Acura NSX chassis (almost no RadioShack left)

Horshu · #1 12-17-2004, 10:08 PM

This is the chassis of my current rig. I've got a few bodies that I am currently painting, so I won't even bother showing those, but this I've attached my chassis. The only RadioShack stuff in here are the board/servo, the drive train plate, diffs & gears, some of the bearings (using 8 wide track bearings and 6 RS ones), tires & wheels (RS aluminums), motor (except for the magnets, which are neos), front axles, battery holders, and suspension springs. Everything else is TinyRC Texalium chassis, GPM suspension parts, AtomicMods perf parts, RCButlers antenna with a (IMO) better antenna anchor.
Weight without wheels/batteries, but with motor: 124.5 grams, about 25% more than a stock setup (nylon bearings & plastic motor mount)

It's a VERY tight fight getting that NSX body on (the heat sink grills tear up the paint, but that's life. I also had to widen the body's antenna hole for the antenna, but it's a HUGE improvement over the stock antenna and worth the cutting.

Murcielago659 · #2 12-17-2004, 11:50 PM

Very nice looking. I can't wait to see what your NSX body looks like.

Are you going to do anything to make it faster? It seems a waste to have that extra weight and no extra power to compensate for it.

EDIT: also, if I may suggest taking some pictures of it with a darker background (black construction paper works great) It will help us to see some of the details in it.

Horshu · #3 12-18-2004, 01:00 AM

The neodymium magnets add a lot of torque. It's much quicker than my stock one. My Tamiya speed checker is showing 17 kilometers/hour, though, but looking at some reference #s from stock ones on it vs. the runs I've made, I think something is wrong with either the checker or my seating. The stage 1 I had in there showed 8 km/hr, but I do think these speeds are wrong, as I know I am running faster than a stage 2 stock with the neo magnets.
But on modding, I have a spare board with plans to replace all the wiring with superflex 18 guage as well a swappable external fet board and expandable battery wiring for a ton of lith-ios, so this this will ultimately, assuming I can get my soldering skills up a bit, be able to support a wide range of power options up to 4 lith-ions (really, it could take an infinite # of battery packs tacked on) with the only limiter being the motor. I've even been looking into custom motor wirings (would laminated gold wire improve conductivity, and if so, does anyone sell it?), but at the moment, I'm content with being faster than stage 2 stock. When I get the other board rebuilt, though, it'll have some serious potential.

Murcielago659 · #4 12-19-2004, 02:39 AM

Copper is best for motor winding. The only reason why gold is even used in wiring is because it does not corrode.

It sounds like you have a hell of a project on your hands. I can't wait to see it done.

Horshu · #5 12-19-2004, 11:28 AM

Yeah, I've been at it for 3 months now and gone through 3 XMODS. A ton of time waiting on parts (had to get the GPM parts from Hong Kong, and at that, I could only get them as they were available). I've also replaced the case with an aluminum briefcase w/ anti-static foam holding things together inside, with space for a chassis, 2 bodies, a speed checker, scale, tools, 12 motors, and enough spare stock parts to rebuild it twice over. I'm actually in the process of redoing the foam, though, with a more precise foam cutter, since I'm not completely satisfied with the results. I'm also starting my two paint jobs (racing body and "show" body) from scratch with pieces of the body kit. So that + the board upgrade I want to do, I'm not sure if I'll ever be "finished" (hell, if I could find someone to recast my aluminum parts in titanium or boralyn, I'd even go so far as to build a 2nd chassis)

The deal with gold is that it's supposed to be a better conductor than copper, as copper is a step up from aluminum (which is why I'm also thinking of replacing my heat sink with a copper one, assuming the copper-to-aluminum chassis contact doesn't corrode or act as a battery), so I figured it would push more current through the motor. I ran it by someone for input and the word I got back is that gold really isn't practical because you'd need close to pure gold for an advantage, but it's too soft to take the heat the motor would generate. I'm not sure if there's any kind of exotic material that would be better than copper, but if there were, I can't imagine a small spool of it would be too costly, but I'll probably just have to stick with copper.

mitchell · #6 02-01-2005, 12:04 PM

wow i always thought gold would be worth it...guess not

#7 02-01-2005, 08:34 PM

.....copper motor wire is coated with a varnish to insulate it.......if its not insulated it won't work

Horshu · #8 02-16-2005, 11:50 PM

I've got silver motor wire on order. Been a couple of weeks, so it should be soon.

