The GEKKO Custom 2.2 Crawler Beetle

[Moondoggie]

Well here it is. The GEKKO Custom 2.2 Crawler Beetle:

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/2dd08a5f.jpg (http://www.tamiyacrawlers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72&page=3)

More pics on page 3 (http://www.tamiyacrawlers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72&page=3)!

-------------- Original Post Below --------------
Here is a basic crawler chassis I made from scratch. The side plates were very thick aluminum and the shock mounts are from some aluminum channeling (after all, flat pieces of aluminum would not be great for this since they would bend to easy). Both drilled and cut by hand.

The links are made from cut up carbon fiber arrow shafts with threaded rod in the middle and Traxxas rod ends. Some of the other structural pieces were also made with the arrow shafts plus aluminum tubing inside.

The crawler uses an R2 transmission, TLT axles, Team Associated shocks, Traxxas drive shafts, and Pro-Line Moabs on Axial beadlock wheels. The wheel base is just under 12.5 inches.

To go with the hacked together chassis I have a standard Tamiya speed control with a Novak 'Fifty-Five' motor and a Futaba receiver.

It's not the worlds most fancy crawler or anything but it does it's job!



Figuring out the layout after making the chassis plates:
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/c0133d8d.jpg


Carbon fiber arrow shafts plus aluminum tubing...:
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/157b3007.jpg


...Works great:
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/50246d70.jpg


Absolute max articulation:
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/ce3a96de.jpg

[Moondoggie]

Ah, a hacked together chassis:
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/5f578934.jpg


http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/7461dd55.jpg


A rock to nowhere:
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/dc2a8539.jpg

[Wyoming]

I was sure impressed by this one, it made my Scorpion look like well can't say that here. Also easily outdid my Cr01 but at least it still has scale looks and can beat you in a drag race any day :p

[Moondoggie]

I got some more pictures to show the chassis a bit better:

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/9ba5d111.jpg


http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/d0a950e2.jpg


http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/45297216.jpg


http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/ebe48320.jpg


http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/337e68e8.jpg


http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/6989ff3e.jpg

'Yay' for cheap servos!
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/b92085e6.jpg

Can you spot Big Foot?
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/30c5f6ce.jpg


http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/8412e183.jpg

[kwkride]

Wow! Awesome job on this build.

Jim

[monster_beetle]

Looks like it does perform quite well. Nice job :thumb:

[Moondoggie]

Thanks!:)

It's a very fun project. My goal now I guess is too improve it and change things as necessary.

One of the Traxxas yolks formed a crack in it and now likes to come loose. I have been thinking about getting some Punisher Shafts from RC4WD to replace the Traxxas drive shafts.

I also have a body that needs to be fit and painted, as well as few more improvements that I can make once the other stuff is finished.

[Wyoming]

Those plastic traxxas shafts are really crummy, the punishers will do so much better.

[WHEELMAN]

Once again, great shots, beautiful country out there.

[7point2]

this thing still amazes me. what an incredible vision. i really really love that picture , the dawn of the alien spider crawler. when you get a chance email me that pic, so i can add it to my screen savers, please.

[SMOKE-DOG]

Very innovative using a piece of the arrow. What kind of body are you putting on it?

[Moondoggie]

It looks like I am going to put an HPI Baja Bug body on it... very common for crawlers. Not necessarily a scale vehicle but that's not the intent here. :p

I think I got a good paint scheme figured out though.:)

[WildTrial]

I agree,,,very innovative,,very well done..looks like a
very capable crawler.

[Moondoggie]

Oh anyone interested in the cool sunset picture of this thing can download it as a desktop wallpaper in this thread:

http://www.tamiyacrawlers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80

[7point2]

thanks for the ecliptic arachno-rocker from mars pic. it is completely awesome. i love that shot.

[Wyoming]

Yeah but the Native Martians were quite upset by his tresspassing to get the shot:deadhorse:

[7point2]

you know my motto, anything for the shot. if you dont come home dirty,sweaty,bloody and embarrassed, you probably left the best pic out there.

[Moondoggie]

you know my motto, anything for the shot. if you dont come home dirty,sweaty,bloody and embarrassed, you probably left the best pic out there.

Yep!:dance:

[Wyoming]

I know you've been working on this one Jesse, any updates

[Moondoggie]

Well this was one of those projects I just let waste away for a long, long time while I worked on other projects that had much higher priority. Now it's time to become the thread necromancer and resurrect this build from beyond!

