I've been designing some new parts recently for the MRCG. They may or not make it to production, but at the very least I plan to prototype these and test them out.
New flex plates and rear pod lower plate:
In theory, with these longer but thicker flex plates, we'll get more bump stiffness, while maintaining the same roll resistance. The addition of a second mounting screw on the rear pod keeps the flex plates aligned even in a bad crash.
Rocker-arm dynamic strut system:
Very similar to a 1/12 front suspension, just packaged a bit differently. Springs are mounted on threaded nuts/perches for infinite preload adjustment. Adds 2 degrees of caster for stability, but at the same time reduces stiction and adds a small amount of dynamic caster and camber for more steering. Approx. 8mm lower than the standard front suspension. Compatible with standard MR02 knuckles, and uses a similar tierod mounting style as the InZane P28. Servo strap makes a nice place to put a Giro-Z transponder. I'm very excited to try this out, it won't cost a lot to manufacture but the potential is enormous.
Right on the mark, Willie, the pivot's formed by two silicone o-rings and a screw. I don't think there's enough suspension travel used to warrant a ball nut/stud, so I took the simpler route. I'm still looking around to see if there's a better small-size pivot with more travel (there's enough like this, but more would be nice) but for now this is OK. I'm trying to figure out a better steering setup that has more accurate Ackerman control and is less susceptible to servo horn flex.
I have the Scalpel manual, so I know how its front suspension works. What do you think of it though, is it sensitive to spring changes and precise enough for racing?
What I would be concerned with is if the durometer of the elastic pieces are stiffer than the spring someone is using then the it renders the spring useless. The softest you can get the front end is how much you can compress those bushings. If you use too soft bushings then they won't locate and hold the arm very well.
The scalpel is a larger scale and the arms are longer so springs and bushings can be stiffer and there's more leverage to compress its bushings. I don't how this would translate shrunken to mini z size.
On the 12th scale AE front end a pivot pin on the upper arm is used so there is no resistance other than the friction between the pin and arm (polish your pins )
From your pictures it looks like you just have to machine the arms and everything else can be off the shelf (Ok chassis mod require) so you can try it.
I guess you looked into the Xray M18 and decided against the pivot ball method.
The bushings are pretty hard, but I picked a size that offers as little resistance as possible to the arm's movement.
Pivot balls take up too much space, I have an idea that involves pins but it means custom-machined aluminum parts. It may be necessary though so I'll keep churning out designs. A full-on dynamic strut system is not a bad idea at all.
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