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Hi,
When I ran my Caster, I managed to bend the rear top deck twice in 3 months without any cuts. I don't think they are as solid as you think. Sam |
I agree Jim. If you hit something hard at high speeds (indoor especially) the alloy will bend or twist. You need to appreciate the speed these cars travel at compared to when you were racing. (No disrespect intended) :lol:
Dave |
Yeah, they are quick!
The mods I've done should have no effect with a head on collision. If the unmodified one bent on impact, then so will this! It certainly ain't any stronger! In the event of a chassis catastrophe I have plenty spare bits! I just love experimenting! You there on Sunday Dave? Jimmy |
Yeah i will be there Jimmy. Looking forward to it.
See you there. Dave |
So, first meeting with the Caster is over and it was a bit 'patchy' to say the least!
First - handling. I spent all of the heats fighting horrible, unpredictable oversteer. I tried changing tyres and lowering the car to no avail. Second - the slipper. The standard slipper is not good. I needed some slip at this track, and the car ran OK for a while. However, the problem is that the slipper overheats and melts the spur center. The spur then wobbles and the pinion shreds it. It was probably set up with too much slip, but it still shouldn't just melt. I went through three in 5 races! B Final for me! I cured the oversteer be refilling the front shocks with fresh 45wt oil. It ran well in the first final. Won it comfortably despite running the last lap and a half with another shreiking spur! AAARGH! Got some really good laps and a bit of a better rhythm during this final which has heartened me a bit. The car has potential. I was still nearly a second a lap off he A final winners pace - more work to be done! Jimmy |
It was a bit of a disaster Jimmy!
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Jimmy, I've found a link to the sure fire solutions to most of the Caster's many foibles.
http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113083 and http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112927. If these methods are followed, most if not all of the SK10's weaknesses are cured and you can concentrate on enjoying the race weekends. Please take this in the manner intended. Lol. Col. |
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Kenny, If I had managed to nail the handling earlier and the slipper was more of a slipper and less of a self destruct mechanism I could have a reasonable day! (If's and but's :blush:) I have ordered the new slipper for it which seems to address most of the problems - it has different internals and an external adjuster - yay! I understand what you were saying on the day about running a car that nobody else has. It does seem daft. I could easily just get a B44.1 and go racing, but that has never been the way I did things. Always looking for something odd to try with a mission to get it sorted. The importers are very helpful and are keen to help promote the car, so we'll stick with it and see how it goes. I love a challenge! Jimmy |
Hi Jimmy, that was a shame what happened yesterday. I know what your saying about driving a car that's different to everyone else. I was always a bit like that with the yokomo hence why I have a B44.1 too.
The only thing I see is that by using a car of poorer quality you may sicken yourself if you keep on having failures and DNF's. Dave |
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In the past, the Caster has been dogged by poor quality components, but it is slowly improving. It used to have crummy ball diffs - it now has superb geared diffs. Similar improvements have taken place throughout the car. New 13mm big bore shocks have just been introduced too. Jimmy |
Sorry Jimmy, just my warped sense of humour.:lol:
Seriously though, at some sections of the track your car was really quick so if you can get the handling and reliability sorted out it might be a good fast car. As Dave says, I hope you don't get sickened of it before you've really got started. I get the impression that you wont give in until you get it working to your liking though. |
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Jimmy |
Very:o
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Got the new slipper this morning from Answer RC! Fitted it in about two minutes. It is a much better built thing than the old one. Green slipper pads and much thicker pressure plates. Most importantly, it has an external slip adjuster which means I can adjust the slip in about 10 seconds!
Happy Days! Attachment 44173 |
Going to be giving the Caster a good thrashing tomorrow. Setting up a makeshift track at work and going to spend 2 - 3 hours pounding round and round....
Hopefully get the new slipper set up perfectly and put some miles on my thumbs! Jimmy |
Set up a wee track on a mixture of tarmac, concrete and gravel. Surface was wet with some puddles. Tried to set up the new Caster slipper, but found that even with the tension nut fully out I was getting no slip.
