Project: M8 TRX6

[Greatscott]

New project time... Just got the first part to my TRX6-based M8...

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

[jemelumadu2]

New project time... Just got the first part to my TRX6-based M8...

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

What is that exactly?

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

[StijnH]

I don't know what the M8 stands for, but I think I've seen that crane before.

[rag6]

8x8... How many axles will steer?

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[TITANIUM94010]

Not sure what you meant by M8, but this is undoubtably going to be a great build!
Are you reffering to the Swiss Sauer M8? Or a military 8x8 like the one pictured above?

I'd love to see how this turns out, good luck!

[Juanmacine]

Hope to see the results soon.

[Greatscott]

Well, here is the second part...

The detail is amazing. I am even more amazed it arrived in great condition, it was sent in a plastic bag, with not protection at all.

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

Man, I was Traxxas sold the TRX6 as a kit, with no body or electronics...

Oh well, I have abused my TRX6 body, and will need replacing soon.

[Juanmacine]

Well, here is the second part...

The detail is amazing. I am even more amazed it arrived in great condition, it was sent in a plastic bag, with not protection at all.

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

Man, I was Traxxas sold the TRX6 as a kit, with no body or electronics...

Oh well, I have abused my TRX6 body, and will need replacing soon.

This project is outstanding.

[StijnH]

I think I've seen that cab before

A TRX-6 kit would be nice.

[Greatscott]

Finally got caught up on my school work, and carved out a little bit of time to work on this project.

First, I ripped apart an old servo and turned it into an ESC. It works great, the next step is figuring out the resistance balace between the two directions so I can replace the pot with resistors. I think it is 2.5kohm on each side, but I need to play with it to find out.

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

Next, I used the ESC to figure out what channels are what on this thing, thankfully, after the multi-ESC circuit, the wiring is straight forward. I was a bit surprised, the wiring going into a slip-ring, so I do not have to limit rotation at all.
If you are interest, here are the colors:
• Blue/Yellow: Winch
• Purple/Green: Boom in/out
• Black/Red: Back lift (single)
• White/Orange: Front Lift (dual)

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

The little board on the base is a 5 ch ESC, that gets power and signal through what looks like a standard 3-conductor servo connector. Given that I have no plans of buying the radio needed to run this guy, it will find its way into a landfill via my trashcan; after removing the servo lead, of course.

At a tipping point between deciding if I am going to rip apart five servos for their controllers (will use the rest of the servo as a servo winch), or just get five HW1060s. Given that this thing runs off of 30awg wire, I am leaning towards the servo controllers.

[Greatscott]

The first speed control is built and tested, four more to go. I also have to design cases for them... fun stuff!!!!

Untitled

[Greatscott]

I am making slow, but steady progress on this.

I have four of the five ESCs wired and installed, #5 should come in sometime around the end of the week. These are all getting wired up to a DX6e six channel RX, and will be powered off of a CC 2.0 BEC fed off the main battery.

I designed and printed the ESC tree and stand, a cover that looks like a GENSET will go over the top of it. The GENSET has working doors that line up with the pots for easy access for adjustment!

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

In case you are wondering...

P = Pedestal (the base at the bottom)
W = Winch
B = Boom (extend/retract)
RS = Raise Single
RD = Raise Double

[Greatscott]

You ever get done wiring something up, and say, "My God, what have I done?"

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

Its actually not as bad as I thought it would be, I still have the signal wires to connect to the RX. After testing I might get rid of the switches, but for right now they allow me to turn on only what I want for testing without having to break connections.

Once everything gets tested, no one will know this mess is there...

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

Oh, and incase you are wondering, the servo controllers didn't work out well. No matter what I did the controllers would go out of balance and start driving. It actually made for some hillarious testing, I wish I would have gotten on camera. But, it became obvious very quickly that I would have to find another solution. I found some low power ESCs with instant reverse that seem to be perfect for this project.

[TITANIUM94010]

That wiring gives me anxiety

[Greatscott]

Finally got the chassis for this build...

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

[Greatscott]

If you have ever wondered what an almost naked TRX6 looks like, here it is...

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

The last steps in the tear-down will be two replace the wheel well shock towers and replace them with aluminum towers, which are scheduled to arrive sometime next week. I will also get rid of the diff-lock servos, but I think I'll keep the two speed, the DX6e should have an extra channel or two on the chassis side of the house. Unless something changes my mind, I will more than likely use the XL5 in crawler mode. I will be using one of Castle's 20A BECs for power.

After the shock towers go on the wheels will come off and fabrication of parts and pieces will begin. I will build it starting from the cab, and working my way back. I am still undecided on what I am going to do for the back of it, flat bed or semi 5th wheel hitch; might make the system modular so I can go either way fairly easily.

I will certainly need to do some work to the suspension to accommodate the weight. My guess right now is that the whole rig completed with top the scales at around 20 pounds. I'll likely put limiters in the shocks, giving them about 50% movement, and the preload will be all of the way down. When I am putting the limiters in, I'll put 60wt oil in to control sway.

Right now I am not planning on putting outriggers on, because that is a whole new bag of cats to deal with, but I need to see how well the chassis behaves when the crane is operational.

[Invincibl]

Are you gonna upgrade the motor because the car is gonna be so much heavier?

[Greatscott]

Given that I really have no plans of crawling with the thing, and mild off road conditions is really all it should see, I am planning on using the stock motor. I will likely gear it down a little to help it out with the weight.

[2023Leftylp]

I want to mod my trx-4 so bad for a custom body and stuff but I am a 15 year old with no patients and If I took it apart and did mods and it broke my parents definitely would not let me spend my money on replacement parts. Note(they already weren't happy I spent my money on a trx-4 even though they didn't mind me buying a slash. also I love what you are doing here mate, Looks amazing!!!

