RC Hypercar Pt2 - F1 Style Suspension in an RC Car

In this video I go over the initial design for a F1/Prototype style race car suspension inside a RC Car.
Link to a great intro to suspension and chassis design:
• Intro to Racecar Engin...
Also checkout Wavey Dynamics posts on the more complex suspension topics:
www.waveydynamics.com/article...

[@alexbrown9822]

Just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoy your videos, I find them very motivating for my own projects, seeing your design process is extremely valuable even if what you're doing is much more complex than my own projects. I really appreciate the depth and technical detail.

[@IndeterminateDesign]

Thank you so much. I’m so glad you find them useful.

[@AmrikSadhra]

Another great video. I love how you allow us to follow along all your thought processes, always learn something!

[@IndeterminateDesign]

I appreciate that!

[@Liberty.Francis]

Mind blowing as usual. Well done!

[@IndeterminateDesign]

Thanks!

[@devion321]

This is another great video i like your work Great job

[@TranceFur]

Very interesting stuff. Another advantage of flexure joints in this application is their total lack of play/slop.
At small scales, slop can be very difficult to avoid when using traditional ball joints. Even 0.1mm of slop is like having 1mm in a full-size vehicle, which would obviously be totally unacceptable and wreak havoc on suspension geometry and driving characteristics.

[@IndeterminateDesign]

I'm so glad you found it interesting. That's a really good point on the slop. Actually playing with the prototype I can tell it has a lot less slop than some of my off the shelf RC cars. I wish I had access to a machine shop so I could make it even better honestly. The slop in the suspension is a huge issue for my high speed RC streamliner.

[@bytesandbikes]

This is super interesting, thanks for sharing! I'm really interested in how this works at reduced scale. I've generally used leaf springs at small scale, as things change so much.

[@IndeterminateDesign]

Thanks. I'm curious to see how this works out as well. I know that the rockers and things work at smaller scale but I haven't seen this geometry and the heave spring used at all.

[@brbk4498]

Great video

[@IndeterminateDesign]

Thanks so much!

[@marmormik1]

Check out the Arlaarlo ak917. Great 1/10 chassis design

[@ousyan5895]

Great video as always! Thanks for sharing!
Wouldnt it be possible ti just use the control arms as springs themselves given the small scale of the car ?

[@IndeterminateDesign]

Yes, absolutely. The first tests for the car will be with just the flexures because I had a mistake in the monocoque and can't mount the coil springs. They do support the weight of the car, but it's not at the ideal ride height.
The limiting factor of flexure spring rate is the stiffness of of the control arm. If you want a higher spring rate , the flexure has to be stronger which will eventually cause the control arm to flex over it's entire length versus at the pivot point. I'm not sure how this would affect the suspension geometry.

[@juanmedinar20]

We need some STL's lol. Great job. What CAD software do you use? I have been doing some RC parts for fun in CATIA and SolidWorks and using SolidWorks CFD and OpenFOAM.

[@IndeterminateDesign]

Thanks! I’m using Fusion 360. It can be a bit problematic with the complex surfaces but it’s free and easy to use.

[@FirstLast-tx3yj]

Extremly packed with info...
I need to rewarch again!
What cad work are you going to do for the monocoque?? Imean its a small car so torsional rigidity and crash structure safety are not a concern...
I would love to see a monocoque video if you dont mind doing one!

[@IndeterminateDesign]

Thanks. I'm designing everything in Fusion 360. It's a great cad program, but designing a car with complex surfaces definitely is pushing it to it's limits. I'll try to pull something together on the monocoque. I've been doing test prints of that and it's actually amazing how something so light can be so strong.

[@Fwright88]

I apologize if this has been asked and answered elsewhere, but which CAD package is that?

[@IndeterminateDesign]

I’m using Fusion 360 because it’s free for hobbyists.

[@bruder211]

did you really have to add front anti dive Suspension on a wheel that doesnt have any power going through it or braking?

[@IndeterminateDesign]

You’re right, without the torque from the front motors under braking there’s no antidive really. I’m testing it with 4wd right now and it doesn’t make a huge difference I don’t think. The heave springs are so stiff relative to the sprung mass of the car.

[@nuttyDesignAndFab]

"flexture has no friction" lmao yes it does. ever heat then break plastic by bending it? that's material damping, polymers tend to have all sorts of hysteresis.

[@IndeterminateDesign]

Yeah that makes sense. The plastic strip is very thin. The more important part is probably the reduction in stiction that you get with a ball joint. Of course my unsprung mass is pretty high anyways.