MiniRC 1/20 scale buggy RC Car

Intro Video: https://youtu.be/fUpGaXocHcI
How to make tyres: https://youtu.be/py_GgKFaD5w
Driving on carpet track alongside 1/10 cars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUAKaZOEDVc

Hi and welcome to my MiniRC 1/20 scale buggy project!

Only the Chassis, body and a sample wishbone are available for download on Thingiverse. The complete model is available on Cults3D exclusively for a small fee with the idea of covering the costs of developing my next designs (https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/minirc-1-20-scale-buggy-rc-car)! Any support in this way would be much appreciated!

I designed it to be a fun, capable and durable little model for RC racing and practise in small areas. I race 1:10 RC buggies on carpet so I decided to go half the size of my racing car hence the choice of scale. The smaller size means the car is low in weight, around 400g complete vs 1500g of the 1/10 car, hence strength-wise the requirement is well within the capability of 3D printable plastics. For larger, heavier models this may not be the case.

This model is printable entirely with a 0.4mm nozzle (including all the gears) and only requires PLA and 95a TPU (the most commonly available type). The benefit of the TPU wishbones and rear wing is that they are extremely crash resistant and allow suspension pivots to be eliminated! Because of the small overall size total print time for all parts is around 24 hours with the slow settings I use aiming for quality.

I have simplified the model as much as possible to minimise the number of parts, fixings and assembly complexity.
It is based around a readily available and cheap 2212 1000kv brushless motor. A 17t pinion is used to help attach the shaft to the 3d printed bevel pinion. Add a speed controller, a micro servo, 2s 1000mah lipo and your radio gear and you’re good to go.

The tyres are a specific Schumacher 1/10 scale RC rear tyre that has been sliced and glued. One rear tyre makes all 4 tyres for the mini RC and I recycle worn tyres from my race model for this purpose. I tried 3D printing tyres in Ninjaflex and while the prints worked the grip was poor compared to using sections of actual tyres. Other tyres may work.

I have provided various suspension options to allow the stiffness and ride height to be tuned for the terrain on which you plan to use the car.

Please make one, try it out and let me know how it goes!

The BOM, print settings and build instructions are at this link to a google presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ds0kwe3S1O7O5UEwSkGk9DPAO7nAQrUkWHKgjD3DXys/edit?usp=sharing.

To give a flavour of the parts required see the BOM extract in the images attached