[Greatscott]

I want to mod my trx-4 so bad for a custom body and stuff but I am a 15 year old with no patients and If I took it apart and did mods and it broke my parents definitely would not let me spend my money on replacement parts. Note(they already weren't happy I spent my money on a trx-4 even though they didn't mind me buying a slash. also I love what you are doing here mate, Looks amazing!!!

You just have to know how to talk to them. Tell them you are interested in becoming an engineer, and taking your RCs apart and putting them back together helps you understand how they are designed and how the work.

[2023Leftylp]

thats the thing... thats what my dad wants me to be but I go to vo-tech for art, but I do love taking everything apart

[Squeegie]

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

Hmmm...




Looks great so far... Keep it up!

[Greatscott]

My slow motion commotion continues...

Between OT at work, school, other projects and a bevy of family issues, progress on this rig has been slower than what I wanted.

I finally got the frame stripped down to the point that I can start adding parts. I had to buy two sets of this towers to completely remove the wheel wells. From this point I'll start designing the mount for the cab, then I will shift to getting the crane platform mounted. Once those two are done, I'll start in on the engine compartment that goes between the two, then the bed.

Right now my plan is to put the electronics in the engine compartment, and put the battery under the bed. Of course, all of this is subject to change as the spirit moves me.

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

[allyeajackvk2]

Holy!! So cool!! I cant wait to see this Trx 6x6 is 8x8 FORM

[Greatscott]

Progress!!!!

I finally got some hardcore time to work on the cab base, and its chassis interface. I printed a test piece in white filament (5% infill) to allow for easy marking for changes and adjustments that need to be made.

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr

by Scott O, on Flickr

by Scott O, on Flickr

Overall it fits very well. I'll fix and adjust everything that needs tweaking, make a mount for the servo winch, and throw in some more detail before I print it out in olive green.

[Greatscott]

I am about done with the lower portion of the cab, and getting ready to send it to the printer (27 hours). I need to figure out what I am missing on the front to make it look "complete".

The big square in the middle is were a grill is going to go. The small square below that is for the winch line, and will have an aluminum fairlead. The two holes closest to the bottom are where the shackle mounts go. The four upper holes are were that portion bolts onto the cab itself.

So, with all of that, what other details should I throw on the front without getting the whole mess overly busy?

Cab_base v24 by Scott O, on Flickr

[2023Leftylp]

this is so cool, cant wait to see vids when it is done. also do you design the 3d printed parts yourself because I have a 3d printer and want to design custom parts but I cant find a 3d model to get the size of the parts I need and to make sure they fit

[Greatscott]

this is so cool, cant wait to see vids when it is done. also do you design the 3d printed parts yourself because I have a 3d printer and want to design custom parts but I cant find a 3d model to get the size of the parts I need and to make sure they fit

For the most part I just measure everything out and use those numbers when I am designing my parts. I try as much as I can to go off of that old woodworking adage of measure twice and cut once, but I still make mistakes. That is why I printed up that white test piece with only 5% infill, and I did find a couple of errors. Next time I print it I'll go with 100% infill, which will take twice as much time and filament, but it should be right.

[xagoras]

What design program and printer do you use?

[Greatscott]

My weapons of choice are Fusion 360 (free for hobbyist) and a Creality CR10. Wanting to have multiple prints going at once, and only rarely needing the print volume of the CR10, I am looking at adding a Prusa Mini. I am also using Simplify 3D for slicing, its spendy, but I don't have a lot of the issues that Cura users seem to run into.

[allyeajackvk2]

I cant wait. How much longer until its done!

[ThatTraxxas]

Lol. Be patient.

[Greatscott]

I cant wait. How much longer until its done!

I finished my last class early, so I have a couple of weeks before my next one, so I am using my free time to get some progress on this project. I am hoping to finalize the cab base and get the printer chewing on it this evening, but will not get done until tomorrow late.

After that, I am planning on starting the mount for the crane, which I am guessing will not take too long, but there are a few variables I need to work through. After than is the engine/spare tire/front wheel well section to design and print. The final piece will be the bed, I think, unless I change my mind again decided to put a semi truck 5th wheel hitch on it. After that I need to run all of the electronics and lighting. All and all, it will be a while. Plus, I have a ton of detail parts to throw in.

Lol. Be patient.

Indeed.

[radio uncontrol]

I'm running out of popcorn here!
Looking good...

[allyeajackvk2]

Agreed with above

[ThatTraxxas]

I'm running out of popcorn here!
Looking good...

LOL same! This is gonna be a sweet build when it’s done!

[Invincibl]

Are you gonna upgrade the motor?

[2023Leftylp]

Are you gonna upgrade the motor?

probably going to have to upgrade the motor, because I would assume he is adding lots of extra weight to it, Im not sure if the stock motor would be enough

[Greatscott]

Are you gonna upgrade the motor?

probably going to have to upgrade the motor, because I would assume he is adding lots of extra weight to it, Im not sure if the stock motor would be enough

I really had not planned on upgrading the motor at all, I am just going to drop a couple of teeth to allow it to deal better with the added load and call it a day.

Sadly, I just started printing the cab base this morning and have been troubleshooting an issue for a couple of days. Simplify 3D has been a rock solid slicer (for $150, it had better be), and I have had zero issues with it until now. I added a flair feature to the sides of the cab base, and for some reason Simplify isn't rendering the raft or supports properly because of it. In the end I took the fair out and Simplify rendered the slice properly.

[allyeajackvk2]

Thats a bummer.