I ran the car for about 10mins anyway. It ran well, but I'm having trouble keeping it from swapping ends under power - very tail happy! Checked the motor temperature and found it barely warm. I changed the 18t pinion for a 22t. Big jump, I realise, but it's all I had! Ran the car again and noticed it to be a lot more drivable. Bigger pinion - softer power. I also noticed that the slipper had started to work! Another 10mins without incident and checked the motor again. Still cool. Swapped out the LiPo and then ran it for another 10mins. Excellent. Concentrated on just driving it and started to get a bit of a rhythm. Good day - Buggy Bonding! Jimmy |
Took delivery of a new servo yesterday. I was pretty sure that the Alturn servo I had was a bit rubbish, so I splashed out and bought a Hobbyking HK47111DMG from the UK branch of HK. What a fantastic range of stuff they have at pretty seriously cheap prices. This one was $37. (£24)
This servo is quite highly regarded in the US, so I thought I'd try it. Here's the blurb: The HK Mi Series servos represent the next break through in high precision servo technology. Using Magnetic Induction, rather than a potentiometer, for an unsurpassed level of accuracy and performance. Specs: Voltage: 4.8v / 6v Speed: 0.08sec / 60deg (4.8v) - 0.07sec / 60deg (6v) Torque: 9.70kg.cm (4.8v) - 11.8kg.com (6v) Size: 40.2mm x 20.1mm x 39.2mm Weight: 61g Gear Train: Full Titanium Alloy Motor: Coreless Mi : Magnetic Induction, uses a Magnetic Rotary Encoder in place of a traditional potentiometer (invented in 1877). Magnetic Rotary encoders have a longer life and suffer less wear. Super fast, torquey, quiet and smooth. Well, I say 'quiet' it actually runs quietly, but when at rest it chitters away like a chipmunk! Anyway, it's light years better than the Alturn. Doing a bit of diff oil experimenting. I'm changing the rear 3K oil for 7K oil. I think that may make it better under full power. Jimmy |
Never heard of that brand of servo Jimmy.
Going from 3K up to 7K will make the rear of the car feel loose when on the power unless you are running on a high grip surface. |
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The Yanks are starting to go to a higher viscosity rear diff oil with some success. This was because the Associated team drivers are now running their rear ball diffs tighter than the fronts. I'll try it and see what happens... Jimmy |
What oil are you running in the front diff?
A lighter oil in the front will make the car more aggressive to drive. I think 10K in the front is a good starting point. |
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I was working on the car tonight and noticed that when I tighten down the top half of the front diff casing it stops it turning freely! This is just the sort of thing that could cause the car to be tail happy - front brakes! Might be up to yours this Sunday, if I can wangle it! Jimmy |
won't a front brake bias cause a car to push in to a corner?, not be tail happy
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You know me, always going down a different path! I actually nearly bought a 1258 Savox secondhand, but it eventually sold for nearly as much as a new one! So, I thought I'd give the HK a go. It's a little quicker than the 1258, has all the latest gubbins and is half the price!
As long as it lasts a couple of seasons I'll be happy. I'm getting my money back for the Alturn servo. Jimmy |
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New cab forward body from Caster!
Well, not actually - just me messing with Corelpaint.... Attachment 44969 Jimmy |
I've been running the car for the passed couple of years, it's improving all the time. It's a very easy car to drive and as so does not need high diff oil's like the rango 410. I ran the car at Chadderton 'slippy cork' floor. I used 6k in the front and 10k in the rear. I could get on the power as hard as I wanted with this setup. but remember tyres play a huge part in how you get the power to the ground. I race 1/8th Rally Cross also and when the track is slippy and the rear want to over take the front when getting on power, I go heavier in the rear diff. this stops the diff from diffing out and helps push the car from the rear.
by the way, that shell would be cool ! |
I've been arguing that heavier rear diff oil would help stop the oversteer and I have just set the car up last night with 10K in the back and 7K in the front. I'm probably running it this weekend, but that'll be on carpet, so I'll not learn too much about any handling subtleties on that!
