TRF201 Carbon Shock Tower

[Origineelreclamebord]

Hi everyone,

I was thinking about making this:


A carbon front shock tower The stock one is nice, but I did break about 3 of them last season - some unlucky incidents, but I see room to reinforce those 'braces' in the middle - those are the pieces that seem to break.

Also, I'm looking to get a bit more flex of the shock tower to prevent the front bulkhead from damaging - particularly indoors it gets too much of a beating. I could increase the flex with a glass/carbon combination plate, a thinner plate, or by putting O-rings in front of and behind the assembly when screwed onto the bulkhead.

The geometry at the moment is nearly the same: The shock holes are in the same spot, the turnbuckle mounts are 1mm further to the front to make the mounts symmetrical, but everything is the same otherwise

[clint]

I am in!!! have been wanting these for a long time now but nobody makes them..
What thickness were you thinking? I would be in for a few in 4mm..
PLEASE DO IT..

[Origineelreclamebord]

Haha thanks! I was thinking of 4mm carbon - or 3.5 for slightly more flex, but 4mm seems the standard for durable towers

The turnbuckle mounts will be 3D printed - at first anyway. Even though I'm pretty confident the 3D printed nylon will hold - unless maybe it is crushed on a hard trackside object (poles, edges of barriers, etc). I've also made suspension blocks and hubs from the material that held just fine.

I'll order one or two plates for myself soon, plus 1-2 pairs of blocks/mounts - I hope to be able to test it in 3-4 weeks time. If there are no major issues I'll put it on sale a.s.a.p

[ruf]

I'd look into anodized aluminum for the turnbuckle mounts. It will be a lot more cost effective than 3D printing in the long run, and if you design it symmetrically, you can effectively halve your minimum order quantity. In addition, the Tamiya crowd tends to be particularly fond of light blue anodization which would greatly increase the marketability of the product. Just my $0.02.

[Origineelreclamebord]

Originally Posted by ruf

I'd look into anodized aluminum for the turnbuckle mounts. It will be a lot more cost effective than 3D printing in the long run, and if you design it symmetrically, you can effectively halve your minimum order quantity. In addition, the Tamiya crowd tends to be particularly fond of light blue anodization which would greatly increase the marketability of the product. Just my $0.02.

Hehe, anodized aluminium would look awesome indeed The 3D printing is not very marketable currently because many people don't believe it can be strong enough, so to make it sell well it needs to be aluminium (even if in actual functionality it wouldn't matter much - or at all).

The only problem to manufacturing these shock towers is that I can't afford the investment to stock a good load of them (which is what makes any of the manufacturing options cheap).

[ruf]

Originally Posted by Origineelreclamebord

Hehe, anodized aluminium would look awesome indeed The 3D printing is not very marketable currently because many people don't believe it can be strong enough, so to make it sell well it needs to be aluminium (even if in actual functionality it wouldn't matter much - or at all).

The only problem to manufacturing these shock towers is that I can't afford the investment to stock a good load of them (which is what makes any of the manufacturing options cheap).

MOQ investment will always be an issue with manufacturing. I think that with a 2:1 ratio of the turnbuckle mounts, you might find that the aluminum parts will be cheaper on your BOM than the carbon fiber, especially at the thicknesses you're talking about.