3d printed c4.1 gearbox

[ashleyb4]

Something I've been asked to test things are going really well over an hours run time and no problems so far.







Ash

[SLEENAD]

strength?
cost?
fitment for bearings nice and snug?

[ashleyb4]

Cost to be confirmed

Fitting of bearings is really good and idler shafts are nice and tight. The material around the idler shafts has been beefed up. This is only proto 1 I've changed a few little bits for the second one.

As for strength I couldn't snap one in my hand no matter how hard I tried. Ide say easily as strong as the original if not stronger.

Ash

[OldTimer]

You need to try it in warm weather with the motor getting hot, as i found with the 3D printed gearbox on the S2 Evo, is that you get heat soak from the motorplate which travels along the gearbox bolts, and softens the plastic which cause's the idler gear shafts to move then strip the gears.

If your using ABS rather than PLA this should be a bit less of a problem as it has a high softening point.

[ashleyb4]

It is some sort of ABS I've been told the material is used in high temperature applications in electrical equipment.

Ash

[blue_pinky]

Interesting...

What does this printed design add to the car?

[ashleyb4]

You can't buy the original machined gearbox anymore and I know of 4 people who have had the original gearbox fail on them around the idler gears and they have had to buy new cars as the gearbox is unavailable. So someone said they could 3d print it so here we are.

Ash

[gazhillAE]

Originally Posted by ashleyb4

You can't buy the original machined gearbox anymore and I know of 4 people who have had the original gearbox fail on them around the idler gears and they have had to buy new cars as the gearbox is unavailable. So someone said they could 3d print it so here we are.

Ash

More of a reason to buy a c4.2

[Aire valley]

Originally Posted by gazhillAE

More of a reason to buy a c4.2

More of a reason to buy a proper manufacturer car I would have thought..
Not very good practice by Centro if parts are no longer available...! Why buy a C4.2 if it's parts are not available 12 months down the line.. ,

[blue_pinky]

The 4.1 was made from machined material, which is a 'proper' manufacturing technique. But...as a relatively low volume technique it would have been expensive to make, and only made in small numbers. Not ideal maybe, but it was a means to an end for a company setting up doing a conversion kit to test the water with. They all have to start somewhere!

Now they have a proven platform, they have invested more heavily and the 4.2 gearbox is moulded...so could be made by the thousand...you 'should' be able to get the 4.2 spares for a long time to come!

Welcome to the real world of product development, that is all!

[Mikey-D]

That being said it is very poor of cml to stop supporting the c4.1.

[blue_pinky]

I'm surprised to hear they have stopped 4.1 support already...I agree that's not great!

Maybe there is just not enough demand for those parts?

Since they are machined though...you'd think they could make a couple! Might cost a bit...but at least they'd be keeping people running

[Mikey-D]

I would welcome somebody correcting me, as I personally have a C4.1 which is now good for nothing.

[Hog]

Would a C4.2 gearbox fit C4.1?

[steveproracing]

I happen to know how much a gearbox like the c4.1 costs to produce and unless cml were getting incredible discount then they were loosing about £10 on every one they sold. So to only have say five produced would cost nearly as much as buying a c4.2 kit. This is the only reason why they probably won't have any more gearboxes made! This leaves you with 3 choices.
1, obtain a 3d printed box with the hope it performs.
2 , spend aprox £100 on getting 1 box produced by the original machinist. (I can get the details of where they were produced if needed)
3, spend the £135 and get the new improved model with a better chassis and a gearbox that will last much longer and only cost £6 to replace!!

[Mikey-D]

Steve, I appreciate your simplistic view of the 3 options for anyone who has a gearbox failure on a C4.1, in addition I also fully understand economic decisions which businesses take on a daily basis.

I will start by saying I am not anti-cml, i have always run Team Associated products ranging from the RC10GT & B2, all the way up to the latest B44.2.

We could discuss the pro's and con's for machining parts vs moulding parts but I believe this is off the initial topic. This decision is in general made around volume projections and the impact on the P&L account.

The issue which I see is that in 2013 the C4.1 was one of the most popular cars on the club, regional and national scene. The reason being, it's simply an excellent car. With that being said, if a company stops making parts for a very popular and current car, mid season I believe they are leaving themselves wide open for widespread criticism.

You may think this a tactic which has been used to increase sales on the C4.2? Anyway my previous comment is pure speculation. I would however welcome an explanation from cml.

[Hog]

So - I'll ask again. Will the c4.2 gearbox fit the c4.1?

[Mikey-D]

I don't think it will.

[steveproracing]

Just looked. On centrorc.com they have got the c4.1 gearboxes in stock!
Again still off topic I'm afraid! Sorry.

[Tom3012]

Originally Posted by Hog

So - I'll ask again. Will the c4.2 gearbox fit the c4.1?

No