Question About Aluminum Bodies

[crackerjazz]

Hi all, I'm planning on building a jeep body from scratch aluminum sheets. Being light and durable I think it would make a great basher body. Are there any disadvantages to an all-metal body? Any truth that using a metal body would affect the receiver's behavior?

[B4 Stealth]

It doesn't sound like a good Idea to me but I have never tried it. my instincts tell me you are basically building faraday cage around your electronics.

[rezenclowd3]

For sure it will get nicely bent out of shape on the first bad landing...

[rccardude04]

Faraday cage isn't necessarily bad. As long as the antenna is hanging out you oughta be fairly good. Just do a range check.
As far as durability, it'll die the first time you roll it. I guess if it was thick enough you'd be okay, but then it's REALLY heavy.
It'd look really cool though!
Show us pics if you do it!
-Eric

[zepplin]

ill vouch for that, i built one myself, triangulated the heck out of it, looked real strong, felt reel strong, passed some initial strength tests, but then came the first run. long story short, i trashed it, bent sideways, backways, downways, and frontways. it was still fun as he**, maybe you will have some better luck and prob better skills with it.

[crazy4wdracer]

they had aluminum bodies on vintage RC10's right?

[PocketAce]

It is possible. I had it done. Not willing to post pictures, though. The outcome was way too ugly and out of scale, and also gave me some scars, adding to the "I HATE THIS F*** THING" effect. There is two ways to do it:

1- build a mold, lay the metal sheet in there, wack it with a hammer until it gets into shape. Bake it 150 degrees for as long as it's needed.

2- Use of multiple aluminum sheets. Glue them with a metal (strong) glue, and bend them to shape using of cutouts, much like a paper model.

[Adanmtxt1]

Pocketace, that might be a good idea for a series of sheets of carbon fiber, but for aluminum you'd be better off just using a single sheet of thicker aluminum. Trying to glue together aluminum probably will not be very sturdy.

What should you do? You need to build a cage chassis, then solder / braze on sheets of aluminum in the empty holes between the tubes.

[PocketAce]

Well, I've never though on "Sturdyness"... All I said was that it is possible. All my bodies where directed to scale models only, with no intentions in running it. BUT, if you do have a electric car, and you WILL race it, go ahead and build a roll cage (tubular chassis), and glue using HOT GLUE (Works perfectly) the aluminum panels to the chassis, kinda like Adanmtx cited above. It is cheap and sturdy enough.

[zepplin]

this was my feeble attempt at building a roll cage/body for my maxx. looked great, i wasnt finished sheeting it but i decided to take it for a spin to see how it would hold up in bashing circumstances. 45 minutes later i had this. i tried to triangulate to make it as strong as possible, for the most part it held up but there were some weak spots. hope this helps you concentrate on certain parts of your body/cage

[PocketAce]

Looks great zepplin! Looks like the weak spot on that roll cage was the lack of vertical, central supports. Crackerjazz, when you start yours, go for the central spots. If you, for some reason, cannot connect the middle of the cage to the chassis, make arches connecting both the sides of the cage. Arches are sturdy enough. Keep in mind that painting aluminum is a pita and that metal primer is quite dangerous, if you ever want to paint your creation.