Once upon a time, a remote controlled (RC) car was something you’d buy at Radio Shack or your local hobby store. These days, you can print your own, complete with suspension, right at home, as this project from [Logan57] demonstrates.
The design uses standard off-the-shelf hobby-grade components, with a brushed motor and controller for propulsion, and small metal gear servo for steering. The latter is a smart choice given there’s no servo saver in the design. Save for the fasteners and bearings, all the other parts are 3D printed. The hard components are produced in PETG or PLA, while flexible TPU is used for both the tires and the spring elements in the suspension system. It’s a double-wishbone design, and should serve as a good education should you later find yourself working on a Mazda Miata.
Building your own RC car isn’t just fun, it opens up a whole realm of possibilities. Sick of boring monster trucks and race cars? Why not build a 10×10 wheeler or some kind of wacky amphibious design? When you do, we’ll be waiting by the tipsline to hear all about it. Video after the break.
It’s been a looong time since I’ve owned a RC car.
But that sound of those little wheels on asphalt is an instant childhood-nostalgia trigger.
You wouldn’t steal a car!
You right, I wouldn’t. I would totally copy a car though. :)
So you pay $500 for a 3D printer, who knows what for filament, time, effort, to print parts and assemble a toy car you could buy for less than $50 off the shelf – and it looks nicer to boot!
Who did the stealing, and who got robbed?
3D printer can be less than £200 for a decent one. Filament is £15 a kilo. The main advantage is you can print the parts to repair the car when then inevitably break. Also you might want to checkout the URL you are on it is hackaday.com not icanbebotheredsoletsgotothesupermarketandjustbuyone.com
Note to self check spelling before clicking Post Comment
Nice project I’m currently working on a RC VTOL but my neclxt project is definitely going to be a car, thinking maybe a baja buggy
Oh man don’t I remember begging for an RC car for *years* and finally getting one from Radio Shack for Christmas- where you could (gasp) go forward, back and steer left and right. A lot of the cheap ones did a thing where it would either go forward straight or backwards and turn left. It came with one NiCad battery that took hours to charge for about a 10 minute run time, and after the first day or two all the bodywork was busted. Within a month all the running gear was fatally broken. It was harvested for the RC gear and servos. So to be able to just print up replacement parts like this would have been a game changer. You kids don’t know how lucky you are.
The reason I’m a fan of rechargeable batteries these days is because of the radio shack remote control car I got that used 3 different types of batteries. Once I used up the set I got at christmas that was all there was.