Have I learned anything? An update from a newbie.

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DogsRFun

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Arrma RC's
  1. Typhon 6s
So, after having my Typhon 6s for a few months now, I thought I would post an update and compare my learning experience as a beginner vs everyone else. Maybe someone can learn from my mistakes, and you guys can tell me if I'm making any new ones.

Context:

I came here searching for a car to have my high energy Lab/GSP puppy chase around the yard. I ended up buying the Typhon 6s and slapping a traffic cone body on it, thanks to good advice here. Aside from a bad Tx that was replaced by Horizon Hobby, I've really had a lot of fun.

A few things I've learned:

When you order your parts, look closely at your battery vs your charger. I ended up needing an adapter, bought the wrong one, and had to wait an extra week or two to get going.

Read up on battery safety. You don't want to treat your battery like a AA energizer. You can burn your house down if you don't do some reading on safety.

Always check your car over for any loose screws. I've had about 5 of them trying to work their way out over the last few months.


So, after some growing pains, here's my routine.

I built a battery storage box out of an ammo can lined with sheetrock. I didn't vent it, instead I just leave the handle down and let the lid rest on it. That way the lid stays open about an inch.

I don't charge it in the can, the pigtail on the battery isn't long enough. Instead, I charge it on my tile floor, (not wood) and stay in the same room when charging.

I never charge to full. My pup can only chase it for about 15 minutes at most, and a full charge holds much more than that. Instead I usually set the charger to storage of 3.8 volts per cell. I also don't charge to full because if something comes up and I don't use the car (or, in my case, I broke something almost immediately) I don't have to discharge it while waiting a week or two for the replacement parts.


Cleaning: I could really use some help on this part.

At first I cleaned the thing completely after every use. Even if raining and cold out, I'd spend 20 minutes cleaning the car after every use. I'd put the body on, then hose out the axles and wheels etc, keeping the hose angled so it wouldn't get water in the vents and down to the electronics. I know they're water resistant, but I don't want to get them intentionally wet.

After that I would take it into my shop, take the body off, and use the air compressor to get in every nook and cranny and blow out any dirt or water. Once the thing was dry, I'd bring it inside to let it finish drying in the warm air. For a while I even took a heat gun on low to dry everything that way too.

While doing this I would go over the car and tighten any screws that were working out.

My big problem is that I started noticing a little bit of rust on the screws. It didn't matter how hard I tried, I could not get the thing completely dry, and rust bothers me. When I had to change out a broken lower front suspension frame (not sure of the name) I noticed that some of the sway bars were starting to rust too.

So now I pretty much just drive it in when it's dry out, and leave it dirty. I clean it off a bit, but I don't hose it off. Do you guys have any good ideas for cleaning?

By the way, it's still one of the best purchases I've ever made for my dog. He gets more excited about it than anything else in the entire day.
 
Water and rust go hand in hand. Just get some stainless screws as you replace stuff. Use them wherever they go in plastic, anything that crews into metal, keep with the black type.

By now, I would almost guarantee that your bearings are shot. Whenever the car gets wet there is a high chance it gets into bearings incl. motor bearings. Highly suggest to check for 'crunchiness' in the wheel bearings and replace.

Motor, I'd take it apart once per season and oil those bearings with fine oil.

Cleaning,
I just blow out the dust after each run, never use water. Yes, they look a little dusty/grimy but that is not an issue for myself.

Depends on how dirty it gets, use Simple Green Foaming Crystal. Below is for a box of 12, all I could find, again blow dry. Work s wonders and it goes on sale every so often for ~ $3/can.
https://www.amazon.com/Foaming-Crys...mzn1.fos.18ed3cb5-28d5-4975-8bc7-93deae8f9840

Whenever water gets involved it's more work, i.e. lube the bearings. Stay away from motor and electronics (as you do) but should all be fine. Just don't use WD40 or a high pressure nozzle, it will destroy it in no time. WD40 on plastic is ok but stay far away from bearings and electronics (incl. motor).
 
So, after having my Typhon 6s for a few months now, I thought I would post an update and compare my learning experience as a beginner vs everyone else. Maybe someone can learn from my mistakes, and you guys can tell me if I'm making any new ones.

Context:

I came here searching for a car to have my high energy Lab/GSP puppy chase around the yard. I ended up buying the Typhon 6s and slapping a traffic cone body on it, thanks to good advice here. Aside from a bad Tx that was replaced by Horizon Hobby, I've really had a lot of fun.

A few things I've learned:

When you order your parts, look closely at your battery vs your charger. I ended up needing an adapter, bought the wrong one, and had to wait an extra week or two to get going.

Read up on battery safety. You don't want to treat your battery like a AA energizer. You can burn your house down if you don't do some reading on safety.

Always check your car over for any loose screws. I've had about 5 of them trying to work their way out over the last few months.


So, after some growing pains, here's my routine.

I built a battery storage box out of an ammo can lined with sheetrock. I didn't vent it, instead I just leave the handle down and let the lid rest on it. That way the lid stays open about an inch.

I don't charge it in the can, the pigtail on the battery isn't long enough. Instead, I charge it on my tile floor, (not wood) and stay in the same room when charging.

