1:18 Scale OpenRC F1 by NigelWest

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

This is my 1:18 Scale version of Daniel Norée's fantastic OpenRC F1.
3D Printed Parts:
I printed all of the 3D printed parts in PLA apart from the tires and the front wing which I printed in FFF World FlexiSMART.
The PLA parts were printed with a 0.4mm nozzle, 0.16mm layer height, 2 shell/perimiters, 4 top layers, 4 bottom layers and 15% infill
The rain tires were printed with a 0.4mm nozzle, 0.2mm layer height, 1 shell/perimiter, 4 top layers, 4 bottom layers and no infill
The front wing was printed with a 0.4mm nozzle, 0.2mm layer height, 2 shell/perimiters, 4 top layers, 4 bottom layers and 50% infill
1 x Chassis - This is now in a single piece whereas the original 1:10 version was in 2 parts. 2nd Feb 2019 - There is also a 2 part Chassis in my 'Experimental Thing' that can be printed on small printers (please see link below).
1 x Front Upper BOM
1 x Front Lower BOM
1 x BOM Block
2 x Front Wheel Hub
2 x Track Rod
1 x Servo Saver Part 1
1 x Servo Saver Part 2
1 x Servo Saver Part 3
1 x Spur Gear
1 x Pinion
1 x Right Wheel Spacer
1 x Left Wheel Spacer
1 x Right Rear Axle Holder
1 x Left Rear Axle Holder
1 x Rear Axle - Vertical + Carbon Rod (see note 1 below)
1 x Rear Axle - Horizontal (see note 1 below)
1 x Rear Wing Mount
1 x Front Body + Nose - This is now a single piece whereas the original 1:10 version was in 2 parts. This will easily fit on a 100x100 printer but you will need to be able to print 110 high parts (on the z axis). However this may even fit a 100x100x100 printer if the part is angled over more on the printer and printed with extra supports.
1 x Main Body
1 x Motor Cover
1 x Lid
1 x Locating Peg
1 x Rear Wing
1 x Front Wing
2 x Front Rim
2 x Rear Rim
1 x Main Turning Vane Left
1 x Main Turning Vane Right
1 x Barge Board Left
1 x Barge Board Right
1 x Left Rear View Mirror
1 x Right Rear View Mirror
1 x Camera
There are also STL files for 2 types of tire -
You will either need:
1 x Front Left Rain Tire, 1 x Front Right Rain Tire, 1 x Rear Left Rain Tire, 1 x Rear Right Rain Tire
or:
2 x Front Slick Tire, 2 x Rear Slick Tire
Fixings:
2x M3x8 Grub screws
22x M3x5 Countersunk Screws. I managed to find some M3x5 screws that have a shallower head than usual. If you can’t find these the you may need to file down the heads on the 4 screws that hold the front hubs to the top and bottom front ‘wishbones’. I think the standard pozi head or socket head countersunk screws should be ok for all the other 18 M3x5 Countersunk screws.
4x Hex M3 Nuts, 2 are used on the rear wing and 2 are on the engine cover where the main body tub fixes to it.
17x Square M3 Nuts
1x M5 Nut – used to secure the pinion to the motor.
2x M2 Washer – use with the motor fixing screws.
1x M3x16 Pan Head – servo saver.
2x M3x14 Socket Countersunk - for holding the front wheels on
2x M3x5 Socket Countersunk - for holding the rear wheels on
Other parts that I bought for the build of my 1:18 Scale F1 Car:
Motor - DYS BE1806, other 1806 motors may fit but you may need to space the pinon or adapt it to fit. Whilst there isn’t much variation in the size of the 1806 motors themselves the distance between the fixing face and the propeller (or in our case pinon) mounting face do vary.
ESC - There are a number of small car specific ESCs available that may or may not fit and may be a better choice than the ESC that I used. Space is very limited so you are very much on your own with this. I personally went for a Quadcopter ESC - The Afro 20A with BEC from HobbyKing. I haven’t done much testing yet so I’m not sure how well this ESC will stand up long term, or even short term come to that. If you manage to get some real grip from the tyres a 20A ESC without heatsink may not be enough, but I’ll have to let you decide that. Like I say, you are on your own with this one! As supplied the quadcopter ESC does not work well as the neutral point on the transmitter is 50% on the ESC, and full reverse on the transmitter is neutral on the ESC., so when you let go of the throttle the car goes shooting off at half speed. To get around this I installed the BLHeli firmware on the ESC which then allows me to change the throttle setup to forward + reverse, intended for 3D flying of quadcopters but gives forward, neutral and reverse on the car.
Battery - I used a small LIPO from HobbyKing - a Zippy 850mAh, which just about fits. There is also a 500mAh version which would allow more space. Your choice of receiver and ESC will all need to be factored in when working out which battery to use.
Servo – The servo I used is a cheap 3.7g Servo from China. The fixing tabs were removed and it is held in place and sandwiched between the chassis and the tunnel section.
Radio Gear – This is very much up to you. I already have a Futaba T4GRS, but there are much, much , much more cheaper options out there. One of the main factors that may influence your choice of radio is the size of the receiver. I had to remove my Corona CR4SF receiver from its plastic case and put it in heatshrink to reduce its size quite significantly
Ball Joint – This is for the steering coupling and is used between the servo arm and the servo saver. The part I used is a Schumacher Racing U3495. Other ball joints may work, but the ball size and length are quite critical to prevent the parts fouling against each other when in use.
Bearings – You’ll need 6 bearing in total 4 for the front and 2 for the rear. I purchased these from www.rcbearings.co.uk :
2x Bearings 8mmx12mmx3.5mm (ID, OD, Width)
4x Bearings 3mmx6mmx2.5mm (ID, OD, Width)
Note 1:
You only need to print 1 rear axle. You can use either the "Vertical + Carbon Rod" version or the "Horizontal" version. The "Horizontal" version is designed to print horizontally on the printer bed and prints quick and easy and only needs a small number of supports. The "Vertical + Carbon Rod" version prints vertically. This makes it weaker so I have left a 2mm hole up the middle so that you can glue in a 2mm carbon rod for extra strength. The vertical version needs lots of supports and has a + shape at the top which is removed after printing. I found that the vertical version runs more true as there is very little warping.
You can also find some experimental parts here:https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2921004/
Current experimental parts are:
Knobbly Tires
Spur & Pinion gears with bigger teeth
Ball Differential - Tested and works great.
2017 Sharkfin Parts
2 Part Chassis for printing on small printers. Should fit on a 100x100 printer
You can see a really cool FullThrottleRC build of the 1:18 Scale OpenRC F1 here:https://youtu.be/YWjofWg-HuI