All the Lazers

[HS-YZ250]

While wondering about if a new thrust bearing might not fit through the center bore of the spur gear on the Pakistan Lazer, I realized that it had come with a Lazer ZX spur, and that the clutch had probably been put together sans thrust bearing with one of the washers directly against the spur.

Already found that an old Robinson Racing gear I had in my pit box won't work. Will have to research.

[HS-YZ250]

Ok, I'm officially looking for a layshaft to convert Lazer ZX/ZXr's to a modern slipper like mentioned here: https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=35530&hilit=lazer+clutch+update&start=15

Emailed fibre-lyte (Welshy?) to ask about them.

[HS-YZ250]

While I hold out hope of a modern slipper kit, I got in the surrogate parts I was looking at for the Pakistan Lazer. The bearing fit isn't perfect. It requires some shims in the bore to help it sit past the 4mm step in the slipper shaft so the thrust bearing seats against it and not the shaft. I used an undersized spacer, but it's working for now. I'm able to adjust the drag on the clutch effectively, by hand anyway. Also, I was worried about the thrust bearing not fitting through the spur gear that came with the buggy but it just fit through.

So that's all back together. Hopefully the slipper pad will hold up. The only thing that's keeping me from throwing electronics into the Pakistan Lazer is the Mk2 Motor Plate doesn't have the stand-off plate the earlier versions had and the wire tabs of the motor prevent it from seating. I splurged here and ordered a ZX-S motor plate I found on eBay in Australia. When that comes in I think I'm good to try and get it running, sans body for the moment.

[HS-YZ250]

Got the ZXS motor spacer today and now the Le Mans gold motor is in the Pakistan Lazer. One thing noticed is the range of pinion sizes is limited by the Mk2's larger stabilizer plate. Not sure that'll be a gearing issue since I had t go way up on the pinion for my Pro SE. I got some cells to build a new NiMH saddle pack with so that may be this weekend's project.

[HS-YZ250]

It's been a while! And I started another project so, of course, I got motivated to work on this project, again. I started working on it again after finding replacements for the 4mm JIS top plate screws while browsing the optima Rerelease exploded views.

So I got things temporarily hooked up on the pakistan lazer to the point I was able to finally drive it around the floor and straighten the alignment out, which is a great feeling. However, I've got a long way to go with it. Here are the current issues:

1. The front differential is difficult to adjust. It's either too tight or slipping and, when it's tight, it loosens up to slipping, quickly. When I rebuilt it I used ceramic balls and I'm hoping that's not the issue, but I'm probably going to have to pull the front end apart, again to try again. Another thought is to back the adjusting screw off and drip some thread locker down before readjusting. I wouldn't mind some direction on the best way to build these diffs.

2. The slipper clutch doesn't seem to be strong enough or there's something wrong with it. I had the adjustment spring bottomed out and it still slipped. I cleaned and scuffed the pad and surfaces as best I could. Also could be just that both differentials are slipping and I should focus on those, first.

3. When I got this buggy, it didn't have the posts for the battery retainers. I replaced those with some from Shapeways, but eventually realized, with the ZX, that the posts are intended to have washers under them. So I'll need to size a set of those which, naturally, I'll complicate it with...

4. wire organization. I THINK what I want to do is model some wire retainers in with the washers for the battery posts, as well as...

5. a way to hold the under tray on. I've liked body retention methods that aren't just a point on the nose and back. I saw a couple of instances where the mount is down on the side, one being Mike Dunn's ROAR nationals winning lazer. Would love to know where he got those posts.

[terry.sc]

5. a way to hold the under tray on. I've liked body retention methods that aren't just a point on the nose and back. I saw a couple of instances where the mount is down on the side, one being Mike Dunn's ROAR nationals winning lazer. Would love to know where he got those posts

Most likely the undertray mounts from the Mid Custom. They are available on the bumper and wing mount sprue of the rerelease Mid.

[HS-YZ250]

I think I've got the differentials worked out. I put a little blue thread locker on the adjustment screw and set them, and they don't appear to come loose anymore. I also rearranged the spring and thrust bearing so that the bearing is right under the screw head; don't know if that was worth anything but maybe it doesn't transfer torque to the screw as much. I think it'll also be easier to pull the spring and bearing assembly out if I want to re-thread lock them. Also might make them more susceptible to dirt. In any case, when the differentials were reset, as I had hoped, the slipper checked out ok. So I don't have to find a tighter spring for that.

I'm working on the battery retainer post spacers to try and come up with one with integrated cable management so I can run the motor cables low around the side of the chassis, and see how that works. I'll also try and put undertray retention features here, though I'll also use hook-and-loop at the front and rear of the tray.

