Schumacher Corner
05-21-2007, 09:47 AM
On the subject of balancing the LiPo...
Has anyone thought to add balancing holes to the bottom front center and rear center of their chassis?
I have a nice set of alloy balancing pegs that I use with all my cars to balance them left/right. It isn't as accurate as using digital scales, but when I've balanced my cars with the pegs, then checked them with the scale, its usually only off by a 3-4grams.
On my cars that haven't already come with balancing holes, I usually add them my self. So I'll likely do it again with this car while building, since its easier to measure the center point when the chassis has nothing on it.
With Lipo use becoming more and more the norm, I wish companies would mold/drill these balancing ports from the factory, and maybe even include a set of pegs.
Has anyone thought to add balancing holes to the bottom front center and rear center of their chassis?
I have a nice set of alloy balancing pegs that I use with all my cars to balance them left/right. It isn't as accurate as using digital scales, but when I've balanced my cars with the pegs, then checked them with the scale, its usually only off by a 3-4grams.
On my cars that haven't already come with balancing holes, I usually add them my self. So I'll likely do it again with this car while building, since its easier to measure the center point when the chassis has nothing on it.
With Lipo use becoming more and more the norm, I wish companies would mold/drill these balancing ports from the factory, and maybe even include a set of pegs.
05-21-2007, 10:38 AM
That track is so flowing and wide open, you should never wreck on that thing!
Originally Posted by Jon Kerr
Today was the last day of testing for me before Reedy. Worked on a handful of adjustments and learned a lot about the balance. I can't wait to get this car on the Tamiya track on Thursday. 
And just to give you an idea of what we're testing on, this is BCR Asphalt Raceway. Our "new" (sat unused for 6 or 7 years) track here in SoCal.
And just to give you an idea of what we're testing on, this is BCR Asphalt Raceway. Our "new" (sat unused for 6 or 7 years) track here in SoCal.
05-21-2007, 10:46 AM
Tech Master
I don't think those suspension blocks could be made from a plastic - i just don't think the 2 piece design would hold up in plastic - it would move around too mush i would think.
If you did flip the top link mounts over, they would need mounting at aprox the same height as the top of the diff carriers - whick would mean there would need to be "bulkhead" there, and then there would be no real way to make the quick release difs work - and trust me, this is a great feature when you have a diff let go at a meeting - i had to prove this yesterday.
The car is a little on the heavy side (compared to Mi2 EC), this is true. Running 6 cell brushed, no problem at all, still under weight (at least mine would be). However, 5 cell brushless, yeah a little on the high side. Although mine was at 1440 over the weekend with heavy shell, this seemed about par with other cars at the meeting.
If you did flip the top link mounts over, they would need mounting at aprox the same height as the top of the diff carriers - whick would mean there would need to be "bulkhead" there, and then there would be no real way to make the quick release difs work - and trust me, this is a great feature when you have a diff let go at a meeting - i had to prove this yesterday.
The car is a little on the heavy side (compared to Mi2 EC), this is true. Running 6 cell brushed, no problem at all, still under weight (at least mine would be). However, 5 cell brushless, yeah a little on the high side. Although mine was at 1440 over the weekend with heavy shell, this seemed about par with other cars at the meeting.
05-21-2007, 10:52 AM
Originally Posted by Sigearhead
That track is so flowing and wide open, you should never wreck on that thing!
It's actually really small and tight. It does flow well, but the sweeper coming up onto the straight has claimed a number of cars already. 2 reasons.
1- You push out a little wide and because it's slightly off camber, your car just keeps drifting out.
2- The green areas are raised curbs. You clip the inside of the sweeper and get launched into the outside wall.
Either way, you can usually say goodbye to the right side of your car. Unless you're driving an Mi3 that is.
I hit that wall twice in three test days (once in each way I described 
) and the only problem I had was it knocked the toe out of whack in the front.
05-21-2007, 11:02 AM
Originally Posted by MattW
I don't think those suspension blocks could be made from a plastic - i just don't think the 2 piece design would hold up in plastic - it would move around too mush i would think.
