Bandini

I recently read a tip - can't find it now, but it must have been in RC Driver or Car Action - that you could take some slop out of your suspension by heating the plastic parts with a heat gun. They would shrink a bit, and get tighter on the hinge pins.

This sounds great for me, but before I go ahead and melt my car, I want to ask you if this is something people actually do with good results?

One of my cars (Tamiya TB-01) has a fair amount of slop even with brand new parts. Do you think it would be a good idea to try this method?

I have also heard something about boiling plastic parts to improve durability. Is this something people do in general?

FlyinGT

ok .... i've been told that u can boil the plastic parts ..
wat it does is make it harder..... becomes stronger

i've tried this once on plastic centre pulley an it did afterwards fell alittle harder ....

i don't kno bout the heaT gun ...

Fuzzy

iTrader: (4)

Instead of using a heat gun to soften the parts, why not try using spacers/shims first? As for the boiling of plastics, it doesn't actually make the part harder. By putting moisture into the plastic, your making the part slightly more flexible. This allows the part to give a little during a collision. Harder = brittle = broken part. Boiling only affects certain plastics i.e. nylons.

tel

iTrader: (9)

We used to boil nylon offroad arms to make them softer. Boiling actually anneals the arms (reduces internal stress) which allowed for more flex so the arms wouldn't break during a crash. With the graphite arms of today, heating won't due much good, and it certainly won't make them stronger.

If you need stiffer parts, look for new designs of graphite from the manufacturer or aftermarket parts. Xray made several revisions of the car arms to increase the stiffness by changing the arms design and not the material.

rc_square24

iTrader: (9)

another way to get slop out is apply a thin wall of CA glue to the holes and test fit for slop, add another wall if theres still play or use a drill bit to enlarge if its too tight

use shims for side way play. <---->

Wency_TA03R-PRO

How long do I need to boil it up??.. 1 mins 2 mins??.. just asking for clarification....

Smalls

bake at 350 for 20 minutes, then when a slight goo apears flip carefully.

mb racer

iTrader: (1)

tornado

Neil Rabara

I don't recommend it. If you heat up plastic, it will cool and warp changing the characteristic of the part. Not to mention geometry.

tornado

The only heating I've know is to boil those nylon parts to make them more durable and not other materials. I like boiling those nylon parts 'cos I could add colour dye to make them look cool.

Pink arms anybody ?

Bryan

WC

iTrader: (28)

DO NOT BOIL the parts in your TB01/TG10/TL01/FF02 as the plastic parts are NOT nylon! They will not survive heating.

tornado

So......now we know who is producing those odd looking new design parts for these cars.....you devil you.....

Bryan

Bandini

I finally found the article. It was in Joel Johnson's column in the May 2004 issue of RC Car Action. It wasn't to reduce slop, though, but to get rid of binding that he would use a heat gun on the suspension. I don't have a problem with binding, but I'm still curious. Does anyone here do this? I think Joel Johnson is someone who knows what he's talking about.