I'm also thinking about how to paint the body. Since it came from Pakistan, I was thinking I'd paint it in the colors of the Pakistan flag: green and white. Maybe with gold as an accent as I've read the Pakistan national cricket team's colors are green/gold, though the green is slightly different.


https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-Pakistan

[HS-YZ250]

So, lately, I like to tinker with shimming the steering tie rods to try and get rid of the bump steer. Below is where I ended up with the Pakistan Lazer. It's a pretty extreme shim stack, but the wheel stays pretty straight through the stroke. I think some bump steer was introduced with the Optima Rerelease aluminum knuckles: I think the "arms" are at a height different than the Lazer's. Debating if doing away with a 2.6mm bolt and rod end is worth it. But for now, this works.

In the process of figuring out how to add battery post spacers and side body posts and, along the way, started developing trays to help retain the batteries.

[terry.sc]

The links should be mounted underneaththe centre link, not on top of it.

[HS-YZ250]

The links should be mounted underneaththe centre link, not on top of it.

That's where I had them when I initially refreshed all the hardware, but the bump steer was terrible. This is mostly experimental to figure out what it takes to minimize it, though with how much I've had to space it I'm not sure going back underneath will work. What's important is the relation of the steering link to the upper and lower suspension links and I may not be able to retain that the other way. Also being on top has the added benefit of keeping the tie rod from lifting the center link at the top of the stroke. It's wonky looking, but seems to work.

I did something similar on my rocky, but the better the bump steer got, the more the rod end actually interfered with the tires.

[LoCoCNC]

Man, I am only collecting all the Optima's at the moment, then thought about starting on the Mid's but maybe I'll skip them and go right to the Lazers...

[isobarik]

Ok, I might be on the right track with the front suspension brace. I bolted the top plate to the front diff housing, the steering posts, and the center support, but left out the screws for the rear support and front and rear braces. I also shimmed the top plate between its end and the rear support to keep the chassis from flexing when I push on the belt. Now the belt has good tension. So I'm going to see about replacing the front suspension braces, and maybe the rear support, and see if that holds everything in the right spot. Maybe I can model and 3D Print these before finding NOS or Shapeways parts.

IMG_20220918_162544633.jpg

Hard to tell but that chassi looks not original

[isobarik]

While wondering about if a new thrust bearing might not fit through the center bore of the spur gear on the Pakistan Lazer, I realized that it had come with a Lazer ZX spur, and that the clutch had probably been put together sans thrust bearing with one of the washers directly against the spur.

Already found that an old Robinson Racing gear I had in my pit box won't work. Will have to research.

Still metric so you need the la-118 ( i think) to use the american style spurs or the xr-something Will also work Adele as the umw-something

Let me know if you really need the partnumbers.

[HS-YZ250]

When I last drove it I noticed I was getting a bunch of slippage somewhere in the drivetrain of the Pakistan Lazer. I was afraid the diffs were loosening up again but it turned out to be the clutch. It appears the slipper pad isn't holding up. I took the clutch apart to try scuffing the slipper pad again when I noticed a stray Losi pad from a XXX on my table and, wouldn't you know: the ID fits the step on the lazer slipper plate. It's also thicker so it's a little more guaranteed that the adjustment nut doesn't bottom on the step in the main shaft. So with that I also added a shim to make sure the thrust bearing was only contacting the inner race of the clutch roller bearing, and also swapped the compression spring with a heavier one from a differential (I think), and now the clutch feels really solid.

What I've been screwing around with most on this car are the battery nests/side body mounts and cable organization.

Initially I had wanted the battery nests to just keep the edges of the cell slots in the chassis from wearing into the heat shrink, but I eventually realized the chassis slots don't match the cell spacing. So the battery nests now hold the cells and hold-down posts up a bit to make sure the batteries are cradled and restrained well.

I also did some 3D printing to make some cable organizers to TRY and keep things organized, but I might have a ways to go with this; there's a lot of cable to manage with the saddle packs and brushless system. What I have right now looks decent, but just barely clears the body when it is installed and is probably fragile. I had originally wanted to route the cables down the side between the underbody and battery, but I didn't feel good about getting the battery out with it. I might need to get more cable and move the clips further inboard on the top plate, or take another look at going around the outside, again. Also I'll have to figure out a good place to mount the on/off switch with the ESC up at the front like it is.

Anyone else have a brushless setup in a lazer that's organized?

[isobarik]

Slipper Looking good, also the rc10 slipper pad works , not rere though