Steel chassis

Hey George, I'm not sure what the gauges equate to in fractions of an inch thickness, but for a flat chassis if you get thinner than .030" it bends pretty easy and may suffer damage in a wreck. If you were to use sheet metal in a semi boxed "bent" up style chassis you could probably go thinner and lighter. The biggest problem with a "bent up" style chassis is the alignment of the axle holes and motor shaft/pinion to gear. Bent up flanges (like on a Parma type chassis) are hard to align even using a drill press. If I were to construct a chassis of that type, I would use tubing (with an inside diameter the same size as the outside diameter of the axle bushings I was planning to use) soldered into over-sized holes between the two bent up flanges. The tubing could be set up in a frame jig and soldered into the holes correctly aligned. Then using a cut-off wheel I would cut out the unnecessary portion of the tubing (depending on motor configuration; in-line, angle-winder, or side-winder).   -------------Bill

George,

If you have that kind of technology at your disposal it eliminates the problems I mentioned. Alignment problems should be solved with the CAD tool. There are many lazer cut chassis available on the market you could copy a basic design from.

-------------Bill

@Bill: The alignment in CAD is not the problem. Once the laser cuts it it will be fine. It's the accuracy of the brake (break?) press operator that controls the alignment. We're a machine manufacturer for heavy machinery, not an instrument maker so our bends don't matter to the mm.

@Monte: You can design too. Check out Alibre Design (www.alibre.com) for their hobby version of the software. It can do solids just fine.

Scored, no. But I can have small dots 'etched' in to show the fold line. A hand brake would probably work better than the big hydraulic one we have here for thin steel.

@Rico: Curb you enthusiasm there, partner. These are just musings for now.....

I would like some suggestions with regards to the design of a steel chassis. I'm thinking of a fixed rear axle mount that is attached to the base. Should the axle just spin inside some tubing or should there be room for bearings? The front axle mount will be attached to the guide flag post and will be in a sliding mount so it can be adjusted for different wheel bases. The width will be wide enough to hold a Mabuchi style motor in sidewinder fashion (not sure about how to mount it. What would be the best method of securing the body to the chassis?

Thanks!