Good vid on that MC. I gotta yell at you for how close you got your finger to that bit a time or two - especially with gloves on.

Great work!!! As usually from you...

I know the fingers get real close sometimes but that's what happens when you make small parts by hand. Of all the parts I made like this, the bit only caught my finger once. :mdr:

WOW WOW WOW! Thank you so much Ray!!! That is awesome!!!! Now I "get it"! I wonder why you chose to cut the piece with the template facing down? Wouldn't it be a little easier if you could see exactly where you were supposed to go? I realize that you're feeling your way thru it, but i would prefer the stock piece facing up so I could see the path.

Also... is it important to wear gloves? Or is that preference? I have a shop vac, but I wonder if you need to buy one of those special dry wall filters for it when sucking up carbon fiber?

I just can't believe how easy this is, now that I've seen it. I'm gonna buy a router table at Harbor Freight now pronto! The next thing I need to work on is the shank. So basically you want to use the smaller 1/8" bits and the shank for small areas, and the 1/4" bit for larger sections. Is that right? I believe that i already have a shank and 1/8" bit for my dremel, but I don't have a 1/4" bit I don't think. I may, since I own a Rotozip tool.

Boy... you've just opened a pandora's box for me!! My wife is going to HATE ME now. HA!!!

Jason

The reason he was doing it upside down was so that the non-cutting portion of the bit was acting as the guide. If you wanted to do it the other way around, you would need a bit with a guide bearing on the end of it - which only come in 1/4" diameter or larger. If you dont have any radii smaller than 1/8'' (half the 1/4" dia) then your fine.

Regarding gloves and power equipment. General rule of thumb is to NEVER wear anything that can get caught in a moving part and pull your body parts into the blade. However, with CF, you have that nasty dust and slivers to contend with. Plus the gloves he had on were more likely to tear than pull - but as close as his finger got a few times, I bet he would have ended up with a nasty little chunk taken out of the finger. Personally, I would do it without gloves, or maybe even try some of those rubber sewing thimbles.

ps. Check your local Craigslist before you go buy a new one. A variable speed router would also be very beneficial for projects like this.

Wow, now I learned something. I basically have everything needed ,also. Thanks for sharing, I guess I'll have to try this out.

JT, I wear the gloves because a little strand of carbon fiber under the skin is painful and very hard to get out. It happened to me once and I had to dig with the hobby knife to finally be able to get it with tweezers. The gloves give me some protection against that. The gloves I use for this are nitrile gloves because they are thin and tear easily. I don't use latex or urathane gloves because they are too thick and tough and stretchy. They would pull my finger on the bit instead of just tearing.
Also, it is a small bit with fine teeth on it. If your finger touches it, it will take off some skin but you need to push and keep the finger on the bit for it to dig deep enough for it to bleed. Would I wear gloves and get my fingers that close to a saw blade? Never. I know my tools, I respect the damage they can do. So don't be yelling at me no more :lol:

Alright, I'll quit now!!! Whiner.....:lol:

This should protect my shock shafts from dust and debris. Party balloons and electrical tape. This worked very well on my E-Revo so it should work for the LST.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...on_shocks1.jpg

You Sir are ingenious & an inspiration, that video has given me tons of great ideas for the future. :yes:

Thanks for the kind words peeps. :smile: Nice to know that I inspire people. When I get an idea, I always have these two things in my mind: Make it work, keep it simple. I love to find out about projects that someone is doing because they got ideas from my build. That's what it's all about, share ideas to help others and in return, they'll have something cool to share with you. I love it.

The HPI Flux motor mount came in yesterday so I went to work on it. I only use one half of it so I was able to show the modifications I had to do to make it work on my truck.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...r_support1.jpg

It's a good motor mount and it holds the rear of my motor very securely. The ugly hose clamp worked well, but this is much stronger and it looks a bit better.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...r_support2.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...r_support3.jpg

I would say that this truck is done! It's functional, handles really well and is tough. I might think of little things to do on it in the future to improve it but for now, it just looks and feels perfect to me.

One last pic.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...e_lst_xxl1.jpg

MC,

That is an awesome job....I may have to get an LST and try it as well....It looks like an assload of fun!

Nice final product there MC! Looks pretty factory to me.

I think it's time to say : Félicitation ! Travail de pro, beau boulot ! (Congrats ! top-notch work, great job !) :yipi:

Looks good, sturdy and reliable. Bash it hard to see if it deserves all these kind comments :lol:
I like durable MTs :yes:

Popoxx

Plus durable c'est certain, chaque fois que je roulais mon E-Revo sur 6S quelquechose brisait. Alors je le roulais plus souvent sur 4S mais j'aime bien la performance sur 6S. J'ai déjà plusieurs cycles de 6S de fait sur le LST et je n'ai brisé qu'une seule chose qui a pris 12 minute à réparer. Un ''outdrive du diff arrière. Peux tu t'imaginer combien de temps ç'aurait pris pour changer un outdrive sur un diff de Revo? :mdr: J'adore ce Monster Truck (Camion Monstrueux). T'as besion d'un camion comme ça également. :smile:

this heres MURICA speaky tha engrish! LOL ,great build MC--josh

MC, do you think I could accomplish the same CF part duplication using a Dremel tool with the small Dremel router table attachment?

http://www.amazon.com/Dremel-231-Sha.../dp/B0000302Y9

You could,I've done it before but it takes Longer and I ended up clogging the end up and had to clean it out,and where goggles too. The fan inside the dremel is going to blow that crap everywhere.--Josh

Actually,it might be easier with a dremel to use the router head attachment and cut the CF with the template on top--Josh

Yes you could, that is exactly what I was using before I found the router and table. The thing I didn't like about the Dremel table though was that it had too much flex and the Dremel moved. But it can be done, like it was said, you just have to go slower. I used to take off as much material first freehand leaving 1/16'' all around the part so that the Dremel wouldn't have to work too hard.

