Rating Springs for Radio Controlled Cars
Radio Controlled Car springs come in a variety of ratings, some hard, some soft, in a mixture of colours, from many different manufacturers, in different lengths etc.
It can be a bit of a minefield, especially if you’ve gathered springs from various sources over the years.
A really simple way of figuring out what you’ve got is to get all your springs for a particular car, make sure they are similar lengths, and then just get any two, put them on top of each other and press them together, the one that squashes up the most is softer.
Take the next and compare it with one of those, soon enough you’ll have all your springs in order of hard to soft.
Now, here’s the secret, MAKE A LIST! A really simple list of colours from hard to soft.
BUT, if you have several springs that appear to be the same colour, but of different hardness, get a permanent market, and on top and bottom, just put a dash, or two dashes, or three dashes. Then in your list, call it colour 1, colour 2, colour 3.
It’s so much easier then to think “right, I need a softer spring on the rear”, just look at your list and choose the softer one.
You then don’t have to have all the springs from the same manufacturer and you can mix and match to suit.
You can even go so far as put on your list some ‘known’ springs from a manufacturer, so you know roughly whereabouts in the list you are if you are comparing setups with other people etc.
Written by simon.
Bald Racers Need Hair Dryers…
I don’t have much hair… so don’t have a hair dryer…
Recently, a hair dryer has made it’s way into my abode, via a female with long hair, and, don’t tell her this, but, I’m finding all sorts of uses for it!
I so far have used it to:
- Dry out my E-Savage after washing it
- Heatshrinking, of course
- Drying bottles before putting shock oil in them
- Heating up surfaces to ensure good glue adhesion
- Drying coats of paint on bodyshells
Hope she doesn’t find I’ve left it a bit grubby…
Written by simon.
Mirage Support of HPI Issue
Wen I recently lost part of the steering on my HPI E-Savage, I contact the importers and distributors, Mirage to see if they could help.
82024 bushing shown sticking up, half undone
The part I lost was the steering bush (Part No, 82024) and the corresponding screw (Z528). They should be firmly attached to the steering ‘rack’, and they just vanished! I guess they should have been threadlocked from factory, the one on the other side was, but it didn’t seem very firm when I checked it.
So I asked them to send replacements, and they did, Free of Charge. They took a little while to arrive, but only because they didn’t have them in stock at that time.
Thanks guys!
HPI Parts 82024 & z528 from Mirage
Replacing them was fiddly, I managed to do it without removing the whole steering from the car, and I ensured I used threadlock on them. Fingers crossed I wont lose any more.
Written by simon.
Weighting Tamiya M03 Mini for LiPo Cells
There are now several LiPo packs available that are shaped like a stick pack, so they will fit the Mini M-Chassis.
But! They are a LOT lighter than a pack of NiMhs. So much so, that most clubs that race minis now specify a minimum weight for all minis. It’s usually around 1350g.
This isn’t such a bad thing, as a LiPo mini without extra weight doesn’t handle very well anyway!
So, you need to add extra weight, usually in the order of around 200g. There are a few of ways of doing this.
1. Stick weights all over the place – ugly, but you can put them where you want to get the best handling. It’s up to you where you stick em.
2. Carefully put lead around the battery, and in front and rear bumpers – tidy, more concentrated weight where you want it. If you open up the chassis you’ll see a gap above the battery, you can put a strip of lead in there. It you take the bumpers off you’ll see they are hollow, you can fold some lead into those too. It’s very tempting to put lead in the large void at the back of the chassis, but that’s not really where you want to put it, the handling will be effected a lot.
3. Create lead packing strips to fit above and below LiPo – accurately imitates a NiMh pack, so handling isn’t changed whatever battery you use – and you can use either a NiMh or LiPo pack. Above the LiPo is usually a hollow, create a lead strip to fit into that hollow. Underneath the battery you can use a double thickness strip, it should hold in by friction. If you wrap the lead in tape it looks nicer, and can help you get the right thickness so the strip holds itself in. You can stick it to the LiPo if you wish, but then that LiPo can only be used in that car. The main advantage of this is the main extra weight is below the Lipo, and it actually ends up with a lower centre of gravity than with a NiMh.
The performance difference between NiMh and LiPo in an M03 is minimal, the voltage curve of a LiPo is a little better, so may be a bit stronger in the latter part of a race in comparison with NiMh.
Written by simon.
How To Add a 40mm Cooling Fan to Tamiya M03 Mini
Small fans are often used on Radio Controlled Cars, for cooling speed controls, or motors.
I was running a 30mm 3 Racing fan on my Tamiya M03 Mini, and I recently ’stuck my finger through it’. This is common occurence, where a misplaced finger causes the fan to break.
I had repaired it with superglue and it had been okay for a meeting or two.
In one run though, I felt I was down on power, and I reckon it’s cos the fan broke again, and end up looking like this…
Broken 3-Racing 30mm Fan
I think that was enough to jam it, and cause an increased power drain on the batteries, and hence a reduction in power to the motor, slowing the car.
Time to replace it, I wondered if there was a way of fitting a larger, 40mm fan in a similar place.
After some measuring, a failed attempt at a mounting bracket, I came up with a small bracket that mounts a 40mm fan above the motor.
40mm Fan and Bracket
The bracket is a simple piece of aluminium angle, with two M3 bolts securing it to the fan, and one M3 bolt securing it to the chassis.
Simple and neat. A 40mm fan is more effective and stronger than a 30mm fan.