Horshu · #9 02-27-2005, 09:48 PM

I thought I'd show an update of my setup. My current project has been practicing my clearcoat techniques on my remote control. The remote is ultimately going to have a molded rubber handle (think: the old Wico Ergostick) and a thumb-controlled "turbo" button for low throttle mode.
This thing has a full can of primer, 2 cans of deep metallic blue, 2 cans of mica blue, and 2 cans of clearcoat (That dark blemish is from a chip down to the primer; it's got some more touchup on it, so it'll be minimized during the final wet sand). There are some irregularities in the images, but they are due to image scaling and not reflective of the actual paint, which is veyr even in color. In a week, I'm wet sanding it down (8000 and then 12000 grit), polishing it, and then waxing it. My show car is getting a similar primary color (metallic green stripes), with my race model getting a mica red over metallic red w/ metallic black stripes, as the mica paint adds a really nice electric, candy-like gloss that the clearcoat only adds to.

Horshu · #10 03-20-2005, 01:32 PM

Here is my finished product. Ultimately, I did a few things wrong, but am rectifying those problems in the V2. First thing I did wrong was paint first in my rush to try out the clearcoat process. I should have done the rubber handle first, as it has to fill in some blanks on the seams and also bleeds through the tamiya mask, hurting the clearcoat. It's less delicate than the paint, so it needs to go first.
There's a paint chip on it as well, but that was being careless after deciding to redo the thing. I also have a blemish on from an early chip that I didn't fix properly. Next issue: I shouldn't have sanded any base coats. Ultimately, I left top layers of mica alone, but if I don't sand the metallic undercoats, I can use less paint overall as well as leave the metal pattern intact as sprayed.
Also, I need to mask the wheel axle hole, as it's not very responsive right now. Also, I'm getting an idea of where paint is wearing out, so on the next version, I'll need to sand the handle receptacle and place velvet friction tape on those exposed parts. Also, the area under the wheel that is covered by the black plastic pieces should not be painted at all. The paint just gums upthe screw holes, making assembly a pain.
Biggest mistake: only waiting a week to wet sand/polish/wax the clearcoat. I got some fingerprints embedded in the paint that never quite came out. I've heard a month drying time, and I am going to adhere to that, also wearing cotton or latex gloves when I do it so I do not risk fingerprints again.
Finally, the rubber handle isn't thick or soft enough. I used plastidip rubber dip, but it dries too thin for this. I am going to dry foam rubber sealant spray as a base (quick drying and soft), hopefully getting a good hand mold. Next, I am going to apply rubberized undercoat. I've got duplicolor brand, although my brother tells me the 3M is much, much better. I'm not going to post any interim shots of the v2 remote, since it'll be looking almost identical, but the finished product should look the same but with a much better handle and possibly a thumb turbo button placed there as well (you really can't see the fingerprints with a camera, and the chip is real tiny)