Hmm, it might not be too terribly difficult to make a small router table myself for the Dremel. All it really needs to do is securely hold it upside-down (and I could make it less flimsy/flexible) and be height adjustable. I am going to look into it, I'm sure other have done their own table the same way.

On the other hand, I could probably find the Dremel brand one on Ebay for cheap, so I might try it anyway and make my own too.

Who in the LST users of this forum has tried to flip the rear A arms around to have the shocks to the rear and a longer wheelbase? I'm curious about that.

One or two guys over on the LST Forum have done this, can't remember whom ??

Getting the rear shocks under the body might be a problem then ?

Would it really give you a longer wheelbase? I just glanced at my Muggy and it doesn't look like it would. It would also give you toe-out, right? Unless I'm missing something.


:neutral:


edit: I looked again and saw the toe would not be a problem

yes I'm talking about flipping the arms but the hubs stay on their respective side. The arms swoop to the front so by flipping them, they would swoop to the back and give a longer wheelbase, close to half an inch just by looking at it. I would like to go to the track this Monday and try the truck as it is now. If it's a bit too squirrely for my taste, I might try flipping the arms.

here's what I see when I flip a set of arms:

http://i779.photobucket.com/albums/y..._4295Small.jpg


:whistle:

Well it is obvious now that it would not make the wheelbase longer. :oops: If I had a set of extra arms to do what you did there on that pic, I would have seen it clearly. It must have been an optical illusion from looking at the arms while they are on the truck :whistle:

Now I wonder why some have chosen to do it :oh:

Me too. :yes:

edit: Maybe with LST1 arms it made a difference??

re-edit: nope, I found a set of LST1 arms in my box-o-parts - they have no difference when flipped either.

I think it's a thing people have to do when they Muggify their LSTs.

I just finished shimming the front suspension. What a difference a few shims make on the steering. With no slop it is much more precise and I get the correct ackerman on either side of the steering throw.

Hmmm...I am liking all this Muggy and LST/LST2/LST-XL stuff, so I may have to build my own!

Yes I think you should. But don't be posting pics of your build in my thread :tongue: :lol:

But seriously, I love this LST and go ahead and build one. They are way cool.

I found something that needed some rework on this truck. The front skid plate doubler I made to hold the Muggy steering was bugging me. The way the bellcranks are set up, the top part is held by the chassis' top plate and the bottom part of the bellcranks are held by the front skid plate doubler I made. The thing that bugged me was that the doubler and the top plate were not parallel because of the truck's kick up. So I changed the design of the doubler by having the portion of it that holds the Muggy bellcranks bent up by a few degrees (around 10) so that it is parallel to the top plate. The holes for the screws are moved back 3 mm also. Now the Muggy bellcranks sit nice and perpendicular to the chassis and there's no more funky business going on when I try to put the screws in. It all fits almost perfectly. I say almost because nothing is ever absolutely perfect when making parts by hand.

old doubler on the left.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ront_skid2.jpg

You can see the slight bend I am talking about.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ont_skid2a.jpg

Installed.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ont_skid2b.jpg

And Calvin somehow found it's way on my battery doors.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...th_calvin1.jpg

Very nice!

indeed!

Thanks man. Yes... I can't have chunks taken out of my hands... because I play guitar in a band on the weekends. For MONEY. So... I can't be getting hurt!

It just seems strange to have to work upside down like that. I would spend more time worrying about what areas I wasn't getting to, flipping and checking, and maybe wasting time. But over time, I'm sure it will be easier. I have a variable speed DREMEL, but no router/table. I may have one my father in law will give me though, so that will be nice. I have checked Craigslist... and you can get a nice set up for $200. But don't I have to find a router that has a 1/4" or less chuck on it?? Some of them have bigger ones. But then again... that's max size, not minimum size. I'll just use my dremel collet to use the 1/8" bit.

Next question... where do you guys like to buy your CF from? I'm sure that there is good CF and crap CF right?? And the suggested thickness is 2.5 - 3mm right?

graphite-girl on eBay is where I buy ALL of my CF. They lay their own and create their own panels, and they are awesome! 3k-weave is the best for RC use, and thickness depends on what you are going to use it for.

I bought CF from Graphite girl also and it was good. But I prefer Full Force RC and Penguin RC. I got the 3 mm thick CF from Full Force and the 2.5 mm CF from Penguin RC for this project.

I have pdf files of the top chassis plate, the middle skid and the front skid doubler I made if anyone wants them. You just print them out and use them as templates. The drawings are pretty accurate and everything should line up nicely.

PM me your email if you want them.

Ok.. so just because they don't have a 3k weave that is 3mm thick listed, doesn't mean they don't have any right? I should email them I guess.

Looks like Ray did use 2.5 and 3mm on his project. I thought it was 2.5 all around. Now I need to go back and look at the thread to see what thickness he used on what.

They have some cool blue CF there, but it is like 4mm thick, and hard as a brick! Apparently, if it's too stiff.. that can be a bad thing. And I don't know what the rule of thumb is. You'd probl want a little bit of flex in the chassis. Do the towers and plates need a bit of flex too?

My guess is... 2.5mm or 3mm of any variety from that Ebay Store would be just fine. You could probl get by with 2mm if using that Texalium stuff.