, but I'm still workin' on those

 

[Webbage]

The moment you've *all* been waiting for:

Here it is:

My ESC Mounting (front):

My Receiver Mounting (rear):

A Male -> Male Deans cable to connect the ESC to the Battery.
I figure this will allow me to easily splice in a BEC:

Some pictures of me fooling about

Changes from stock so far:

I put the sleeves inside the shocks when I built them, not outside, to lower the ride height and CoG.

I am currently using ProLine Flat Irons on it with no air holes and rolling weights. I can't decide wether to set my Rock Claws up this way or with ProLine foams. I have no wheel weights to stick to the wheel so foams = no weights = probably a bad idea? I'll have to try and see...

Obviously, the ECS and Reciever are not on the stock mount (that's still in it's sealed bag, as is the tape), and the battery is a ways up front on top of the servo, using the stock velcro straps.

When I put it on, it uses a XC-1 ARTR body, not the stock one. I don't like the stock one, nor could I be bothered to paint it

It works well. I'm real happy with it

I've got a Hyperion charger, multi lead, and 2 3S1P A123 batteries on order for it. Hopefully the more compact batteries will help get rid of the battery mass a bit. If they are small enough I may tuck the pack behind the servo.

 

[Webbage]

Well, I'm over the initial snow blindness and I've found a few hang-ups with the stock Axial setup.

As I noticed a few people commenting, the Torque Twist is a bit nasty, especially when you have the axles articulated at opposite angles, it tends to throw the front left or right rear wheel up off the rocks, depending on which is unloaded.

The XC-1 shell got hacked up a bit. I cut the rear wheel arch flares off completely. They were always dragging on my Rock Claws when the back end was twisted up, and a few times the tyres threatened to tear the lexan, so off they came. I also cut away the outer (vertical) part of the front flares, partly to get a bit of clearance around the stick pack (not gonna need that for a lot longer) and partly to clear the front wheels. I've also found you need to chop the corner out of the arch on each side at the point where the bottom 'sill' line of the body merges into the front wheel arch flare. I catches on a lot of stuff and actually ripped the lexan a bit on mine, but I cleaned it up when I was trimming.

The straight links get stuck on things. I can see why everyone runs bent ones now .

The stock springs are too stiff, mind you, I've shortened the shock travel (something I think actually worked pretty well) which isn't stock so they are really really to stiff on mine

My Futaba Servo is lame. I knew it would be. I bought a cheap Tower Pro for now to get around it. I'll probably drop a HiTec on it at some stage and put the T/P on my WK Rock Racer.

I need to 4-link it somehow. It's no that I think the 3-link doesn't work, it's just that it would be easier to fix if it broke and I was running 4-link, as I could rattle up some new links and ball ends.

It also axle steers, IMHO it's too much to ignore too. I've got it into places on my mini-course where, particularly at the back, the axle steer has caused it to slip off something it was balanced fairly squarely on, and that on Rock Claws too, not good.

Lastly, I desperately need a rear lockout set for it. I've done about 4 hours on it and already the rear wheels are both off-true because the stress has buckled or bent the crappy little lock-out links at the back :\

 

[CharliesTheMan]

It looks great. I hacked up my body like that, but I completely did away with the fender flares in the front and rear. cutoff from both sides of the grill in the front and went on back with it, no more headlights. I really think that you need to get some memory foams and drill air holes in your wheels. I think you are losing most of the advantages gained by having nice tires by not having the airholes. On my battery, I mounted the ESC on the upper links in the rear and mounted the battery on the upper links in the front. It's a pretty good sized battery, so I'm sure that your new pack will fit. Once you get me the measurements of it, I should be able to tell you if it will fit on a lower COG battery/servo mount because I've taken so many measurements to figure out what will fit on mine.

Don't 4 link the rig yet. I've got something else up my sleeve that will work with the 3 link, give you comp capable performance, and help to eliminate torque twist. It should be going into production within a couple of weeks.

I can't WAIT to see it with all those new parts. I think with the new parts that you have going on, soft springs on 4 corners should work really well, and you definitely did the right by putting the spacers inside the shock body.

Oh yea, don't worry about the axle steer. All I can say is help is on the way.

 

[Webbage]

It looks great. I hacked up my body like that, but I completely did away with the fender flares in the front and rear. cutoff from both sides of the grill in the front and went on back with it, no more headlights.

I cut off where it was binding, if it binds in the front arches when I change the battery I'll chop some more off, but I'm a bit wary of UK regulations, they state it has to look a reasonable amount like the original body so I'm keeping the chopping to minimum. Besides I think it'll look kinda dumbass with no lights

I really think that you need to get some memory foams and drill air holes in your wheels. I think you are losing most of the advantages gained by having nice tires by not having the airholes.

I run lead shot in the tyres for weight (more in the front than the back usually). It works so well I'm loathed to use memory foam as I'll screw it up. Plus I have no stick on wheel weights, and I can't find a UK Supplier. I feel kind of dumb *just* ordering them from a US vendor

I don't have too much trouble with grip on the rig, the only issues it has really are sidewall stiffness, and memory foams won't necessarily fix that from what I've seen. A lot of people I have read comments from about Panthers and Rock Claws have to run stiffer foam on the outside edges to get the sidewall they need anyway.

I like em how they are, they make up for the lack of grip by having the weight to keep em planted most of the time. It's kind of a heads/tails on rolling weight or memory foams/static weight. The laws of physics suggest the only way to make static weights work to their best is to run em as close to the axle as possible, or actually weight the axle rather than the wheel.

