Kraton "King Kraton" 6s EXB with 8s Electronics

[Rottster]

Got a decent bonus this year, so instead of being an adult and paying off my highest interest loans first, I got a 6s Kraton V5 EXB, then paid a few things off. Two things hit me right off the bat 1: This thing is huge! and 2: Wow, pretty light.

Next, I had to build a shelf... No way was the wife going to put up with this on the dinner table until it was done. Added some LED lighting to keep the bench lit since the shelf cut off so much overhead light.

 

[djrahbee]

Congrats! I love mine.

 

[Avyn Nix]

Nice choice you won’t be disappointed.

 

[Rottster]

Congrats! I love mine.

Nice choice you won’t be disappointed.

I'm really looking forward to getting this done! Major step up from 1/10 Big Rock.

 

[Rottster]

Next step was a ProModeler DS635CLHV Servo with their 15T universal servo horn. I used all the spacers from Arrma to keep the servo up off the chassis, so no big deal there, however, a spacer was needed between the Arrma horn link and the servo saver arm which you all can see on the far right of the picture. If an offset horn of the correct height and length is available, I'll let you all know. Also, the 15T spline is pretty coarse, so ALOT of trim in the transmitter was needed, like 90%. To resolve this I have an adjustable servo horn link on the way and I'll let you all know the part numbers once I get it sorted out. I'm also powering the servo on a standalone 2s battery by cutting the positive to the servo, soldering in a XT30 connector and "Teeing in" the negative to the brown negative/signal return. I can't really set my endpoints until my adjustable link comes in, but in testing, this servo is unreal and the whole thing jumps on right to left. I'm also using one of the 2S battery leads for telemetry to my radiolink R6GS so I have a real time view of my voltage. I wrapped up the battery in a piece of Milwaukee beer koozie I had laying around for protection and velcroed it to the inner cage.

 

[Rottster]

For power, I'm running a CC MMX 8s and CC 1717 1650 kv motor. The ESC mount was from E-Bay, but I'm pretty sure he's a member here. I'm starting out with a 20t pinion and I'll see how it goes from from there. More than likely I'll need some cooling, so I'll clock the motor over another 90 degrees to facilitate a couple of 40mm fans but I want to get a baseline first. Also got two sets of belted tires, one for the street and one to tear up the park.

 

[joshludden]

For power, I'm running a CC MMX 8s and CC 1717 1650 kv motor. The ESC mount was from E-Bay, but I'm pretty sure he's a member here. I'm starting out with a 20t pinion and I'll see how it goes from from there. More than likely I'll need some cooling, so I'll clock the motor over another 90 degrees to facilitate a couple of 40mm fans but I want to get a baseline first. Also got two sets of belted tires, one for the street and one to tear up the park.

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Congrats on a great looking truck! I love mine. When you loosen up your motor I would suggest ditching those crap button head motor mount screws & replacing them w/ cap heads. Those button heads will strip put on ya quicker than anything.

 

[Rottster]

Congrats on a great looking truck! I love mine. When you loosen up your motor I would suggest ditching those crap button head motor mount screws & replacing them w/ cap heads. Those button heads will strip put on ya quicker than anything.

Thanks for the heads up!
Exo-Cage and lighting: The lighting is from Murat-RC and so far, I'm very, very impressed. I just used a cheap inline on/off relay from amazon, plugged it in to my channel 7 and programmed the button on my transmitter. Since I'm using the exo-cage, I had to drill two new 2mm holes to set the front light bar back plus trim the body, but no issues other than that. If you were to install the lights without the exo, it would bolt right in with no trimming necessary.

The exo is from ali baba which kinda freaked me out, never ordered from there and I was worried about getting ripped, but it showed up. Other than a few screws being too short, it went together nicely. At this point I can't comment on how tough it is, but I'm sure you all will hear soon enough. Some might say it's ugly, but it's kinda like training wheels for me and it's only two bolts to pull off in the future. The whole thing also pivots forward for maintenance.

 

[Rottster]

Got the Promodeler install sorted out. Using the given horn link I had to set my trim to almost 100% either way depending on which spline I installed it at. Picked up some Yeah Racing reverse and standard thread rod ends as well as some PSM M3 x 18mm turnbuckles, shaved down and bottom tapped one rod end (the standard thread one, hole is plenty deep) and now I can set my trim to about 30%. I could reduce that further by shaving the other rod end down but I don't have a reverse thread 3mm x 0.5 tap handy and I feel it's acceptable for now. The PSM turnbuckles are really, really nice and made in Germany. I have an affinity and respect for German engineering so I'm pretty happy to say I've got some parts on King Kraton from there. Maybe I should call it the Kaiser Kraton, lol. I also trimmed down the horn to close to the 25mm hole to avoid touching the battery leads from the MMX 8s on full full left.

Anyway, I'm not totally thrilled about the cantilevered single shear point I have on the link to the servo saver and an offset (taller) horn that would allow me to mount the servo horn link under the horn would be ideal. Also, re-aligning the splines so the arm would be pointing at 3 O'Clock when centered would eliminate the need for an adjustable link. Don't get me wrong, this servo is hellacious and the arm is a universal piece. How could PM know every application? John from PM said no one has ever sent pics of their set up on Kraton, so here you go buddy! @jbeech

 

[djrahbee]

Got the Promodeler install sorted out. Using the given horn link I had to set my trim to almost 100% way depending on which spline I installed it at. Picked up some Yeah Racing reverse and standard thread rod ends as well as some PSM M3 x 18mm turnbuckles, shaved down and bottom tapped one rod end (the standard thread one, hole is plenty deep) and now I can set my trim to about 30%. I could reduce that further by shaving the other rod end down but I don't have a reverse thread 3mm x 0.5 tap handy and I feel it's acceptable for now. The PSM turnbuckles are really, really nice and made in Germany. I have an affinity and respect for German engineering so I'm pretty happy to say I've got some parts on King Kraton from there. Maybe I should call it the Kaiser Kraton, lol. I also trimmed down the horn to close to the 25mm hole to avoid touching the battery leads from the MMX 8s.