If you did flip the top link mounts over, they would need mounting at aprox the same height as the top of the diff carriers - whick would mean there would need to be "bulkhead" there, and then there would be no real way to make the quick release difs work - and trust me, this is a great feature when you have a diff let go at a meeting - i had to prove this yesterday.
The car is a little on the heavy side (compared to Mi2 EC), this is true. Running 6 cell brushed, no problem at all, still under weight (at least mine would be). However, 5 cell brushless, yeah a little on the high side. Although mine was at 1440 over the weekend with heavy shell, this seemed about par with other cars at the meeting.
If you did flip the top link mounts over, they would need mounting at aprox the same height as the top of the diff carriers - whick would mean there would need to be "bulkhead" there, and then there would be no real way to make the quick release difs work - and trust me, this is a great feature when you have a diff let go at a meeting - i had to prove this yesterday.
The car is a little on the heavy side (compared to Mi2 EC), this is true. Running 6 cell brushed, no problem at all, still under weight (at least mine would be). However, 5 cell brushless, yeah a little on the high side. Although mine was at 1440 over the weekend with heavy shell, this seemed about par with other cars at the meeting.
Matt Got 3rd at the BRCA Nats behind Andy Moore and Olly Jeffries.
05-21-2007, 11:03 AM
Originally Posted by Jon Kerr
It's actually really small and tight. It does flow well, but the sweeper coming up onto the straight has claimed a number of cars already. 2 reasons.
1- You push out a little wide and because it's slightly off camber, your car just keeps drifting out.
2- The green areas are raised curbs. You clip the inside of the sweeper and get launched into the outside wall.
Either way, you can usually say goodbye to the right side of your car. Unless you're driving an Mi3 that is. I hit that wall twice in three test days (once in each way I described ) and the only problem I had was it knocked the toe out of whack in the front.
1- You push out a little wide and because it's slightly off camber, your car just keeps drifting out.
2- The green areas are raised curbs. You clip the inside of the sweeper and get launched into the outside wall.
Either way, you can usually say goodbye to the right side of your car. Unless you're driving an Mi3 that is.
I hit that wall twice in three test days (once in each way I described ) and the only problem I had was it knocked the toe out of whack in the front.
i did destroy two battery packs flying into that wall.
i have to rebuild those this week otherwise no practice packs.
05-21-2007, 11:06 AM
I mentioned the camber link mounts to PW. Instead of changing the design of the car and the way they mount to the bulkheads, my suggestion was to simply put a ball stud in there with a .050 hex in the screw side of it so you could access it from the top side. Simply change the ball stud and you're good to go. No flipping the way brackets mount and adding option holes. Like Adrian said, that would be a step backward. The only problem I can see with my idea is if there's enough material on the screw to allow for a hex to be in the screw side of it. But that could be addressed with a different bracket to accommodate a larger diameter stud. Until then, I just pop off the ball cup and unscrew the bracket to make my changes. I'd rather spend an extra few minutes and have the infinite options we have than be able to change from 2 or 3 locations in 10 seconds. I raised my inner front camber link mounts .5mm last week and it made a significant difference. If I'd only been able to go up 1 or 2mm like most of the cars, it would have been too much of a change I think.
05-21-2007, 11:07 AM
Originally Posted by Hebiki
jon, if you didnt wreck, it means you werent going fast enough
05-21-2007, 11:11 AM
Tech Master
Cheers Adrian. Actually qualified 4th and unfortunately finals didn't go so well for me. That said though, i'd only had 2 packs of cells through my car before the weekend and they had been on carpet, so i really wasn't expecting anything from the weekend. So hopefully things will only get faster!!
05-21-2007, 11:25 AM
Originally Posted by MattW
Cheers Adrian. Actually qualified 4th and unfortunately finals didn't go so well for me. That said though, i'd only had 2 packs of cells through my car before the weekend and they had been on carpet, so i really wasn't expecting anything from the weekend. So hopefully things will only get faster!!
