Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Improved Rear Bearing Holders

New Bearing Carrier Fitted
We have noticed that the kit rear bearing holders leave a little to be desired on the RC12R6.

The kit moulded inserts allow for both ride height compensation in steps of 0.25mm and give the option of running a slightly longer or shorter rear wheelbase.

We have found that the very simple moulded form of the kit insert allows the following issues

1. The bearing can rock and skew itself in the holder and..

2. The holder can rock and move around in the bulkhead.



The net result is that the axle has a tendency to move around a little, creating random issues with pinion to spur gear mesh and possible early wear and destruction of the bearings.




Enter Chris (Crisis) Kerswell from the UK Associated team.... Chris designed a new insert that fully locates into the full depth of the alloy bulkhead. This is stepped and locates in both the inner and outer oval sections within the alloy.

In addition to this, the standard flanged bearing fully locates within the holder also.

Rear axle spacing remains unchanged.

Flanged bearing fully locates
Bearing holder occupies all of the bulkhead
The part is 3D printed by Shapeways (link and info below) and is available in black or white.

We have fully tested the white material which we used for the prototypes. My black ones have just arrived and look to be very similar, fit perfectly and are.... black!

I think the white part is slightly finer in the granularity of finish so if you are bothered about that then go white and Sharpie them!

The holders come a a kit of 4 pairs identified by a number of "dots":


1 Dot: 0mm offset
2 Dot: 0.25mm
3 Dot: 0.5mm
4 Dot: 0.75mm

You can of course swap the inserts L/R to achieve long or short wheelbase just as with the kit parts.

Thanks to Chris Kerswell for taking the time to design these and go through the process of perfecting the fit. Long live "Crisis Industries".