Anyway, I'm not totally thrilled about the cantilevered single shear point I have on the link to the servo saver and an offset (taller) horn that would allow me to mount the servo horn link under the horn would be ideal. Also, re-aligning the splines so the arm would be pointing at 3 O'Clock when centered would eliminate the need for an adjustable link. Don't get me wrong, this servo is hellacious and the arm is a universal piece. How could PM know every application? John from PM said no one has ever sent pics of their set up on Kraton, so here you go buddy!

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I have one in my K6 build. Love it, best servo I have!

 

[Rottster]

I have one in my K6 build. Love it, best servo I have!

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Are you running yours off the ESC BEC or a seperate battery pack?

 

[djrahbee]

Are you running yours off the ESC BEC or a seperate battery pack?

Max6 ESC seems to be plenty on stock 6v setting so far. I suspect I'll be looking into running a seperate battery for my 8s rigs in the near future.

 

[Rottster]

Max6 ESC seems to be plenty on stock 6v setting so far. I suspect I'll be looking into running a seperate battery for my 8s rigs in the near future.

I'm running a separate lithion from PM just because I figure it's cheap insurance, plus I have a tendency to overbuild. I'm using the Radiolink transmitter and receiver which gives me the option of voltage telemetry, so I'm using it for the servo batt pack vs the actual power lipo... The ESC is set to cuttoff if I hit low voltage on the lipo anyway. All my MMX 8S BEC supplies is the receiver, fans and LED's. BTW, the Murat LEDs are really, really nice and a far cry from the brittle polo creations stuff.

 

[djrahbee]

BTW, the Murat LEDs are really, really nice and a far cry from the brittle polo creations stuff.

Nice to know

 

[Rottster]

Nice to know

BTW, that K6 build is a monster!!! I have the Promodeler 635 with the 8mm shaft and 15t spline. It's a little bit of a challenge but nothing insurmountable and I'm sure when John sees this thread, he'll chip in. With any luck he'll decide that there is market for a specific Kraton EXB 6s horn.

 

[Senton_Prime]

These builds are bonkers!! Need to vamp my EXB up, I hate this hobby!!

I'm gonna be pushing around a cart loaded with Shelf queens if I don't knock it off.. we'll call them "cart queens"!!

 

[Rottster]

These builds are bonkers!! Need to vamp my EXB up, I hate this hobby!!

I'm gonna be pushing around a cart loaded with Shelf queens if I don't knock it off.. we'll call them "cart queens"!!

It never ends Brother, I like to think we're on the leading edge, or in the case of crashes of which I'm very familiar with, the "Bleeding Edge".... Like hemorrhaging money.

 

[Greengaunja]

Got the Promodeler install sorted out. Using the given horn link I had to set my trim to almost 100% either way depending on which spline I installed it at. Picked up some Yeah Racing reverse and standard thread rod ends as well as some PSM M3 x 18mm turnbuckles, shaved down and bottom tapped one rod end (the standard thread one, hole is plenty deep) and now I can set my trim to about 30%. I could reduce that further by shaving the other rod end down but I don't have a reverse thread 3mm x 0.5 tap handy and I feel it's acceptable for now. The PSM turnbuckles are really, really nice and made in Germany. I have an affinity and respect for German engineering so I'm pretty happy to say I've got some parts on King Kraton from there. Maybe I should call it the Kaiser Kraton, lol. I also trimmed down the horn to close to the 25mm hole to avoid touching the battery leads from the MMX 8s on full full left.

Anyway, I'm not totally thrilled about the cantilevered single shear point I have on the link to the servo saver and an offset (taller) horn that would allow me to mount the servo horn link under the horn would be ideal. Also, re-aligning the splines so the arm would be pointing at 3 O'Clock when centered would eliminate the need for an adjustable link. Don't get me wrong, this servo is hellacious and the arm is a universal piece. How could PM know every application? John from PM said no one has ever sent pics of their set up on Kraton, so here you go buddy! @jbeech

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I've grown to LOVE ProModeler. Bought one for my SCX10iii to try after several waterproof servos sh1t the bed on me. Funny how the ONE servo not waterproof held up the best. I've since shelfed the SCX10iii seeing as I prefer my TF2. And just so happened to have a servo on hand for my current speed run build.

 

[PaulLiu]

Congrats on a great looking truck! I love mine. When you loosen up your motor I would suggest ditching those crap button head motor mount screws & replacing them w/ cap heads. Those button heads will strip put on ya quicker than anything.

True, I have stripped few of that, material just too soft.

 

[Rottster]

Had a great time with the Kraton last weekend, but broke a couple upper shock mounts. I'm not terribly surprised after taking a harder look at the engineering and poor grain structure of the original mounts, so I grabbed a set of these from M2C... Way, way better designed. Part # is M2C3080. Btw, hit 61 mph easy with a 20T pinion and 6s on a very short run of blacktop (motorcycle training going on in my favorite lot) and absolutely RIPPED when I changed tires and hit the park grass. Unfortunately I didn't have the GPS on the King Kraton at the park. Very manageable temps on the ESC and motor below 140 F.