RC CD Racer

It rained all week and is supposed to continue for another week. No flying for a while but I still want some RC fun.

I was originally going to make a different RC car out of extra plane parts that I have. After figuring out how to make a continuous servo, this idea popped into my head and is even cheaper and better than the RC car I originally planned. I remembered in high school I did a class project where I made a solar powered car using CDs for the wheels. This makes it cheap, light, and gives the motor a lot of leverage to speed it up. Perfect wheels for a servo powered car.

Video:

Material list:

2 Hextronik 9 gram servos modified into continuous servos. (See previous article. Link on the bottom.)

2 CDs.

Scrap piece of foamboard.

BEC or ESC with built in BEC.

Any LiPo battery you have. The smaller the better.

Tx and Rx system capable of Delta mixing.

Glue.

Either velcro or zip ties to hold the electronics and battery in place.

Build:

Step 1: Glue servo arms to the CDs in this fashion. (Make sure they are centered. Otherwise your wheels will wobble.)

Step 2: Cut your scrap piece of foamboard into any size that will hold everything and won't hit the ground. Actually, it's fine if you have the foamboard dragging behind the two wheels. It might catch when you go backwards, so, just don't go backwards over anything.

Step 3: Glue the two servos you modified onto the foamboard. Make sure they are opposite each other and parallel.

Step 4: Mount all of the necessary electronics and battery to the foamboard.

Step 5: Screw the two CDs to the servos.

Step 6: Mix your Tx so you have Delta mixing. (If you don't know how to do this and you specifically have the Hobby King 2.4ghz 6 channel, ask and I can do an article on how to. I won't write that article unless I know people want it. Also, that is the only Tx I have ever had. I don't know how to Delta mix on anything else so don't ask.)

Step 7: Plug in all the wires. (An ESC can be used as a BEC, just hook it up normally but with nothing hooked up to the motor wires.) Finally, drive it around. It should drive just like a tank. Make any adjustments to the Delta mixing if it isn't running the way you desire.