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102 Articles

Adding Automatic Emergency Braking To An RC Car

July 2, 2025 by 1 Comment

Modern RC cars can be pretty darn fast. That’s fun and all, but it also makes it easy to crash them into things. This problem inspired [Narrow Studios] to whip up something to offer a bit of protection.

The concept is simple enough—the RC car just needs some way to detect obstacles and stop before hitting them. The build relies on ultrasonic sensors as rangefinders to spot solid objects in the path of the vehicle. An Arduino Nano is in charge of reading the sensors. When it appears the car is approaching a wall or similar obstacle, it fires off a PWM signal to the car’s motor controller commanding it to brake. The additional hardware is held to the car with a bunch of custom printed brackets.

The setup isn’t perfect; the video notes that if you insist on accelerating quickly when close to a wall, you still have a fair chance of hitting it. That’s largely put down to the refresh time of the sensors and the overall system, which could be improved with further work. Still, if you’re always crashing your RC car into walls or curbs, this kind of thing might appeal to you.

We’ve featured some other great RC projects before, too.

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3D Printed Tank Has A Cannon To Boot

June 3, 2025 by 7 Comments

Few of us will ever find ourselves piloting a full-sized military tank. Instead, you might like to make do with the RC variety. [TRDB] has whipped up one of their own design which features a small little pellet cannon to boot.

The tank is assembled from 3D printed components — with PETG filament being used for most of the body and moving parts, while the grippy parts of the treads are printed in TPU. The tank’s gearboxes consist of printed herringbone gears, and are driven by a pair of powerful 775 brushed DC motors, which are cooled by small 40 mm PC case fans. A rather unique touch are the custom linear actuators, used to adjust the tank’s ride height and angle relative to the ground. The small cannon on top is a flywheel blaster that fires small plastic pellets loaded from a simple drum magazine. Running the show is an ESP32, which responds to commands from [TRDB]’s own custom RC controller built using the same microcontroller.

As far as DIY RC tanks go, this is a very complete build. We’ve seen some other great work in this space, like this giant human-sized version that’s big enough to ride in.

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3D Printing A Capable RC Car

June 2, 2025 by 6 Comments

You can buy all sorts of RC cars off the shelf, but doing so won’t teach you a whole lot. Alternatively, you could follow [TRDB]’s example, and design your own from scratch.

The Lizard, as it is known, is a fun little RC car. It’s got a vaguely Formula 1-inspired aesthetic, and looks fetching with the aid of two-tone 3D printed parts. It’s designed for speed and handling, with a rear-wheel-drive layout and sprung suspension at all four corners to soak up the bumps. The majority of the vehicle is 3D printed in PETG, including the body and the gearbox and differential. However, some suspension components are made in TPU for greater flexibility and resistance to impact. [TRDB] specified commercial off-the-shelf wheels to provide good grip that couldn’t easily be achieved with 3D-printed tires. An ESP32 is responsible for receiving commands from [TRDB’s] custom RC controller running the same microcontroller. It sends commands to the speed controller that runs the Lizard’s brushed DC motor from a 3S lithium-polymer battery.

The final product looks sleek and handles well. It also achieved a GPS-verified top speed of 48 km/h as per [TRDB’s] testing. We’ve seen some other great DIY RC cars over the years, too, like this example that focuses on performance fundamentals. Video after the break.

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Lockdown Remote Control Project Is Free And Open

April 4, 2025 by 8 Comments

If you flew or drove anything remote controlled until the last few years, chances are very good that you’d be using some faceless corporation’s equipment and radio protocols. But recently, open-source options have taken over the market, at least among the enthusiast core who are into squeezing every last bit of performance out of their gear. So why not take it one step further and roll your own complete system?

Apparently, that’s what [Malcolm Messiter] was thinking when, during the COVID lockdowns, he started his own RC project that he’s calling LockDownRadioControl. The result covers the entire stack, from the protocol to the transmitter and receiver hardware, even to the software that runs it all. The 3D-printed remote sports a Teensy 4.1 and off-the-shelf radio modules on the inside, and premium FrSky hardware on the outside. He’s even got an extensive folder of sound effects that the controller can play to alert you. It’s very complete. Heck, the transmitter even has a game of Pong implemented so that you can keep yourself amused when it’s too rainy to go flying.

