Owning an RC car has become the talk of the town in recent years. That’s because driving an RC car is fun whether it is a hobby or for racing. Whatever the intent behind owning an RC car, learning about its technicalities should be a priority. Sure you would know which model to buy, equipment to purchase, but do you know which gearing mistakes to avoid?
I guess not.
Maybe that’s why you clicked on this article or searched “RC car gearing mistakes to avoid”. Nonetheless, this article will outline the four common RC car gearing mistakes that many users make. We will talk about each of these in detail and tell you how to avoid ruining your precious RC car.
Pitch of the RC car gear
As most car enthusiasts know, gears are essential for optimizing torque and speed. Now let’s talk about how messing with the gear, or particularly its pitch can cause problems for an RC car. Let’s first take a look at the two standards for gearing – the imperial standard and the metric system.
Differing gearing standards
32 pitch and 48 pitch are the common gear pitches in the imperial standard. The metric system, on the other hand, terms pitches as metric modules. 0.8 metric mod, or 1.0 metric mod, are examples of pitches in the metric system.
The peculiarities of the imperial and the metric system don’t end here.
It is advised not to mix the imperial and metric standard gears. The only example where it can work is using 32P and 0.8M. There are a lot of RC car drivers out there mixing these two gearing standards. Although not recommended, this can work relatively safety with no issue only because the pitch between the 2 different system are less than 1% different. Let’s take a look at the problems that could occur from meshing gears from the two systems outside of this one instance.
Signs & Symptoms of using two different gear sets
Extreme wear of the gearing will occur when two different sets are used – one from the imperial system and the other one from the metric system. More than likely, you won’t even be able to mesh the gear sets!
Key Takeaway
Gearing sets from different standards is simply bad practice. Problems with meshing two different gearing sets lead us to the next mistake which involves incorrect gear mesh.
Setting the RC car gear mesh correctly
Setting the gear mesh properly is as important as keeping in mind not to intertwine two separate gearing sets.
Incorrect placement of the RC car gear mesh could lead to unnecessary damage in the form of wear and tear on the components of the car.
Tight gearing mesh
If the mesh is placed tightly, this can cause binding, which is noticeable due to the noise in the gear train of the RC car.
Even a tight gear train can cause noise and wear. “So, what if there is a little bit of noise or wear and tear, isn’t that common?”
Truthfully, no.
Primarily, the increasing noise and abnormal wear of the gearing would consume more power than usual. This would also cause more heat generation in the gearing system and also unnecessary heat build up in the power system of the RC vehicle.
Not dealing with the frictional increase and wear and tear timely can destroy the teeth of the gears. On the other side, loose gearing can also be a problem.
Loose Gearing Mesh
A gear that is less tight than usual can result in three main problems
- Increased backlash – a transverse movement between the gear teeth at a pitch circle that can result in noise, weakening of the gear, and abnormal wear
- Possible gear failure due to the increased backlash
- Possible stripping away of gear teeth due to excessive stress caused by reduced meshing surface area.
Key Takeaway
The gear mesh should neither be too loose nor too tight. Make sure to space the gearing appropriately avoiding setting the mesh incorrectly.
Loose Fasteners in an RC car motor mount
Trying to mesh an RC car’s gears appropriately is one job, but making sure its fasteners are not too loose, is another, and in fact, a very important one.
If you have a brushless motor mount or nitro engine mount where its fasteners could come loose, this is where bad things can happen. When fasteners loosen up, the gear mesh on your RC car begins to increase and become loose. This is an easy way to completely strip out the spur gear, especially if it is made out of nylon material and not steel. Using a lot of torque on these fasteners is not always good enough. It is recommended to use a type of thread locker to ensure that the gear mesh does not loosen due to fasteners coming loose.
Key Takeaway
It is recommended to use a thread locking compound to avoid fastners loosening up and causing you some major gearing issues. When you need to remove the fasteners to change gearing or reset mesh, just simply apply some heat to the fasteners with the locking compound to break the bond and allow you to remove the screws more easily.
Gear Ratio vs. Heat of the RC Car
One of the potentially most harmful situations for an RC car would be overheating, as this would disrupt the functionality of the power system.
But how does one know the temperature of the RC car?
This can be done by measuring the temperature of the brushless motor, the speed control, and the battery pack within the RC car. While measuring the temperature, it is crucial to assess that the temperature readings are within their specific parameters. Find these parameters in the manufactures manual or instruction sheet. Knowing this margin will help the RC car driver in assessing when to change the gear set for better thermal performance.
Key Takeaway
After the installation of the new gearing system, note down temperature readings at specific time interval to avoid the risk of burning out any components. Run the RC vehicle for a minute and then note down the temperature. This would help in finding out the maximum temperature of the RC vehicle. If temperatures are too hot, use a motor pinion gear with a smaller tooth count. Another option is using a spur gear with a larger tooth count. The result is reducing the load of the motor decreasing temperatures in all power system components.
Final words
Hopefully, this article provided useful information for new and experienced RC car enthusiasts. Though the list of mistakes made by RC car drivers is not exhaustive, these are some of the most common and most likely avoidable ones.
For an audio-visual experience of these geeky insights, check out the video on our YouTube channel here. What do you think about these mistakes – common or not? Let us know in the comment section on the video. Also, tell us which other loopholes you might have discovered in your RC car journey.