DIY 3D printed RC car

[Faisal A]

Hi, I want to make a 3D printed RC car using Arduino. This will be my first project on my 3D printer, and help regarding 3D design would be highly appreciated. So here is an overview of the parts I wan to use : 

 

2 Stepper motors for forwards, backwards :

1 servo motor for left/right : 

Arduino Nano

Radio transmitter and receiver :

18650 Batteries with TP4056

 

Is this the best solution ? I need the cheapest way possible 

Edited November 25, 2019 by LogicalDrm

[BrinkGG]

On 7/25/2019 at 9:06 PM, Faisal A said:

Hi, I want to make a 3D printed RC car using Arduino. This will be my first project on my 3D printer, and help regarding 3D design would be highly appreciated. So here is an overview of the parts I wan to use : 

 

Is this the best solution ? I need the cheapest way possible 

Are you stuck on the arduino? a premade 2.4Ghz radio is a much easier and faster response system then a nano. 

 

As for 3D design, start simple. think about what the strongest way to print something for the design of your parts.

For example, if I'm printing suspension arms, I want to print them laying flat as they would be on the car. If I printed them vertically, the "Grain" of the 3d print will be directly in line with where the most stress comes from and they would be much more likely to break. 

 

For 3D design programs, Fusion 360 is probably the best that I'm aware of for 3d printing. Sketchup is passable, but often leaves interior walls on your parts so when they print, they look like this: https://imgur.com/a/I6jld8x (Image 2 and 3 are because of inside walls that cut the part up when printing)

Now, you CAN run your STLs through 3D Bulder (Microsoft program) and that will usually fix it, even though this is probably my least favorite program to use in my workflow. 

 

Just to explain, here's my workflow when designing parts to print: 

Fusion 360 or Sketchup to initially design the full part (Don't worry about making parts that fit in my 3D printer, just make it the size that I want.) 

Export to STL format

Import STL to 3D Builder to "Clean" the parts and remove of internal walls. 

Split item into 3D printable parts that are small enough to fit on my printer. 

Export EACH PART as an STL file and the whole group as an 3mf file.

Import to slicer of choice (Cura for me) 

Edited November 25, 2019 by LogicalDrm

[BrinkGG]

Just now, James Evens said:

Don't think sketchup is upto this so better use Fusion 360 or other full feature CAD suites.

I agree. This is why I said Fusion 360 as it's the general standard for 3D FDM printing. 

I've just spent 6 years using Sketchup/AutoCAD so I'm using what I have experience with.