3D-Printed RC Car
This functional RC car print explores fundamental mechanical design concepts.
You wouldn’t download a car, or so the saying goes. However, it would be perfectly reasonable to view, download, and print the RC car model outlined here. This design, by Logan57 (AKA Creating Crafts), is a smallish-scale RC vehicle with some very interesting and functional details.
The car is controlled by a fairly standard RC setup, with a trigger/wheel-style remote. A small servo turns the car's front wheels left and right, and a DC motor to propels it down the street. As shown in the demo video, it's quite maneuverable, able to travel at different speeds and turn. Presumably it can reverse as well, though this operation is not demonstrated.
What’s really interesting about this design is its mechanical setup. On the front end, the steering linkage system enables the small servo to actuate both wheels in tandem, while the suspension elegantly integrates 3D-printed springs to keep the wheels planted. Tires are printed out of TPU, meaning four fewer purchased parts one needs to consider when building this model.
On the back side, the drive system is also ingenious, allowing each wheel to spin at different speeds via a geared differential setup. What this means in practice is that, like a real automobile, individual wheel speeds can automatically compensate for turns, where one back wheel will ideally spin a much greater distance than the other.
Between actually printing the device, or simply examining the included Fusion 3D model, it’s a great way to get familiar with automotive mechanisms. It could also be a fantastic platform for a self-driving device – if you're looking to make that leap!
