UID F1 Motor Mount V2...

[imxlr8ed]

Yes, version 2 is out already! Totally different game though... no more sideplates!

This is the latest version of what I want to call a "top loader" (coulda been an upper decker!)... but for listing purposes it's called the V2. I struggled with these mount designs for way too long and this is the one that I'm going to try out to see if I can finally kill off those oddly located sideplate mount locations. After looking at the geometry of my first few versions of this, I realised that a single bodied plate was really why I wasn't pushing it much further. Then the word "tuning" floated through my head and I thought... yeah, why not?!... a tuning fork! I think this should certainly free up the roll in the rear and I also feel that the disc dampener should now be able to truly function as a bit of a shock, retainer and dampener all at one central point.

Now, I will have this on order by Friday and I'm really looking forward to testing this crazy idea out. I will have a full report up if it manages to get to my home before the 9th of February.

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Once again, ordering before my testing is only for the brave but I think you should really wait it out until I get some kind of testing done myself. But, in the interest of those who want to be pioneers and tread forward into unknown lands, I always offer that opportunity. But... please be skilled with a dremel and not a whiner because you've been warned! :D

Any ideas or changes on your minds, feel free to post or PM! I value all thoughts on my stuff!

No fine print here, just the facts!
I am in no way, shape or form responsible for production or shipping or manufacturing quality of these products. All I can say is that it took 15 days to show up at my house after I ordered it and the quality is top-notch! Shapeways has an excellent record of part quality which is one of the major reasons I went with them for this stuff.

[imxlr8ed]

I now have the most interesting suspension ever developed for a Mini-Z F1 sitting in front of me and no track to test it on. :(

Shapeways did their job, and did it quite well. Everything is within tolerance... at least as well as can be expected with the process they use. The bearings went in tight, very tight... but I just took my time, ran my X-acto around the base of the holes to scrape out the excess material (dust) and gave a bit of a scrape along the outer rim of the hole the bearings go into. They pushed in a but easier then. The bearings do stick out just a hair but this was planned in the design to do just that (for clearance issues).

Now the tuning plate is a little too soft for my liking but it does make it articulate side to side like a rock crawler. The up/down is too soft as well but I have an idea to make a variety of plates to fix this. I kinda planned for it to be like this too but it didn't work out like I thought it would. Turns out that there isn't as much articulation at the disc dampener as I would prefer to have but I do plan to remedy this a bit... but not too much.

With the current tuning plate, something interesting does happen though...

The current plate is so soft that the chassis basically sags to the ground with just putting cells into the chassis. So what I did was dug out some really thick disc dampener springs, and I mean thick! The magic kinda happened when I got the bigger springs installed and started to tighten down... the car magically lifted itself up off the ground, it also took the slop out of the roll articulation. It's just so cool how it does this... I can adjust all aspects of this rear with the turn of the top dampener screw. I took the car around my painted concrete floor in my basement and it was really planted! But I can't confirm any of this until I get it on an RCP... could react completely different on a real track surface.

Without the dampener and the bigger springs, the rear is useless. Hit the throttle and the thing looks like an inchworm on crack (at least on rough office type carpet it does). Now I know a top shock could probably cure this as well but I'd rather add some meat to the top plate because I don't want it to rely 100% on shocks and springs. I want to get it to the point where it can perform independently without extra gear.

I'd have some pics but I have no idea where the camera got to but as soon as I find it I'll get some up.

Due to the coming snowstorm I should have the opportunity to get the revisions up in the shop tomorrow sometime so I'm gonna pull it until I do.

[imxlr8ed]

V2 mount has been revised. Basically I tried to put a bit more stiffness into the tuning plate and also tried to get the rotation points moved a bit more aft.

I will be ordering this new version soon to test with... I will update as always.