It's one of those age-old debates. I can see the advantage of foams to support the tyre, but also the way I have it also works pretty well too. I'll probably use hybrid foams when I eventually switch to Vanquish wheels, as they have the drop in rim weights, and weigh a lot more themselves.

On my battery, I mounted the ESC on the upper links in the rear and mounted the battery on the upper links in the front. It's a pretty good sized battery, so I'm sure that your new pack will fit. Once you get me the measurements of it, I should be able to tell you if it will fit on a lower COG battery/servo mount because I've taken so many measurements to figure out what will fit on mine.

I'm waiting on a servo/batt plate and shifting the servo to one side to try and cram the new battery next to it if I can. If I can't I'll probably put the battery on the links and stick the ESC next to the servo. There's no way I'm putting anything heavier at the back, the receiver was an obvious choice as weighs almost nothing.

Don't 4 link the rig yet. I've got something else up my sleeve that will work with the 3 link, give you comp capable performance, and help to eliminate torque twist. It should be going into production within a couple of weeks.

Man your sleeve must sound like a machine shop store cupboard with all those crawler parts up it.

I can't WAIT to see it with all those new parts. I think with the new parts that you have going on, soft springs on 4 corners should work really well, and you definitely did the right by putting the spacers inside the shock body.

I'm just doing what you said. Run it, see where it's not working right and try something to solve it. I'm not running in blind and buying everything I can like some folk.

Oh yea, don't worry about the axle steer. All I can say is help is on the way.[/QUOTE]

Good

 

[CharliesTheMan]

I think you're trim looks a lot better than mine. I hacked mine up like that because the flares were hanging up and putting my rig in a bind in the middle of the competition. When I had to take a repair, I got out the scissors and hacked it up to insure full clearance in a hurry.

For you wheels, have you considered putting a tiny breather hole in the wheel and using the same weights that you have. I find that the memory foams work wonderful with the Losi Claws. The reason that people are running extra foam in the Cougars is because the memory foam was designed for tires like the hammer and claws, and the Cougar is a lot bigger tire, with a softer sidewall, so more foam is needed. However, with my Claws the memory foam works beautifully. I have some Cougars that I will be mounting up soon and I'll have to experiement with foams, but I like the hybrid idea as well. If you would like to try the memory foams with the claws, I will send you a free set (used but mint condition) if you just split the shipping with me. I was worried about the roling mass of stick on weights, but after running them I realized that in a crawling application it doesn't cause me any problems and has great results in general.

 

[slowngreen]

wow man that looks great, good job....

 

[Webbage]

I've got a set of ProLine memory foams out of my M3 Flat Irons, thanks for the offer though.

I still have no stick on wheel weights though :\

 

[CharliesTheMan]

You'll most likely find them at an autoparts store that also sells wheels and tires. They are used to balance aftermarket wheels so as to not scratch them like the clip on weights. They're exactly the same as the hobby weights only cheaper. Most hobby shops also carry them in the airplane section as well. If you want, I can probably get some and send them with the other stuff.

 

[Webbage]

Holy smoldering fires of Hades! No, don't worry my new charger didn't catch fire

I swapped out my servo for the Tower Pro 995MG and what a hell of a difference!! I can actually steer more often than not now

I also did a discharge and fast charge cycle on both my stick packs, on my shiny new Hyperion EOS606i charger, and I am pretty sure they push out more power than they did. It caught me out a couple of times tonight when I was testing and resetting my course, I was getting wheelspeed where previously I hadn't got wheelspeed before in my throttle range, and my top speed had picked up by at least 5-10%. I guess it makes all the difference having a decent charger eh?

One small issue, dunno if anyone can shed any light on the matter... Sometimes, not often, my steering seems to 'give up' and drop back to neutral. I have no BEC, I just wonder if the load on the ESC's BEC circuit is forcing the ESC to shut off the servo for a fraction of a second or something. It's very odd. It'll steer, and hold lock again almost straight after. It happened maybe a dozen times in the 30 or so minutes I was roaming about on the mini-course. There is no glitching or issues with the truck rolled on it's back (off the ground), just wonder whether it's a particular combination of tight lock and throttle that's causing it to hiccup, although it happened most often in a slow precise maneuver, not at speed.

Huh, and I guess y'all know already but water + Losi Rock Claws = no damned grip

 

[CharliesTheMan]

Glad to hear that things are working out. That servo issue definitely sounds like a BEC problem, and I think it willl resolve with the new Castle BEC.

 

[Webbage]

Added a servo/battery/4-link plate to the front axle. It came as unfinished laser cut stainless steel. I sat for 1.5 hours with a Dremel and some Autosol polishing compound shining it up.

One of the guys on the UKRCRC forums made a few of these up for UK forum-goers. Very nicely made piece of kit I think.

 

[Webbage]

Got my A123 battery pack through today from CheapBatteryPacks.com

They are a *perfect* fit for my front Axle setup.

My biggest issue now is I have too much wheel speed running at 9.9V, and I'm having trouble taming it with the Castle throttle curves, anyone got any bright ideas, or curves for higher voltages?

EDIT: oh oops... yeh... picture!

 

[slowngreen]

heck ya that battery fits great man...i had a problem with mine "glitching" when i would steer right after i put the sidewinder in mine, but a cc bec corrected it perfectly, it will turn hard now.

 

[Timmahh]

looking good man. test runs yet?