Carpet Racer 1:32 Slot Car body on an RC chassis
From a young age, I was fascinated by radio-controlled cars and always wanted them to be smaller yet faster. In 2000, I found a carpet racer at a model-making fair that had the body of a slot car and a carbon fiber chassis. Unfortunately, it was a DIY project, and I only ever got limited enjoyment out of it. When I started exploring the limits of 3D printing, I had the idea to finally make the little racer as fast as it had always been meant to be, naturally including an upgrade to LiPo batteries.
Modifications
Magnetic Body Mount
Originally, the body was fixed in place with a pin attached to the body using a small piece of silicone tubing. To do this, a hole had to be drilled into the beautiful body, and there was a piece of silicone tubing in the middle of the hood, which I didn't really like the look of.
The goal was to find another way to fix the body, and a way had to be found to close the hole again.
New Center Chassis for LiPo Batteries
To safely mount lithium batteries, I developed a new center chassis so that the two individual LiPo batteries could be securely stored, leaving enough room for the receiver and speed controller.
New rims and tires from the 3D printer for ideal grip
Originally, the little racer was equipped with foam tires mounted on aluminum rims using double-sided tape. I had to mount the tires myself back then, and there's a trick: if you wet double-sided tape, it loses its stickiness, making it easy to put the tire on. As soon as the water evaporates, the foam sticks like glue. The tires performed very well on low-pile carpets, but the car tended to roll over easily due to the high center of gravity and the good grip. The tires also held up quite well on hard surfaces, as long as they weren't too slippery. The idea of printing air-filled tires myself could really make additive manufacturing shine, since solid rubber tires are easy to cast. As a first step, I looked for the softest TPU filament I could find, which at the time was Recura's TPU 70. It's an extremely difficult material to print, but with slow settings and a lot of patience, it can be done without any problems.
Verwendetes Equipment
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