Introduction: RC Car

I put this RC car together with stuff i found around my school's wood shop. I improvised a lot of the stuff on the car because of the lack of RC car parts.

Step 1: Materials

The parts I used to make this:

  • 3 feet metal rod
  • 2 channel Remote
  • 1 servo (I used 2 but that was because I didn't have a speed controller for the motor)
  • 1 motor (I used 2 motors because the ones I have are weak)
  • Plastic Gears
  • 4 wheels
  • Batteries
  • Receiver for the remote
  • Wood (for the car's body)
  • Nails
  • Hot glue gun
  • Switches

Step 2: Body

for the Body of the car i used 11 in. x 6 in. with a thickness of 1/2 in. of poplar wood then i made this shape on the front of the car, to attach the steering system to it.

Step 3: Steering

I cut 2 T shaped pieces out of poplar wood without touching the thickness of the wood, and drilled a hole in the middle to attach a rod for the wheel.

Then i nailed the T shape to the body and nailed a bigger nail on the opposite side for the steering input.

then i found a flat gear piece and attached it to the up right nail with paperclip tape and hotglue.

then i mounted the servo to on top of a piece of wood, so the servo gear would fit right with the flat gear.

Step 4: Motors

For the motor i used 2 because a single motor didn't have enough power to make the car go forward.

for the wheel axle i used the welding rod and attach it to the body with 2 rectangular small pieces of wood snailed on and drilled in the center, then I lubricated the holes so the welding rod can move with less friction.

I friction fit the motor with a piece on sheet metal screwed on to the back of the body of the car right on top of the axle.

I attached the wheels and the a gear to the axle, and hot glued the gear to the axle to prevent the gear from slipping.

Step 5: Forward Power Control

For the forward power control i made a circuit with the motors and used a servo to act as a switch that i can move with the remote. how this improvised switch works is by opening and closing a circuit with a servo. i made this improvised switch by soldering a the circuit wire to the piece of metal i hot glued to the body of the car, and i took an Allen key and pressed it through the plastic part that moves on the servo and then I took the other circuit wire and soldered it to the Allen key and when the servo moves forward and makes contact with the piece of metal it closes the circuit making the car go forward.

Step 6: Improvements or Things That Would Make This Project Easier.

  • lighter wood and materials, for the body of the car (easy)
  • decent RC motor (easy)
  • actual RC Car parts (easy)
  • thinner wheels, for better turn radius (easy)
  • better wiring, from the batteries to the motors. (hard)
  • brakes, by using reverse braking (easy), or actual separate brake (hard)
  • reverse control (easy)
  • better turn radius (hard)
  • better organization of the RC car components on the car (easy)