I never charge to full. My pup can only chase it for about 15 minutes at most, and a full charge holds much more than that. Instead I usually set the charger to storage of 3.8 volts per cell. I also don't charge to full because if something comes up and I don't use the car (or, in my case, I broke something almost immediately) I don't have to discharge it while waiting a week or two for the replacement parts.


Cleaning: I could really use some help on this part.

At first I cleaned the thing completely after every use. Even if raining and cold out, I'd spend 20 minutes cleaning the car after every use. I'd put the body on, then hose out the axles and wheels etc, keeping the hose angled so it wouldn't get water in the vents and down to the electronics. I know they're water resistant, but I don't want to get them intentionally wet.

After that I would take it into my shop, take the body off, and use the air compressor to get in every nook and cranny and blow out any dirt or water. Once the thing was dry, I'd bring it inside to let it finish drying in the warm air. For a while I even took a heat gun on low to dry everything that way too.

While doing this I would go over the car and tighten any screws that were working out.

My big problem is that I started noticing a little bit of rust on the screws. It didn't matter how hard I tried, I could not get the thing completely dry, and rust bothers me. When I had to change out a broken lower front suspension frame (not sure of the name) I noticed that some of the sway bars were starting to rust too.

So now I pretty much just drive it in when it's dry out, and leave it dirty. I clean it off a bit, but I don't hose it off. Do you guys have any good ideas for cleaning?

By the way, it's still one of the best purchases I've ever made for my dog. He gets more excited about it than anything else in the entire day.
Really glad to hear you got your tx problem rectified (sorry I couldn't help) & that the puppers is enjoying the new toy!! What I like to do to help alleviate the surface rust on the screws is spritz all the plastic bits w/ wd-40 before running in the wet, then again after a cleaning w/ the air compressor. Make sure to avoid bearings with the wd-40 & the compressed air, as it will lead to premature failure of those bearings. If/when you do replace the stock bearings look @ getting a full kit from Jim's or avid or the like. I also buy the inner & outer wheel bearings in bulk, since they need replacing a lot more often.
Anyway, glad you & the pup are enjoying the hobby, bash on brother!!!😃👍🤘
 
One recommendation I disagree with: stainless steel screws. Stainless steel is softer than carbon steel, and it's easier to strip the heads of stainless screws, even in plastic. I don't recommend using stainless steel fasteners.

Most rust on carbon steel fasteners is surface rust, which won't affect the strength of the fastener much unless you continually expose the fasteners to water, causing them to rust deeper.
 
Yes, battery knowledge and safety. Some folks on the forum don’t want to bother taking a half hour to read about lipo technology, probably the most important aspect in RC…..

Also, running in moisture. Something I’ve been tempted to do (snow bashing looks fun) but haven’t yet. As for cleaning my rigs all I do is use bristle brushes and an air compressor to do the job. Then a light coating of WD40 makes the rig look like new again.

cheers,
kev
 
One recommendation I disagree with: stainless steel screws. Stainless steel is softer than carbon steel, and it's easier to strip the heads of stainless screws, even in plastic. I don't recommend using stainless steel fasteners.

Most rust on carbon steel fasteners is surface rust, which won't affect the strength of the fastener much unless you continually expose the fasteners to water, causing them to rust deeper.
Keep in mind that I stated 'for anything plastic'. If you are stripping screws that go into plastic, you have other problems that 12.9 steel won't fix ;)
 
Really glad to hear you got your tx problem rectified (sorry I couldn't help) & that the puppers is enjoying the new toy!! What I like to do to help alleviate the surface rust on the screws is spritz all the plastic bits w/ wd-40 before running in the wet, then again after a cleaning w/ the air compressor. Make sure to avoid bearings with the wd-40 & the compressed air, as it will lead to premature failure of those bearings. If/when you do replace the stock bearings look @ getting a full kit from Jim's or avid or the like. I also buy the inner & outer wheel bearings in bulk, since they need replacing a lot more often.
Anyway, glad you & the pup are enjoying the hobby, bash on brother!!!😃👍🤘
Yeah the pupper was really frustrated waiting, but we finally got it all working. I really appreciate your help, even if it didn't solve everything, it's awesome knowing people are willing to help, even out of their own pocket. That reminds me, I have the receiver from the replacement Tx if anyone wants it. Horizon is out of stock on the transmitter only, so they sent me one with the receiver as well.
 
Keep in mind that I stated 'for anything plastic'. If you are stripping screws that go into plastic, you have other problems that 12.9 steel won't fix ;)
I've had some fasteners put in at the factory that seem like they used an impact gun to install. They made a cracking sound when I finally got them loose, and I might have stripped the heads if I weren't using quality hex drivers.
 
if your running in wet conditions use wd40 silicone spray before you go bashing been doing this for years and never have any rust on my cars
 
Mostly don't clean. More damage than benefit.

But check your wheel bearings. Clean the inside of the wheel rims if necessary to prevent imbalance damaging the bearings. Sometimes mud gets stuck there on the bigger rigs.
Make sure the servo moves nicely. Only use water on the servo saver. That frees the servo.
And as said before - use quality hex drivers.
 
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