Of course, as we alluded to in the beginning, there is a healthy commercial infrastructure and community around other open-source RC projects, namely ExpressLRS and OpenTX, and you can buy gear that runs those software straight out of the box, but it never hurts to have alternatives. And nothing is easier to customize and start hacking on than something you built yourself, so maybe [Malcolm]’s full-stack RC solution is right for you? Either way, it’s certainly impressive for a lockdown project, and evidence of time well spent.

Thanks [Malcolm] for sending that one in!

3D-Printed RC Car Focuses On Performance Fundamentals

January 20, 2025 by 8 Comments

There are a huge number of manufacturers building awesome radio-controlled cars these days. However, sometimes you just have to go your own way. That’s what [snamle] did with this awesome 3D-printed RC car—and the results are impressive.

This build didn’t just aim to build something that looked vaguely car-like and whizzed around on the ground. Instead, it was intended to give [snamle] the opporunity to explore the world of vehicle dynamics—learning about weight distribution, suspension geometry, and so many other factors—and how these all feed into the handling of a vehicle. The RC side of things is all pretty straightforward—transmitter, receiver, servos, motors, and a differential were all off-the-shelf. But the chassis design, the steering, and suspension are all bespoke—designed by [snamle] to create a car with good on-road handling and grip.

It’s a small scale testbed, to be sure. Regardless, there’s no better way to learn about how a vehicle works on a real, physical level—you can’t beat building one with your own two hands and figuring out how it works.

It’s true, we see a lot of 3D printed RC cars around these parts. Many are built with an eye to robotics experimentation or simply as a learning exercise. This one stands out for its focus on handling and performance, and of course that nicely-designed suspension system. Video after the break.

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3D Printed Forklift Is A Cute Desk Toy

December 22, 2024 by 10 Comments

Many of us grew up with dreams of piloting a forklift one day. Sadly, most warehouses take a dim view of horseplay with these machines, so few of us get to live out those fantasies. Playing with this desk-sized RC model from [ProfessorBoots] is probably a safer way to get those kicks instead. You can check it out in the video below.

The 3D-printed body of the forklift is the first thing you see. It’s great quality, and it instantly puts you in mind of the real thing. The build is true to the dynamics of a real forklift, too, with proper rear steering. Inside, there’s a custom circuit board hosting an ESP32 that serves as the brain of the operation. Its onboard wireless hardware allows remote control of the forklift via a smartphone app, PS4 controller, or many other options. It controls the drive motors and steering servo, along with another motor driving a threaded rod to move the forks up and down. The whole thing is powered by two Fenix 16340 batteries—small lithium-ion cells that can be recharged with an integral micro USB port.

The project video is very thorough about the design and build. It’s worth watching just to understand the specifics of how forklifts actually raise their forks up and down. It’s good stuff.

This forklift is just the latest RC build from [ProfessorBoots]. He’s done great work in this space before, like this charming skid steer and incredibly complex crane.

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Build A Super Cheap RC Trainer Plane With Foam

September 5, 2024 by 20 Comments

Once upon a time, RC planes were expensive models that took months to build and big money to equip with electronics. Since the 20th century though, powerful batteries have become cheap, as have servos and radio controllers. Combine them with a bit of old packing material and you can get a little RC trainer up and running for peanuts, as [Samm Sheperd] demonstrates.

[Samm] started referring to this as the “$5 trainer,” though he admits that it will cost more than that if you don’t have some bits and pieces laying around. He demonstrates how to cut cheap foamboard with a hot guitar string, and how to form it into a viable wing. That’s the most crucial part, with the fuselage and tail surfaces relatively simple by comparison. With that complete, it’s as simple as bolting on a motor, some servos, and control horns, and you’re up and running. You can even whip up a landing gear if you’re so inclined! Then, figure out your center of gravity, get it right, and then you’re pretty much ready to fly.

It’s a great primer on how to build a basic RC model, and if you do it right, it should have pretty forgiving handling, too. Plus, it’s so cheap that it should be easy to repair if you crash. Happy modelling! Video after the break.

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