some people should not be allowed to have nice stuff

[bscotti]

Because I have dain bramage, I've been buying disasters and returning them to their former glory, or as close as I can! My latest is a '94 YZ10 and all was going fine until I got to the steering servo. I guess the previous owner had some trouble keeping the servo firmly attached to the chassis, so it was fixed for good ... it seems like some type of caulk was used (it's not firmly set, like an epoxy, it still have some "give" to it). Any one have ideas on how to remove it without destroying the carbon fiber chassis? I can kinda seeing myself sacrificing the servo case and carefully chiseling it away ...

On a better note, what disasters have you all found? This one also had steel nails and fiberglass (!) rods for hinge pins and wood screw in many places.

Thanks!
Brian

[templeofspeed]

Heat gun?

[AMorgan]

Working in a hobby shop, you see a lot of them.

I've had at least 3 guys come in with they're high speed needle JB Welded to the carb body after it "broke off." Naturally when you explain they need a new carb before the car will run right, they get a little pissy.

I had one guy using a paper clip as a hinge pin. It just kind of... sat in the hole...

One guy had an airplane he was trying to restore and to do so he needed to get a servo out of the wing. He'd built the kit 15 years earlier. In an apparent attempt to save hardware, he basically drenched the case in CA and shoved it in. It took about 45 minutes with a hobby knife and the crushing power of some channel locks to free what was left of the old Traxxas car servo

Last week a guy came in with a Mini-T that the antenna had been shortened. Because of the reduced range, the guy twisted the broken end together with a piece of two-element wire and had about 4 feet of it sitting on the chassis... he didn't understand why he was still having range issues.

One guy brought in an old HPI motor and told me the clutch was constantly engaged. The clutch had started to pool out around the clutch bell. It basically melted so badly it made the car direct drive... he wanted to know if he really NEEDED a clutch.

One customer complained his Revo was rubbing axles on the arms and he was breaking arms as a result, when he brought it in, the car was so jacked up in the front, I probably could have passed a properly set up Revo underneath it.

When I bought my Jato and started tearing down for the rebuild, I realized the top plate had been CAed back together... and in the process it CA'ed the servo and every servo wire on the car to the top plate.

That's all I can really think of right now. I'm sure i've seen some interesting heli fixes too, but none of them are coming to me. You wouldn't believe what 500 bucks and a dummy can create...

[WillyThickfoot]

Fillet knife. I slide it under the serve on wiggle it around.Never met a servo it couldnt beat.If yur carefull you wont scratch the chassis or the servo.

[bscotti]

Fillet knife. I slide it under the serve on wiggle it around.Never met a servo it couldnt beat.If yur carefull you wont scratch the chassis or the servo.

that's a good one!

[Dr. Robotnik]

Acetone removes all glue type residues and should be fine on the servo and chassis.

[Halgar]

Haven't run into anything in the rc world, mainly because I don't buy other peoples junk. I can talk about the construction industry, however, and some of the things I've seen and had to fix would curl your toes.

[aconsola]

I got a JRX-T off ebay with nice aluminum wheels. Turns out that the inner bearing holes on both wheels were drilled out, and it now has 5x10 bearings inboard and SAE bearings outboard. good thing it was for a shelfer.

The same truck had a large kimbrough servo saver on the servo, with no cutout in the chassis. The servo was mounted with screws and RC10 servo blocks, so they unscrewed the screws a little to raise the servo up, without putting any spacers between the chassis and servo blocks. The servo was just floating.

one of the more common issues I have seen is a standard screw in the pinion gear instead of a set screw. usually one with a big head too so it rubs on the spur gear a bit.

I bought one truck just because it had a decent looking Pure-tech battery strap. Turns out that although the velcro as nice, the mounting blocks had been superglued to the chassis after they stripped out the mounting holes.

[Eau Rouge]

Because I have dain bramage...

WOW! A Bob Nelson reference... 10 points for Brian this morning.

[Tadracket]

If you are able to move the servo a little, I would say it has servo tape on it. Grab it with some pliers and twist the crap out of it.

I once "made" a throttle cable for my land jump out of a spring and some picture frame wire. The spring failed to return the throttle from it's WFO position and my 15+ pounder took off in an attempt to kill anything in it's path.

Luckily, no living organisms or RC goodness was destroyed in the process.

[terry.sc]

Sounds like that servo is stuck down with shoe goo or silicone, used to be a popular way holding it in as it's a lot stronger than servo tape. Run a knife between the servo and chassis to cut it off. If it's silicone you can buy a silicone remover.

Always had some interesting ones when working for a model shop. I remember a Hotshot kit someone had built that didn't work. Lots of wrong sized screws everywhere (how hard is it to follow a Tamiya manual? ) and just dismantled it completely and put it back together. It was quicker than working out which screws were wrong and which were right.

And a boat that needed a leaking hull fixing. The problem was the plastic hull had been extended by cutting it in half and strips of balsa wood glued together to fill the 6 inch gap.

And I actually bought this example bit of creative upgrading. It's actually a Kyosho Scorpion under there Even the driveshafts are home made, the previous owner cut shafts down to length and brazed them together.

[mrlexan]

terry, I think the "el loco" on the wing pretty much sums that one up......

[mrlexan]

Any one have ideas on how to remove it without destroying the carbon fiber chassis?

You've got my attention to, I have a couple in the same boat that needs some attention.

[Tadracket]

....And a boat that needed a leaking hull fixing. The problem was the plastic hull had been extended by cutting it in half and strips of balsa wood glued together to fill the 6 inch gap....

That is funny. Did the guy do a half way decent job or does it look like the picture in my head?

[RC Chick]

I had a T2 that every electronics peice was glued or something, i have never seen anyhting like it, I was able to remonve evrything without breaking it except for the reciever, the case broke apart. I have no idea what was used but it was hard to get off, I used a knife to pry and wiggle. Getting the residue off the chassis was a pain too but after 2 days of useing goof off it was all gone.