Small tank suspension

[bekesizoltan]

Hi,

I've started to work on a small tank, and I would like to gather ideas for suspension.

What are my options? Is there any in this scale?

Current RC features:

• driving
  
• turret turning
  
• main gun elevation
  

Thanks,

Zoltan

Edited May 16, 2014 by bekesizoltan

[Tommy Styrvoky]

Here's some compact suspension that I made for a fig scale tank

Lego independent suspension for small tanks by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Lego independent suspension for small tanks by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Edited May 16, 2014 by Tommy Styrvoky

[MrNumbskull13]

I'm sure you could fit in some torsion bar or some sort of pendulum bogie suspension, look on YouTube...

[Sariel]

Torsion bars need the tank to be reasonably heavy to work.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Sariel

[Tommy Styrvoky]

Torsion bars need the tank to be reasonably heavy to work.

if you use long ones i don't think that you would have too much of a problem with deflection.

[Sariel]

This tank looks really small, I'd say 500-600 grams top. That's very light for torsion bars. Note that with 10 road wheels, each torsion bar only handles 10% of total weight.

[Technix]

i reckon, technic axles for torsion bars are still too stiff for the weight a lego tank can have.

[Tommy Styrvoky]

with the suspension that I posted it only takes 2 of the counterweight bricks to make the suspension work for 5 road wheels per side .(not sure how much weight That is but it's lighter that a battery box).

Edited May 16, 2014 by Tommy Styrvoky

[Hrafn]

Here's some compact suspension that I made for a fig scale tank

Lego independent suspension for small tanks by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

Lego independent suspension for small tanks by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

That's very clever! I wouldn't have thought it was possible in that scale.

[Kelkschiz]

That's very clever! I wouldn't have thought it was possible in that scale.

Same here. Beautifully compact suspension.

[Tommy Styrvoky]

The suspension got used on this http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/378351

And I planned to use that suspension for a RC fig scale tank but after finding out that the battery that I planned to use (old 9v 4x8x2 battery) but it turns out that that battery doesn't work with IR receivers. The only way to make it work would be to modify a PF cable and I wasn't ready to do that.

Edited May 17, 2014 by Tommy Styrvoky

[Sariel]

i reckon, technic axles for torsion bars are still too stiff for the weight a lego tank can have.

I beg to differ.

Edited May 17, 2014 by Sariel

[Technyk32231]

I beg to differ.

A little off topic, but is the music by Rammstein? Edited May 17, 2014 by Technyk32231

[Tommy Styrvoky]

i think that if you make the chassis 5 studs longer it would be possible to have torsion bars because the swing arms for the torsion bars would be too short for the current length of the chassis (they would have a minimal effect in flotation). With longer swing arms ad the longest torsion bars you could get them to work but to fit them in the hull it would be best to offset one side of road wheels so the torsion bars can be staggered like on real vehicles .

heres 2 examples of times where I have implemented torsion bars

the panther had 8 stud long bars with 4x2 lift arms as the swing arms. it weighs 7LBs

the STuG III thats in front has 10 long torsion bars with 4x2 lift arms as the swing arms. weight is composed of 1 AA battery box, and 2 XL motors

Lego STuG Ausf. F 1/15 (RC) by Tommy Styrvoky, on Flickr

[legomuppet9]

Small tank... looks good. You'd be able to get suspension in at that size, I have it a (prototype) model which is only really a concept as I hate doing aesthetics...

And if you'd like a challenge you can try and go smaller than this:

Tank by legomuppet9, on Flickr

I think this is the smallest RC tank (Only RC function is moving around but still) around, I haven't seen any smaller, but then I have dived into the depths of brickshelf really so I don't particularly know...