Building one ugly slot

[ccobra]

Thought I would experiment and use the 3d printer to make a slot car. After spending several hours modeling the idea in Inventor, I sent the files off to the printer for over four hours of printing.
After Printing I went to the chassis and started cleaning up the stray plastic.
Since the printer I use was one of the cheaper units available, I had to clean out the holes for the axle tubes and motor mounts.
After getting all of the minimal essentials install, it was a quick trip to the track and back when I discovered the wires for the motor were wired backwards.
With the motor wired up correctly, wow, I was impressed. That chassis was turning laps in the 7.9-8.1 range with consistency. Now to get busy putting the printed body together and install on the chassis. More to follow for those interested in printed chassis and bodies to see if that is the route they want to go.
Chris
Slot Car Addict second time around

[noddaz]

I like it so far....
Great use of new tech...

Scott

[dreinecke]

Subscribed! Looks good so far!

[MrAdept]

Indeed! - I am now seeing these printers appearing for sale locally. (In Frys of all places!)

Will be watching with interest.

Mark

[ccobra]

After getting the body glued together I glued a couple of strips of Lexan to the sides of the body.
After getting added support on the Lexan with JB Weld, I was able to attach the chassis to the body.
then a quick check on the high dollar scale and discovered it weighed 107.3 grams.
Oops, it wasn't supposed to be that heavy. Now the calculations made early were useless for as can be seen the front suspension rides to low causing the wheels to rub on the body. Next trick will be to add a helper spring to fix the issue. On the bright side though, this chassis does grip the track better than I thought it would. It just proves that the floating chassis does have potential. And what a chassis it should be under one of the RMS bodies I just received.

[ccobra]

Had to redo the chassis. After a redoing the model in Inventor and sending the file to the 3d Printer I got a new chassis. Note the difference between two chassis with the one on the left being the improved version. I tried to add a spring on the first chassis but that didn't work. After a little paint and trim I took it to the track. This little little project turned out better than I thought. On my track it turned a 7.7 lap with and average speed of 133 mph. For a comparison, the Racer Sideways Ford Riley turned a 9.2 out of the box.
Now all i need to do is get over to the hobby shop and get me some more drivers so that I can finish this little Ugly Slot. I may take it over to Hobby Town and put it on the big track so that I can open it up and see how good it will run. For those interested I used Slotit angle-winder gears with a 12 tooth pinion and 31 tooth side gear. Power is by Hawk, a Super FX 3030 that I picked up locally and then a Slotit wood flag. Next project will be one of the RMS Mavericks with Hawk rabbit motor.

[slothead]

Very nice work - I'm really encouraged by what 3D printing is going to make possible going forward. I have about 40 dirt modified cars I built chassis for out of styrene sheets, rods, and tubes. Most are about 6 - 7 years old and still work great, but I worry that the model glue joints and seams will get brittle over time and fail. This would be a great alternative and possible way to upgrade chassis over time.

I wonder if this technology could borrow stuff done by virtual racing programmers who've created realistic bodies for all sorts of race cars? This ugly bad boy below is one if the virtual cars at rfactor. Do a search using 'rfactor dirt modifieds' and you'll see what designers have done in just this one type of racing, and there are many other classes and types of cars too.



I even wonder if we'll ever be able to make scale 3D tube chassis that could even include suspension parts. Imagine that!



Slothead