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RC10T3 custom battery holddown strap

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James A. Doty

James A. Doty

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Location
Woodland, WA
RC Driving Style
  1. Racing
  2. Flying
Since deciding to get back into RC cars a couple of months ago I bought five 2C Spektrum 5,000mAh battery packs. I like the form factor and they meet the rules for RC racing. Of course the closest offroad track to me is 35 miles south, it's an indoor carpet track, which will be great for staying clean and dry. But, back to the subject.

Spektrum shorty packs are too tall for the stock battery hold down strap to fit so I took some measurements and printed one with a hump in it out of red PLA with 0.02mm layer heights and 50% infill. I took a photo of the results.

If it turns out that I don't like the battery location I can print more of them with the hump in different places. The photo shows my new battery hold down strap in place, and the stock battery hold down strap next to it.
RC10T3 Spektrum Hump.webp
 
That's what I'm talkin about!

Love to see 3D printing solving RC problems!

It probably made zero difference...but...the chassis/suspension tuning nerd in me says to pay attention to the handling characteristics of the buggy since installing it. If you notice it's lost some traction after adding that, it's probably adding too much medial support and you can probably tune that out with a smaller infill % and/or a weaker infill pattern.
 
Suburban_Hooligan said:
why not make 1 strap that clears the entire battery box area, then use foam spaces to shim the pack where you want it. that way you don't have to print or carry 5 straps for different battery placement.
Click to expand...
Because I didn't think of it?? I'd have to get more foam, there was some in the battery tray when I bought the truck in 2018 or so, but that does make a lot of sense. I can modify my design in under five minutes.

What type of foam do need?
 
you can buy "battery foam" or battery spacers from most online RC retailers. you'll most likely have to cut it to size. or you can take a page from the book of cheap (like i did) and just use the foam that motors and ESC's come packaged in. it's essentially free cause its packaging that usually gets thrown away. it's not as dense as "battery foam" but iv found that if you cut it a bit big so its a snug fit, everything stays in place. haven't had any failures yet.
hell if you want to get technical you don't even have to use foam. i made a spacer for a friends T3 out of a block of wood 25+ years ago. nothing broke so i guess it was a success.
 
Suburban_Hooligan said:
you can buy "battery foam" or battery spacers from most online RC retailers. you'll most likely have to cut it to size. or you can take a page from the book of cheap (like i did) and just use the foam that motors and ESC's come packaged in. it's essentially free cause its packaging that usually gets thrown away. it's not as dense as "battery foam" but iv found that if you cut it a bit big so its a snug fit, everything stays in place. haven't had any failures yet.
hell if you want to get technical you don't even have to use foam. i made a spacer for a friends T3 out of a block of wood 25+ years ago. nothing broke so i guess it was a success.
Click to expand...
I like that plan. I've built two RC cars, and I've updated the electronics in one RC car, and I'm currently restoring another RC car. I have lots of that foam right now.

Sometime today I'll change the design of my tie down strap and print it, then work on the foam side of things. Should I start with the battery toward the back or toward the front for testing balance?
 
iv never run a shorty pack so idk I'm guessing here. in my T3 i always ran the pack a little more forward. I'm throttle happy and like to pitch the rear end out and steer with the throttle. when i started running lipo it was still stick packs and i ran them in the same location as the old nicd/nimh packs. the weight difference was noticeable but the front/rear balance seemed close enough to the same, not sure i could really tell a difference. taking that into consideration id probably start with the shorty pack about 2/3 of way forward in the battery tray and adjust location from there.
 
James A. Doty said:
Since deciding to get back into RC cars a couple of months ago I bought five 2C Spektrum 5,000mAh battery packs. I like the form factor and they meet the rules for RC racing. Of course the closest offroad track to me is 35 miles south, it's an indoor carpet track, which will be great for staying clean and dry. But, back to the subject.

Spektrum shorty packs are too tall for the stock battery hold down strap to fit so I took some measurements and printed one with a hump in it out of red PLA with 0.02mm layer heights and 50% infill. I took a photo of the results.

If it turns out that I don't like the battery location I can print more of them with the hump in different places. The photo shows my new battery hold down strap in place, and the stock battery hold down strap next to it.
View attachment 271660
Click to expand...
Nice fix!
 

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