Bent RC Frame

Was that an ... engineer who designed the frame or a designer? Looking at picture #2, it must have been a clueless web-designer (no pun intended).

Just bend it straight and glue some carbon sheet on the side. So that you get a U-section or a closed section.

And next time: Don't drink and drive! Better smoke and fly. :-)

Nick

If I ever need an example if why an I beam is stronger than a couple of parallel members, I'll come looking for these pictures.

Jeesh.

My 2 cents:

It's crap now; whatever you do to it won't make it any less usable. Should you do something that fixes it you're ahead. Should you completely trash it you'll be in a position to buy one that's built right.

Take the offending arms off, apply some tension to bend the arms the right direction (bar clamp running backward), use a smooth hardwood wedge to drive in the bent slot. Use one of the good arms to see if you got there. I would not use heat.

I'd add a short stiffener or two > Okay lame question, but maybe some one can offer some advice. I bent

7075 is a nnon-weldable alloy, but you probably already knew that.

If you can unbend it and reinforce with epoxy, more power to you. How did it get bent in the first place? Did someone step on it?

I'd probably contact Gmade and see if they can sell you replacement parts.

Jim

What the heck happened to it?? Looks like somebody stepped on it?? Although I can see pushing up on one side of the axle hard enough to pull down the other side of the frame.

Would it be beyond your abilities(tool wise) to simply make new side frames?? Start with solid sheet and eliminate all the "pretties". Remove only what needs removing and leave the rest solid.

Some of the guys designing this stuff need to get jobs outside of toyland, the engineering advances on these things in the last few years is incredible.

Tom

Just FYI. I don't see the thumb images/links on your page in my Firefox browser. Others using Firefox must see it too, yes?

The html code looked ok, so I copied your page and found out a slight change in the width/height parameters for the thumb images made it work.

Seems like a bug in Firefox. I reported it.

Thumb/links look fine in FreeBSD Links 2.1pre21 (browser I have set to launch from slrn), FreeBSD Firefox 1.5.0.6, Linux Firefox 1.5.0.6, FreeBSD Dillo

0.8.6, even FreeBSD Amaya 8.8.1.

You don't say what version/OS. Page seems to render as intended in the browsers I tried.

I'm running Firefox 1.5.0.6 on Win 2K 5.00.2195 SP4. I just tried a different PC running XP Home and FF 1.5.0.4 -- it worked ok. Upgraded that one to FF 1.5.0.6 and still ok.

Something really odd about the problem on the Win 2K machine. Works fine in IE6. Other pages seem fine in FF.

I copied the html source for the page. The lines for the img display of the thumbnails contain: width="150" height="100" . If I delete those parms or change either of the numbers +/- 1 (ex: width to 149 or 151) then that image displays. Without changing anything all I see is a small square dot, probably 4 pixels in size (just border?).

Can't think what I can change that might help. Is there a way to force Firefox reinstall? I may have a hard drive stashed around here with Win

2K to try on a different PC if I can find the time.

I uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox on the 2K PC. No change in this symptom on the one page.

I can. Change your OS! ;-)

It's obviously a problem with Win2K. The page "Passed Validation" on the W3C validation page, and you can't get any more "correct" than that.

A bit early for that. Win2K is a good OS for lots of reasons. Never had a problem before.

Yeah, I know the page passed verification. As I said, I don't see a problem with the html. I'm not convinced its a Win2k problem, could be, but not obvious. Even if it is related, I bet the Firefox team could make it work if they looked at it.

It wasn't. I finally figured it out.

A long-long time ago, I added a custom userContent.css to Firefox that was posted on the net somewhere. It was a sort of crude adblock mechanism. It was so long ago, I didn't know it still existed. See:

the general concept.

I deleted that file, and now the page works. -- I knew it was going to be something weird.

Wow,

Thanks for all of the great replies. I will be "fixing" this next week. I believe the engineering was designed to take upward shock well, but when driving this thing and jumping it I tend to flip it and it lands on its back. That impact does not do well as you can see. I'm talking about about 4 feet high. I am not the best "driver" in the world. But i don't do the man it looks pretty I'll never use it. Cutting new sheets may be beyond my capacity. I have a hack saw and tools more for home demo and renovation not for detail type of work. I'm thinking about the wood block and bending approach then welding some beams like suggested in a previous post.

I'll report results and of course post some more pictures. I hate to trash the frame because it cost in the 400 dollar land. Although broken is broken and I want a working toy. I could have gotten better quality for 100 dollars or less and save a ton of heart ache, but hey what is done is now how it is.

Thanks to everyone for the assistance.

Glad the Browser problems were not related to my site. I am currently renovat> stfuji wrote:

Nick,

Now where would be the fun in not drinking and driving. These kind of toys beg for alchol and massive ankle brusies....

Nick M=FCller wrote:

I believe I really like your idea! Thanks,

Geoffrey

RoyJ wrote:

Greetings Geoffery, What Roy said. Keep any heat away. Bend slowly. When using the JB Weld make sure everything is really clean. Use acetone or alcohol to make sure no oil, like from fingerprints, is on the surface to be glued. JB Weld is stronger in compression. Keep this in mind when deciding where to use it. One trick for getting epoxy to bond well to aluminum is to wet the surfface with epoxy and use a stiff wire brush pushed through the wet epoxy to rough up the surface. What this does is remove the oxide layer that forms on aluminum rapidly (7075 oxidises especially fast if uncoated). Then the epoxy will be bonding directly to the clean, bare aluminum. Used correctly JB Weld is remarkable strong. While you are fixing the bent part maybe bracing the good part would pay off. When making beams keep in mind that the strength goes up by the cube. So a beam twice as tall will be 8 times as strong. This means that making the web of an I beam even a little taller can make a big difference. Cheers, Eric

On 8 Sep 2006 12:31:42 -0700, with neither quill nor qualm, "stfuji" quickly quoth:

Unless you are pushing the frame ends downward when hitting it upside down, it looks as if the main deflection was downward. I believe it was happening every time you took it airborne. It appears that the engineering for matching that frame with those axle/tire setups was inadequate. The axles are too heavy for the frame without cushioning.

Several questions:

1) Are the shocks bad? If not, see 2. 2) Are the shocks internally cushioned? If not, get some or find a way to limit the suspension with a cushioned stop.

In the interim, I'd machine (or hacksaw/file) pieces to insert in the curved openings at the frame ends after straightening the frame carefully and slowly.

Rout out pieces of nylon, delrin, or something similar, then bolt them in the holes with screws and washers. Your next break may be the top of the same curves.

Tom said:

What and kill someone? That was a poor design (unless the marketing dept. got involved and the engineer's complaints went unheeded.)

-- Vidi, Vici, Veni ---

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