Bad news... I sent the lower chassis and some pivot ball parts and a few drawings to a friend of mine so that he could make me some aluminum pivot ball a-arm mounts. He got the chassis and parts yesterday and tells me that the chassis broke in shipping. With no insurance I can't get any money from the post office but The chassis broke in the same area around where the spur gear is and where the rear of the chassis hooks on. I figue that if the chassis in a padded envelope couldn't handle USPS then it probaly couldn't handle brushless power and 10 ft jumps. Though I had a aluminum brace to go on the chassis in the works. Now I have to make a new chassis or have one machined by the company machinist. I don't have anymore g10 so the first decision is what material to use?
1.G10
or
2. Alloy
The second thing I have to worry about is fixing the design to add material to the back. I am not sure a aluminum brace would make it strong enough. Also with the pivot ball mount design I can't cut the chassis any different to make that area stronger. So I came up with a few ideas...
1. Put 3/16" spacers under the rear diff case so that I don't have to have a spur gear hole.
Advantages: Easy,cheap,light, still keep pivot ballsupsension
Disadvantages: Raises CG and also increases the angle that the cvds slope down to the hubs which would increase cvd plunge and decrease ground clearance
2. Scrap the inner pivot ball "hingepinless" idea and go with a much more simple set up such as something similar to the tc4,t4,b4 hinge pin design just on the chassis but keep the pivot ball hubs.
Advantages: Simple, Cheap,Lowers cg,strong, can be used with t4/gt2 a-arms when useing tc3 rear hubs and tc3 front hubs.
Disadvanteges: Calls for shorter a-arm,less clearance,more traditional and not innovative, more friction.
3. Modifiy the slipper clutch, add dogbones, move to a mid motor mounted set up such as a b44 or bj4 WE. Use either the pivot ball or t4 suspension.
Advantages: More balanced,Can lower the diff cases to lower Cg and decrease cvd plunge, can make it longer by using long dog bones, no spur gear hole on the rear, can use either type of suspension.
Disadvantages: Saddle packs, most exspensive, have to redesign top/bottom chassis.
The last thing is if I should get the chassis cnc'ed or hand make it. I sorta wanted this version to be a prototype which most of the parts where hand made by me. But if I have to buy a whole nother sheet of g10 or a alloy sheet it seems smart that I would just have it cnc'ed. Especially since I am tired of g10 affecting my lungs and the cncing would be close to free.
I am having a hard time making these decisions , I am naturally a bad decision maker... so all the help would be appreciated. I am pretty sure I don't want to do option one though.
Thanks Ethan
Team Kassanova
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