Small scale RC chassis needed

[Maxximum Attack]

Hi guys,

In my serching, I've stumbled across this site, and WOW!!!.

I need some RC chassis made, at a reasonable price. I want to keep production costs down so that I can sell it for $45-$50 . It's a very small part and is only 10" squared for one unit. I would like it to be made of 1.5mm thick CF, but if that is too expensive, aluminum will have to do. I have drawn the chassis and partially dimentioned it in rhino3D. I'm not very good at CAD programs but I knew enough to get what I want drawn.

Honestly, I really don't want to spend alo of money. I'd like to have 10 made for the dry run. And if they are selling well, I'll definately comeback for more.

Here is a pic of the partially dimentioned chassis. If anyone is interested, I'd like some quotes please

Thank you
Maxx

[PBMW]

So...You want someone to make ten of these for less than $450 to $500 out oF carcon fiber?
Good luck with that

[kenlambert]

I must be missing something, that seems like a large part for radio control if those are inches

[One of Many]

Originally Posted by PBMW So...You want someone to make ten of these for less than $450 to $500 out oF carcon fiber? Good luck with that

No, he wants to sell them for that price. If retail is 3-5 times manufacturing costs. His purchase price would need to be around 10-20 bucks each. I'd venture a guess that micro cutters alone would sink the deal. Maybe waterjet or laser, but the run time on them does not go cheap.

It could be wiser to spend the prototype costs on purchasing a small CNC router that will cut them, At least you get to keep the router when the parts are completed.

Luck has been proven not very dependable........

DC

[DareBee]

A lot of those geometries are impossible to mill, EDM is out of the question for cost. Waterjet would be the best way to make a few.
I don't get what the picture of to the side is?
If you wanted to mass produce these I would have them extruded out of aluminum and then cut to the proper thickness.
To meet the target cost would probably take 1000 pcs minimum if it is even possible.
This is all on the assumption that this is a 2D part as well.

[andy55]

try to find someone who has a 2D mill for making proto circuit boards. that machine can handle 1-2mm glassfiber so it should be able to do CF also.

[Maxximum Attack]

Thank you SOOO much for the quick responses guys, I'm being swamped with offers . I never expected such an overwhelming response. Please hold all further offers until I get chance to contact the ones who have made contact already.

Thanx
Maxx

[Cruiser]

concidering that your primary matr'l of choice is carbon fiber then it may be wiser to ask for a heated, pressure mold made so you could cast your own cf units in what ever quantity you desire although the mold would be spendy the rest would be resin, catalyst, and time on your part to make your product ! just a thought !

[conceptmachine]

Hi maxx, I might be able to help you.cf is expensive you may want to use a material called g10.it's strong and rigid and machines descent.i currently make rc chassis out of it and it works great.e-mail me your drawing in dxf format and ill review it.i could make the part for arond $20 or so if you order them in quantities of 25 or more.thanks shawn
e-mail bikedreamer1@aol.com

[NC Cams]

Your part looks like a pan chassis for a race car of some type.

There was a place in FLorida called Aerospace Composites who did R/C chassis in laminated graphite. Don't know if they are still in business. They would do specials if you talked to them right and showed that you weren't too flakey and knew what you were doing and why.

If you can mill with a router and have not done graphite, be forewarned, graphite composites EATS carbide cutters alive and is a PITA mess to cut besides.

G10 fiberglass is great for prototyping and can be made almost as strong/rigid by laminating pre=preg graphit tape to top and bottom.

Jetting might work but precision stuff needs diamond or coated carbide, especially for sharp corners or tight radii. The glass fiber is also tough on cutters. Somebody like conceptmachine who has experience would be the way to go for doing G10 - anybody who does circuit boards could do so as well as they know how to machine the product - that is IF they want to mess around with R/C prototyping (we weren't successful in finding anybody who'd do it at the time).

We were paying WAY more than $20/chassis in onesy twosy for graphite almost 10 years ago. WE were scoring production stuff that wasn't finished (no suspension holes and rough blank as we moved our suspension points around and cut our own "flex holes").

We cut our own proto's out of G10 with dremels and/or hand die grinders before we did graphite. Cheaper to do trial evaluations before cutting the "good stuff".

Come to think of it, the mess and itching was one of the reasons why we quit doing the R/C race stuff. Another and the more effective reason was that it got to be too expensive to try to compete with "factory drivers" who got parts deals that we couldn't get close to scoring.

We ultimately learned that although you could out-tech the factory guys, you couldn't outspend them.....

Have fun.....

[Maxximum Attack]

Thank you for all your responses, I have assigned the job.

Thank you very much
Maxx

[BFcarbon]

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