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Post by Simon Crabb on Oct 14, 2008 22:19:32 GMT
I've been struggling a bit with setup, and at the weekend Rob and Mark were talking about 'static weight'. I had a block of 70g stuck to the chassis behind the lipo. I put it there cos it was a neat place to put it, and the chassis was balanced side to side. How wrong I was!
I didn't consider balancing the chassis front to rear. I got the scales out and it appears it was about 800g on the back axle and 700g on the front! That's not 50/50 balance!
So as a result, the car was behaving exactly as one would expect, going into the corner it was easy to flick the back end round, it was acting like a big pendulum, pivoting around the front end. Through and out of the corner I had to wait and wait until I could get the power on, because there was no weight on the front end to pull it round, it just understeered forever. (Thanks to Barry for spotting that's where I was slow! He even has time whilst pushing round a 20 lapper to see what other cars are up to!)
Some fiddling with weight and scales I've managed to get it balanced side to side and front to rear. I'm sure this will be a much better place to tune the setup from.
Am I on the right lines with this? Is there anything else one should think about when getting a car up to weight?
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Post by oldtimeracer on Oct 16, 2008 10:34:44 GMT
I did notice that when I added the LRP fan it put a lot more weight at the rear of the car and it had to be adjusted. More weights at the front to try to balance it a bit. Still not perfect but to get to that stage it seems I have to add so much weight as to end up over heavy. Lipos certainly may have an advantage power and use wise but makes balancing the car a lot more difficult.
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Post by Simon Crabb on Oct 16, 2008 11:14:58 GMT
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Post by oldtimeracer on Oct 16, 2008 12:22:46 GMT
Quite interesting that. So many things to consider before actually getting the correct result. That is of course assuming a total 50/50 weight split front to rear and side to side is what is best. I can understand the side to side equality but front to rear I am not so sure. Maybe this is yet another "tuning" option for you to worry about Simon. Adjusting the front to rear weight balance for the track you are on!
I suppose once you have the "perfect" weight distribution you can then and only then actually start working on set up.
More time in the shed needed I reckon. Trouble is if the car still handles like s*** what do you do. LOL
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Post by Simon Crabb on Oct 16, 2008 13:36:25 GMT
Maybe it's about getting a good base set up, with everything 'in the middle' that you can then work off, knowing you've not got anything built wildly wrong.
Always learning!
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Post by oldtimeracer on Oct 17, 2008 7:24:58 GMT
OK so checked mine last night and had a little play about. The 416 is pretty well spot on with equal side to side and front to back so guess that is a good set up starting point.
I did try the option of removing some weight to make the car lighter but the problem is there are NO spare weights on the motor side so unles a component is moved (speedo/receiver/motor/servo) it is impossible to get a lighter car and still retain equal balance. Knocks my request for a lower weight limit into a cocked hat. I suppose you could source lighter and smaller parts but would be expensive to do no doubt.
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Post by Mark Townsend on Oct 17, 2008 8:06:05 GMT
I have no weights on the electrics side of the 416 and about 170 odd grams on the lipo. To get it balanced left to right the weight had to go on the outside edge of the lipo. If it sat on top the weight balance was still in favour of the electrics. Lots of the top racers seem to stick the pt on the cells side I guess it only makes a tiny difference to weight distribution but you could try it.
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Post by lesbaldry on Oct 17, 2008 8:57:13 GMT
Zinc "sticky's" are only a quick solution to a weight problem "they are too bulky to be used to correct a balance prob effectively.
I know lead (Pb) is nasty stuff but it can be custom molded to the chassis/cells to keep "the true" CG as low as poss.putting strips on top of the cells is detrimental to good handling and ugly.
Weight reduction..yes Ian expensive gear..thats why it did'nt get my vote!
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Post by Simon Crabb on Oct 17, 2008 19:05:35 GMT
I also discovered today that I was inducing massive tweak in my chassis from taping my cells in a little too tightly! Something I hadn't noticed, as I normally check for tweak with a naked chassis, and normally tape the cells in when the wheels are back on!
I feel very firmly on a steep part of the learning curve right now!
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