▲Worlds FASTEST R/C Tracked Vehicle

Recently, rctestflight, a well-known American blogger, completed a major project of "Manufacturing the World's Fastest R/C Tracked Vehicle" with the usage of Flashforge Guider 3 Plus 3D printer. His video has received millions of views and tens of thousands of likes on YouTube, demonstrating the advantages of 3D printing for personalized manufacturing. The parts 3D printed by Guider 3 Plus showed excellent performance, well meeting the requirements of a snowmobile in terms of mechanical properties and assembly accuracy.

Flashforge 3D printer helps in fast manufacturing

"I'm going to design it from scratch and completely forgo gear-driven drivetrain electric skateboard motors. They have a decent amount of torque which means they can often be used with very small gear reducers or even direct in the case of hub motors drive."

                                            -- Daniel,blogger of rctestflight

The design and manufacturing of the tracked vehicle project was of creative customization. The tracked vehicle pursues the highest moving speed that definitely puts forward high requirements on the strength and stability of the entire body structure. To customize such a R/C snow vehicle, Daniel had to self-make all of the vehicle parts separately.

Guider 3 Plus 3D printer, with fast and high-precision printing capabilities, helped Daniel manufacture most of the structural parts on the R/C tracked vehicle, parts like braces for the drive axles, motor shields, outer profile, and wheels.

▲3D printed shield (Left); 3D printed frame sidewall (Right)

▲3D printed brace for the axle shaft (Left); 3D printed wheels (Right)

Those 3D printed parts illustrated in the picture above showed complex structures such as holes, curved surfaces, and gears. The parts to be 3D printed should have high precision, so as to ensure a good math between the brace and the motor shaft, between the wheel and the rolling shaft, between the screw hole and the screws. That’s important to assure the stability and coordination of the overall body. 

Daniel selected Guider 3 Plus 3D printer and this was his first try of a 3D printer. Flashforge feels honored that Flashforge Guider 3 Plus was able to well cater for all those requirements to create structural parts needed. This Flashforge 3D printer adopts Core XY structure, printing stably at high speed and ensuring high printing quality. In addition, the flexible platform of Flashforge Guider 3 Plus allows for easy removal of the finished parts.

3D printed part being assembled and practically validated in snow

 ▲Assembly process

During the entire assembly process, the sample parts 3D printed by Guider 3 Plus hardly require any post-processing. That’s to say 3D printed parts by Guider 3 Plus  can be directly used for assembly. Beyond that, parts printed by Guider 3 Plus 3D printers displayed high mechanical performance. 

The driving force of the snow cat comes from two circular motors, which are important electrical parts needing protection. To meet the mechanical performance, Daniel designed a curved shell to withstand greater impact, while that was not a small challenge for a 3D printer. Eventually, Guider 3 Plus was able to ensure layers accurately positioned and fully and accurately bonded together during the 3D printing process. It not only ensures the impact resistance of the finished parts, but also ensures the smooth and delicate effect of the curved surface.

▲Daniel's snow cat galloping in snow

About Flashforge 

Flashforge is a global-leading brand in the 3D printer industry. It has deeply delved the needs of the industry and launched a new series of FDM 3D printers. 

• Guider series 3D printers feature on high-speed prototyping and rapid prototyping; 
• Creator series 3D printers, with high-temperature chambers, are suitable for printing engineering materials and carbon-fiber/glass-fiber composite materials, printed parts showing great performance in application.

Flashforge Enterprise provides stable and reliable 3D printing equipment, high-quality 3D printing materials, professional slicing software and comprehensive after-sales service. Flashforge provides a full range of 3D printing solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises, accelerating design iteration and production, and leading 3D printing to a new intelligent future.

▲Brilliant Flashforge 3D printers