Good to hear from you. Post pictures and any other tips and tricks you've learnt over the time you've had it. Jimmy |
ive just bought the 10 dollar and the 20 dollar servos off hobby king to give them a try.
ive got 3 models now so if i used savox in all of them that would be £150 in servos which is just not right |
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Mind you, my $30 one seems to be pretty good. Had a quick run with it last night (on that well known floodlit practice track - the street in front of the house - midnight) and it seems pretty good, Jimmy |
BMS-631 Super Fast Servo 5.0kg / .10sec / 43g
$12.42 BMS-616DMG+HS Super Strong Digital Servo for bugggy (Metal Gear)10.2kg / .12sec / 46.5g $22.54 Ill stick the $12 in my 2wd sc10. its gotta be better than the standard acoms thats in it just now. The super strong is going in my 410 which should arrive this week. will update next wed after racing |
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Haggis,
They are cheap! They also look OK - certainly better than a basic Acoms. Interesting to hear how they do! Here's another view of the Caster body I'm having a go at.... Attachment 45040 The guys on the USA Caster website are quite keen to get this made. Which would be nice! http://casterracingusa.com/forum/index.php Jimmy |
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In fact I'm pretty sure that very few buggies actually, really, benefit from the cab forward design, apart from the extra room they provide up front! Aerodynamically? Hmmm. Perhaps, a little. No, this is really just an excercise in making a prettier cab forward shell.. Jimmy |
If you have a quick google, you will find where others have quantified the effect of typical cab forward shells (e.g. Proline Bulldog and JConcepts Punisher/Finnisher). Whilst you may be surprised, I seem to recall the concensus being that as long as there was enough surface area it made a difference to the downforce on the front. Simply shoving the cab "bulge" forward isn't enough so not all cab forward shells offer enough surface area to make any difference so this is purely cosmetic.
You mention the shock tower interfering - I think this is why the original cab forward designs have such as massive raking windscreen (so it affects the air passing over the shock tower). Trimming a few mm off the rear of a wing has a noticeable difference on the handling of our buggies (esp when jumping) as can running a cab forward shell. And a steep and angular cab forward windscreen just looks "slammed" (as the Americans say)...I wouldn't say that yours looks any prettier than a Bulldog or Finnisher shell although it looks better than the kit one :p Just my opinions - don't hate me for 'em :woot: |
That'll likely explain why the new Caster CF shell is soooo huge at the front. It is ugly though. I think I'd rather see a nice front wing.... Tamiya style.
Jimmy |
Ran the car last weekend with the 7K front 10K rear and it was pretty good.
The track was carpet, and it had a long 90 degree sweeper onto the straight. I did find that the car tended to push quite badly as I was powering onto this straight and I had to feather the throttle to stop it drifting to the outer barrier. I'm pretty sure lighter front diff oil would sort this. (Or better front tyres!) For anybody following this thread, Caster have now introducing a newer version of the car. Not sure what it's going to be called yet, but possibly Caster SK10 V3 or something... Anyway, it now has Big Bore (13mm) shocks, new slipper clutch, stronger driveshafts all with CVD couplings. Front bulkhead brace and a variety of other wee mods. It should also come with a new bodyshell based on my new cab forward design! I have just sent more detailed drawing this evening! I'd be mighty chuffed if they actually put it into production.... Jimmy |
The SK10 V3 is on it's way! Two weeks!
Jimmy |
hi, can any one help i have a caster s10b with all the hop ups, but need to know what shock oil do i use for indoor (carpet) and outdoor? one others thing is that when my buggy is running it seems to sound very loud but the gear diffs are all smooth.
many thanks |
Hi,
When I ran my Caster I used 35 in the front of 30 rear and outdoors 40 front and 30 rear. I would say the mesh between you pinion and spur is too tight. There should be a little bit of movement between the two. Sam |
The drivetrain should be sweet and quiet, so the only real culprit for noise, as Sam says, is the pinion/spur mesh.
I've found that for indoors on carpet it should be set pretty low and fairly stiff. It turns really well, so you can set the front stiffer than the back. Diffs have both got 7.5k oil in and I use Schumacher Mini-Pin yellows all round. Mine still isn't perfect, but it's OK. Keep in touch with how you get on! Jimmy |
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