I finally sat down one day and decided to finish this project after it collected dust for far too long. Since the last time I posted pics, its RC4WD R2 tranny has been replaced with the R2 tranny with disconnect, electrics have been replaced, and a few more adjustments have been made.

Here are some of the first updated pics:

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/2dcea283.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/3c3fe666.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/33edc519.jpg

Added the R2 with dig; works like a charm:
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/a39db080.jpg

Moved the mounting plate for the electrics:
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/6b73aa4f.jpg

Added a wide mounting plate to the rear axle for future use:
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/05bce6ea.jpg


More pics to follow...

[Moondoggie]

A few pics taken while out testing:

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/e8d5d997.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/35903dd2.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/6a87b14b.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/9f8ec03b.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/f43c417e.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/fd533858.jpg

[Moondoggie]

Well this crawler is pretty much all complete except for some minor body details I am going to be adding! The Novak XRS speed control and BEC I had in there was replaced with a Rooster Crawler ESC mainly for the drag brake. I created a small plate that attaches to the front links with cable ties. This is the new location for the battery.

I decided on a light green and white paint scheme for the body. I also placed the Gekkostate logo on each side, hence why I decided to call this rig the Gekko. It's just to pay homage to the anime tv series Psalms of Planets Eureka seveN.

Well below are the crawler pics that I took today (April 24, 2010). The photos I just posted before this post were taken a week ago, and only four days ago the weather was exactly as seen in those images. We started to get some rain and then unfortunately it took a turn for the worst. We managed to accumulate a couple feet of global warming and it was drifting big time. The result as seen today in the crawler photos:

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/2dd08a5f.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/9313d51e.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/f6502026.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/ac45bbb0.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/3745cdb4.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/211e7d69.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/0f5e27e7.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/52c0bee6.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/6415da27.jpg

Though this rig is essentially finished, I still have a bit more to do. I am thinking up ideas for something to add onto the body where the engine normally should go. I was thinking something kinda comical such as a Mr. Fusion from Back to the Future. lol =D

[chaos]

WOW, those are some awesome pictures you took and an awesome job fabicating the parts used to make this machine. From the pictures i would say you have a nice little compitive crawler that would holds its own against some of the fancy rigs of today..good job and thanks for sharing.

[Wyoming]

Sweet Pics Jesse, gotta love those spring "showers", but I had a blast driving the Pathfinder around today in the muddy slush :rockon:

[Moondoggie]

Thanks guys! Yeah there are plenty of custom made parts on it: the aluminum chassis parts, the suspension mounts on the axles, the servo plate, the battery plate, and all the suspension links. It was definitely a fun project, and it seems to crawl really well. The rear dig does its job perfectly. Currently I am using a Spektrum DX6i radio with center spring throttle which I purchased from RPP Hobby. I have it set up so that I simply push up while steering to engage the dig, rather than using a switch. This is one of those projects I will always be tweaking.

Once the weather around here starts cooperating, I'll have to get some good pics of it actually crawling. :thumb:

[teebeehex]

Once the weather around here starts cooperating, I'll have to get some good pics of it actually crawling. :thumb:

Oh, I thought you were creating a new RC sport - Snow Crawling! :cool:

[Moondoggie]

Oh, I thought you were creating a new RC sport - Snow Crawling! :cool:

I tried it to some degree, but the moabs don't seem to be made for snow! LOL:p

[Moondoggie]

Little bit of an update. So far I have been very happy with this thing. Did some playing around with this at MSD scale nationals (when it wasn't raining) and a good bit around here just recently.

A few days ago, I started driving around and about 10 minutes in, I lost steering and heard the servo motor continue to run, all while not even putting any stress on the servo. Uh oh! I figured I lost a gear in the servo and since it was the Hitec 645MG (http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXUZ89&P=ML) (bit light for crawling, but this thing is not for competition, just fun), I was guessing that the single nylon gear had stripped out. Nope! Removed the servo and opened it up. One of the metal gears had teeth missing:

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/a03c41fa.jpg

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/a8a834c4.jpg

So for now, the GEKKO's servo is waiting for a replacement gear set and a spare servo to throw in the tool box. Just in case!

http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/epiccrawler/915409a0.jpg

It almost looks as though the metal gear teeth had worn down and then gave way, once they became thin enough. Kinda seems to have defeated the purpose of using a metal gear servo. Wyoming is still using the 645MG in his CR-01. No problems yet.

[Wyoming]

It made a cool noise when it went though :cool: But at least the one on my CR01 didn't go out so we still got some crawling in