Talion Carbon fiber a arms

[Steelnation36]

I've been reading a lot lately and have seen basically nothing but complaints about arms. Either too ridgid and crack or put too much stress elsewhere, or flex too much and warp.

Maybe they are out there and I haven't seen them it why doesn't anyone make them out of high strength carbon fiber. Strong but not ridgid like metals. There are full size race cars that use carbon fiber in high stress parts. I know with hard bashing anything can and eventually will break. I just feel like carbon fiber could make them much more durable. As long as it's some high strength carbon fiber. Maybe I'm wrong and missing something though.

 

[SrC]

As bashers go, Composite plastic arms are best. Just rigid enough , yet not too flexible. CF would not be practical. CF is not the be all end all in many applications. Costly and still break. Been there.
A Carbon Composite would be the next best thing. But are very stiff. Racers prefer them for the track with some brands of rigs. Like with my TA TC3 Carbon Composite upgrade kit. Super stiff and rigid in that platform. A track rig.
RPM Pure Nylon arms break less if you boil them. But still flex alot. For bashing, this is the best compromise.
Basically, it seems everyone is fighting user driving error by seeking out better arms. Better that the arms break first, 99% of the time, or you just risk more expensive damage elsewhere on the chassis. Some parts are best replaced with stock. Just have spares on hand. There isn't always a better upgrade part for every stock part that breaks from user error. Better driving skills breaks less.
Need to know the limits of your rig and your own driving skills.

 

[LibertyMKiii]

Funny there is another very similar thread https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/carbon-fiber-braces.50804/

I'll add my exact same comment here as it is relevant:
Carbon is really interesting because the strength exists in certain ways, but not others.

I can take 120 grit sand paper and take away carbon fiber with almost no effort/force and it just turns to dust. Metal does not behave that way it resists that same level of abrasion and would only scratch the surface without losing material. If a screw passing through carbon fiber has any wiggle room the threads will do the same as that sand paper.... it will file that hole out in no time at all. This is why I don't think carbon towers are ideal for bashers.

Most of the time when carbon fiber is used on 1:1 race cars they bond pieces of the carbon fiber chassis together with an epoxy instead of fasteners. Other applications like a carbon fiber drive shaft will have adhesive bonded metal end. Anything that could have high friction will not be carbon except for carbon ceramic brakes which is quite different. All the carbon body work tends to bolt on in a method where there will not be friction.

F1 a arms have metal ends fitted

It would be rather expensive to make such arms for an RC car and takes a lot more to construct than just CNC cutting a flat sheet of carbon fiber to the shape you need.

Would you buy the $10 plastic a-arms that work pretty well or the $200 ones that are properly made from CF?

 

[a2lowvw]

I think it would be cool on some of the bigger and heavier bashers to have a metal bushings/inserts in the arms to prevent them from deforming on the pins. It would probably lead to additional stresses and breakage elsewhere unless a chassis is built with them in mind from the get go.

 

[SrC]

I think it would be cool on some of the bigger and heavier bashers to have a metal bushings/inserts in the arms to prevent them from deforming on the pins. It would probably lead to additional stresses and breakage elsewhere unless a chassis is built with them in mind from the get go.

Cool, just extremely cost prohibitive unfortunately.
The hinge pins and blocks will always bend/break if the Arms don't let go first. Now you are transferring the force effect to the bulkhead and elsewhere if the arms won't break first. Arms should be consumable parts for this reason. At least for bashing.

 

[Steelnation36]

As bashers go, Composite plastic arms are best. Just rigid enough , yet not too flexible. CF would not be practical. CF is not the be all end all in many applications. Costly and still break. Been there.
A Carbon Composite would be the next best thing. But are very stiff. Racers prefer them for the track with some brands of rigs. Like with my TA TC3 Carbon Composite upgrade kit. Super stiff and rigid in that platform. A track rig.
RPM Pure Nylon arms break less if you boil them. But still flex alot. For bashing, this is the best compromise.
Basically, it seems everyone is fighting user driving error by seeking out better arms. Better that the arms break first, 99% of the time, or you just risk more expensive damage elsewhere on the chassis. Some parts are best replaced with stock. Just have spares on hand. There isn't always a better upgrade part for every stock part that breaks from user error. Better driving skills breaks less.
Need to know the limits of your rig and your own driving skills.

Boil the RPM arms? Can you provide details/specifics on how you do that? Haven't heard that before. Thanks

Funny there is another very similar thread https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/carbon-fiber-braces.50804/

I'll add my exact same comment here as it is relevant:
Carbon is really interesting because the strength exists in certain ways, but not others.

I can take 120 grit sand paper and take away carbon fiber with almost no effort/force and it just turns to dust. Metal does not behave that way it resists that same level of abrasion and would only scratch the surface without losing material. If a screw passing through carbon fiber has any wiggle room the threads will do the same as that sand paper.... it will file that hole out in no time at all. This is why I don't think carbon towers are ideal for bashers.

Most of the time when carbon fiber is used on 1:1 race cars they bond pieces of the carbon fiber chassis together with an epoxy instead of fasteners. Other applications like a carbon fiber drive shaft will have adhesive bonded metal end. Anything that could have high friction will not be carbon except for carbon ceramic brakes which is quite different. All the carbon body work tends to bolt on in a method where there will not be friction.

F1 a arms have metal ends fitted
View attachment 210916

It would be rather expensive to make such arms for an RC car and takes a lot more to construct than just CNC cutting a flat sheet of carbon fiber to the shape you need.

Would you buy the $10 plastic a-arms that work pretty well or the $200 ones that are properly made from CF?

Good points. And definitely missed the other thread or I'd have just chimed in there. Sorry about basically duplicate threads.

 

[SrC]

RPM used to recommend boiling their Pure Nylon Parts from years back. It makes them more flexible before they could snap/crack.
Boil for 15-20 min in water. Many feel WD40 will help. You will hear many do this also. I tried it. Does not work. I say it is a Placebo affect. Thinking that it does work. NOT. I am probably the few that don't believe in WD40 as a Life Hack for everything. I can't see how a Solvent is beneficial to any plastics. If anything it is detrimental. Just an RC Urban Myth IMHO. And many follow others, just because......
Just boil RPM Nylon parts. Like their Arms and Wing mounts etc.
Also, Boiling the stocker Plastic Composite parts does nothing IMHO.
Tried that also.
It is NOT Pure Nylon.

 

[rotauq]

Wouldnt carbonnation36 be a more fitting name?

(no offense, just thought it was funny hearing the carbon argument from someone with steel in his name)

 

[Steelnation36]

Wouldnt carbonnation36 be a more fitting name?

(no offense, just thought it was funny hearing the carbon argument from someone with steel in his name)

Haha steelers fan, same name on all my gaming platforms too.