Need Cheap Battery Trays

[Finnster]

Sry, I was busy...
On the cuts:

No, I buy them the length of the batt I have (least the longest in the fleet for that truck.) If you browse their site you can see the lengths. Basically 3,4,5,6,7,8". I buy one that is long enough, and then cut it down lengthwise. They are very wide, so several inches may need to be removed from the centerline.



Hard to explain, but I cut all the way down the sides, then stop at the bottom plate. Remove the amt of material from the sides equal to how much you need to narrow the box.

The bottom plate is left, and cut once to leave "ears" on the now separated pieces. One of these should be roughly equal to the desired width for the tray (ie 50mm or whatever.) the other side can be just shorter, but not too short, as you will overlap these pieces and apply cement to lock the halves together in a strong bond.

When I make these for truggies, I make them so the bottom does not so all the way across, so it leaves a space for the mud guards. (illustrated in diagram.) This would have to be roughly measured for the trug its going in for how much width is needed. The thicker bottom plate is helpful too to countersink the screws and have a strong base to attach screws. If need be, a small scrap is cut for the end walls and is cemented in. You don't want to just cement edges together or it will never hold. Foam blocks can be added for batts as needed (seen in the box for the .5)

Don't get too wrapped up in exact measurements, it just needs to be close, and test fit the pieces on your batt before cementing. trim where needed first. If an edge is not totally straight, doesn't matter as that's the overlapping is for. Once its all together and cemented, I then use a hacksaw (good for plastic) to cut the box down to the desired height. Lastly notch out a slit for power wires if needed.


If you need to, I would cut them in half width wise to make two "cups" but a single piece is better. The one above is a 7" box to fit a 165mm Neu lipo. Its tight.

You want to use ABS, nothing less. ABS cement will melt and rebond the plastic together as a single piece. Glue is just sticky and will come apart in a hard crash. A hacksaw, a knife, ABS cement and perhaps a drill (easy to remove standoffs w/ drill) is all that's needed. A sharp wood chisel is also helpful to trim the plastic in places if you have one.

Empty box:

[rawfuls]

Ahh, I think I'm getting it.

So when you shrink it down, width wise, you'll cut the sidewalls, but leave the bottom portion on.

Then you'll glue the half with the bottom portion sticking out, with the sidewalls cut short, under, or on top of the other half of the bottom portion.

Use ABS (How about PVC?) Cement, my dad has a few bottles laying around IIRC, and glue that together.

Sounds like it'd be pretty stiff.

So one half, of the box, will be higher than the other half, right?

Then you'll wanna sand it down, so it doesn't look all retarded, and voila, a box?

Hmm, very interesting...

LMK if I'm off track.

[Finnster]

Originally Posted by rawfuls

Ahh, I think I'm getting it.

So when you shrink it down, width wise, you'll cut the sidewalls, but leave the bottom portion on.

Then you'll glue the half with the bottom portion sticking out, with the sidewalls cut short, under, or on top of the other half of the bottom portion.

Use ABS (How about PVC?) Cement, my dad has a few bottles laying around IIRC, and glue that together.

Sounds like it'd be pretty stiff.

So one half, of the box, will be higher than the other half, right?

Then you'll wanna sand it down, so it doesn't look all retarded, and voila, a box?

Hmm, very interesting...

LMK if I'm off track.

If you are talking about the top, then yes, once the halves are back together, one side will be higher than the other on the top. However, the boxes are quite tall, so you will chop the box down once its together so it will all even out. Lemme see if I can get some better pix.

[Metallover]

PVC and abs are different materials as the products used to bond them. Pvc/abs cement chemically bonds the plastics and makes a PERMANENT bond between two pieces of plastic. It's impossible to dissasemble a spud gun,(or battery tray) because the cement makes it one single piece of plastic. PVC cement probably won't work with abs.

Good point is PVC usually recommends a primer before cement, hence those double packs of primer/cement. Primer makes the plastic ready to accept the cement. Abs doesn't use a primer that I can fnd.

[rawfuls]

Ah, gotcha, I'll see if pops has any ABS cement.

you could get the new era aluminum ones, there like 12 bucks and they are as long as you want them to be

[rawfuls]

A New Era Aluminum box?
Sounds expensive.
And if they're $12, shouldn't they be quite small?

Couldn't find anything off google.

--

Finnster: Thanks, that's exactly what I was talking about, anymore pictures you have? :]

Originally Posted by rawfuls

A New Era Aluminum box?
Sounds expensive.
And if they're $12, shouldn't they be quite small?

Couldn't find anything off google.

--

Finnster: Thanks, that's exactly what I was talking about, anymore pictures you have? :]

go to new era's website and search battery box

here ya go

http://www.neweramodels.com/item.cgi?part_id=1952

[rawfuls]

Hmm, I would, but TVPs, will be vertical, and those look like they would either get bent, or just plain, break. I'm not sure, I think the ABS boxes are perfect for my needs, for now.

i ran one of those in my truggy for a year and didnt ever bend em, they worked pretty well, but if ya got something else why not

[rawfuls]

Yeah, alright, I'll keep those in mind!

[rawfuls]

Also, how am I going to secure the batteries.
Since the TVPs are vertical, I can't have something like the truggy style.
Maybe something to go around the box? But that'd leave the battery enough room to bounce around in the box.

Gah, maybe I can use the original standoff on all 4 sides, and have diagonal straps?
Finnster, how'd you strap yours down?

[Finnster]

Let me post some pix and answer Q's in a little bit, takes some time I don't have atm.

[rawfuls]

Just noticed, that, I got the 3", wish I would've gotten the 4"

I could cut the whole box, in half, and screw the half side (the lid) into the side, and theoretically, have two trays, from one.

Is this possible, have you tried it Finnster?
Sounds like something that would work quite well.

This would let both sides have standoffs on all four corners, and can use GMaxx straps diagonally, or is that not safe?

I guess I could do two straps on one tray..

Also, width wise, I'm not gonna cut it, I have to little space to cut, so even if I do cut it, it wouldn't be stable as I'd like it.

I'll just put some foam in, and let it have some cushion.
Oh, and I need to buy some velcro.
Grr