Horshu · #11 03-21-2005, 09:17 PM

And I've FINALLY finished my custom ESC. The board leads are cut to their absolute minimum lengths and pre-bent prior to soldering on the connectors (rubber coated for better grip). I'm still working on my AA harness for lithium, as I've got to glue screw ports on it ala the RS one (it's my preferred choice of securing the batteries), and its batt-to-batt wire will go towards the front of the car, where the antenna lead comes out. All wires are 18 gauge superflex, and I designed this to where if I *do* put on lithium, the turbo, for which I'm building a combination housing & integrated motor heat sink, slips right in and will screw into the rear deck plate. So basically, this board can go from running competitively against stock rides (gets a weight-countering torque boost from neo magnets) to taking the biggest, baddest 130 motors with up to 30 volts(not happening).
Other features: surface mount resistor-based tight turns installed, although I have some concerns about alignment that I haven't quite figured out yet; it can start up out of alignment with the remote jerking it back, but if I get it aligned normally, it doesn't go quite as far as going right, although all my XMODS have had less left than right (verified on my track). Also, I'm using 18 gauge superflex for the antenna lead that doesn't seem to reduce range, although I still have to do a full road test with it assembled. It has a Dean's flex antenna anchored to a non-standard #4 screw (XMODS are all #2, and GPM screwholes are very close to that). To avoid screw-deck plate shorts, I've isolated the screw from its housing via several rubber dips that I trimmed for minimal coverage.
The only thing I didn't put in here that I had planned on was a connector port (I have loopback plugs to close empty ports) for a NOS capactor, but a) I coudn't get a definitive testimonial on benefits or even a tutorial on where to put them, plus I have space concerns. Hell, there's always a V2 ESC one day, as I got my soldering skillz down.

Horshu · #12 03-21-2005, 09:18 PM

And here it is with the AAA harness attached:

Horshu · #13 03-21-2005, 11:11 PM

Well, there is some kind of range issue going on with this. It seems like range starts going out with elevated current (full speed and turning on carpet). I still want to run some tests with clean batteries and a big surface to check real-world range, but I am starting to wonder if the superflex coating doesn't provide enough shielding from interference. I'd hate to go back to the stock wire, though, as the insulation is sensitive to damage, causing a couple of smoking ESCs. I've got the wire from the antenna that I'd use first. If it comes to that, I'll wind up redoing the board wires, as they need a tiny bit of tweaking in terms of the connectors and the wire length. Brass pins soldered into the wire are proving to be a huge help in getting those things easily on/off the board.
UPDATE: Woah, did my outdoor test suck! The car went about 5 feet, sputtered, and died. It was dead for a little while while I checked it over, then kicked back in again. I got a little clue as to the prob when I pulled the battery connector and still heard electronic overloading, which led me to believe that there is a short on the battery harness somewhere (my last board acted just like this). One set of battery springs were fully compressed, loosening 2 batts, which was a problem as well. I'm now tweaking wires and rubbercoating exposed solder (I think the short was the solder points on the holder hitting a piece of the suspension). Hopefully, none of the damage is permanent, but if so, it won't be the first ESC I've burned up and the electrical upgrading is now a very quick process (can redo the whole thing in 1/2 hour)

Horshu · #14 04-01-2005, 08:01 PM

Here's my V2 molded handle. I went through a couple of revisions. I was first going to spray the thing in latex insulating foam, but to stabilize it, I had to wrap it in plastic wrap, which prevented it from curing. Plus it was like shaving cream (and dried almost like shaving cream), so I decided to skip the hardware store and go to the art store. Got some self-drying modeling clay (wet hands are key), and with some trimming and smoothing, ended up with this (I've smoothed out some more imperfections and made indentations for the main body since). I have some rubber-based mold powder that I am going to use to make a reusable mold for encasing the handle, followed by a spraying of either duplicolor or 3m (I've heard this his better, but I'll compare myself) overcoat (after painting the thing, since after the overcoat, the seams will be sealed) to finish.
For those who actually read this thing, I will be encasing all my spare remote handles, so I'll have 1 or 2 extras in the next few weeks that I'll be giving away

Horshu · #15 04-11-2005, 09:57 PM

Thought I'd also throw in a pic of my "chemical cabinet." right now, my liquor cabinet is serving as a storage area for all the paint I've been stockpiling (Tamiya is having importation issues with Customs right now, so I've been loading up on colors) as well as various molding chemicals used for the soft rubber handle I'm building. Sad thing is, that's only half the paint I've ever bought. I've done several test paint jobs already. This is my "final run" stockpile now that I know how to paint much more efficiently and properly.