05-21-2007, 12:05 PM
Originally Posted by MattW
I don't think those suspension blocks could be made from a plastic - i just don't think the 2 piece design would hold up in plastic - it would move around too mush i would think.
If you did flip the top link mounts over, they would need mounting at aprox the same height as the top of the diff carriers - whick would mean there would need to be "bulkhead" there, and then there would be no real way to make the quick release difs work - and trust me, this is a great feature when you have a diff let go at a meeting - i had to prove this yesterday.
The car is a little on the heavy side (compared to Mi2 EC), this is true. Running 6 cell brushed, no problem at all, still under weight (at least mine would be). However, 5 cell brushless, yeah a little on the high side. Although mine was at 1440 over the weekend with heavy shell, this seemed about par with other cars at the meeting.
If you did flip the top link mounts over, they would need mounting at aprox the same height as the top of the diff carriers - whick would mean there would need to be "bulkhead" there, and then there would be no real way to make the quick release difs work - and trust me, this is a great feature when you have a diff let go at a meeting - i had to prove this yesterday.
The car is a little on the heavy side (compared to Mi2 EC), this is true. Running 6 cell brushed, no problem at all, still under weight (at least mine would be). However, 5 cell brushless, yeah a little on the high side. Although mine was at 1440 over the weekend with heavy shell, this seemed about par with other cars at the meeting.
05-21-2007, 12:17 PM
Originally Posted by Jon Kerr
I mentioned the camber link mounts to PW. Instead of changing the design of the car and the way they mount to the bulkheads, my suggestion was to simply put a ball stud in there with a .050 hex in the screw side of it so you could access it from the top side. Simply change the ball stud and you're good to go. No flipping the way brackets mount and adding option holes. Like Adrian said, that would be a step backward. The only problem I can see with my idea is if there's enough material on the screw to allow for a hex to be in the screw side of it. But that could be addressed with a different bracket to accommodate a larger diameter stud. Until then, I just pop off the ball cup and unscrew the bracket to make my changes. I'd rather spend an extra few minutes and have the infinite options we have than be able to change from 2 or 3 locations in 10 seconds. I raised my inner front camber link mounts .5mm last week and it made a significant difference. If I'd only been able to go up 1 or 2mm like most of the cars, it would have been too much of a change I think.
05-21-2007, 12:19 PM
Originally Posted by AdrianM
Titianium is 6% heavier than Aluminum so Ti bulkheads would make the car heavier..
05-21-2007, 12:32 PM
Originally Posted by yyhayyim
Good idea J. Kerr- simple and gets the job done...by the way thanks for the tips on the schocks. i finally got the rear shocks wroking right. Apparently it was the black shock bladders- tried a different way of putting them on and then it was all good. Now I feel like the car has the smoothest shocks on earth. AdrianM was right about how smooth these shocks are...good luck at the reedy race
I'm glad you got the shocks right. They really are some of the easiest to build and smoothest I've seen. Don't hesitate to ask if there's anything else we can help you out with.
05-21-2007, 12:46 PM
Originally Posted by Jon Kerr
I mentioned the camber link mounts to PW. Instead of changing the design of the car and the way they mount to the bulkheads, my suggestion was to simply put a ball stud in there with a .050 hex in the screw side of it so you could access it from the top side. Simply change the ball stud and you're good to go.
I don't see why there wouldn't be enough material there for a .050 hex. On my Tamiya, the inner camber link ball studs are held on with extra long grub screws that pass through the ball stud. In the end, they basically act like the threads of the ball stud, and aren't any thicker than normal ball stud threads. Those grub screws have a .050 hex in them that make removing the ball stud and/or entire ball cup(if you ream a hole in the ball cup) easy.
So if theres enough material in those grub screws to put a .050 hex in, and they aren't any thicker than Schumacher's ball stud threads, I don't see why it wouldn't work.
Come one Schumacher, get to the hop up making. You can call them JK(Jon Kerr) ball studs.
