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Ok, I must come clean....my shop is an 18ft workbench in the garage with 4 simultaneous pan car builds plus piles of misc everyday crap taking up all my work space. I had to stop building for a while to find out where thousands of gnats were coming from. They were flying in my ears, nose and mouth and made building miserable. I eventually found the bag of potting soil they hatched from and put it outside!

You win the prize for best bench story! I'd love to have 18 feet of RC bench space but afraid I'd clutter it up till I only had 2 feet left.

My "shop" is really just the front corner of a two-car garage - nothing fancy. I have an L-shaped work bench that's usually piled with RC and motorcycle parts, a bench-top drill press, the lathe and a vise. I also have a heavy woodworker's bench with a bench-front vise (it's rather handy actually). Anyway, I do my assembly work in the house on a folding drafting table I got for Christmas when I was in high school (before computers). I'm not very disciplined when it comes to keeping the garage tidy. It's always a mess.

I had to start all over on my nerf bars. I had a plan, bends were good, tap the mounting holes and went to the welding shop with the pieces for one side. It was looking pretty good, a couple of missed spots so I put on my "Inspector" hat and gave it a hard look. Dang! It was cracked around the back hole, the threaded part!

I tossed it in the scrap pile. The scrap pile is getting a little out of control.

So, I start over with a simplified version. These will mount directly to the chassis plate with 4-40 screws and nuts. I'll build up from there with an upper rail... maybe, we'll see how it goes.

Here's a peek of what I start out with...

OK, simplified version of nerf bars complete!

The bars are made from solid 3/16" rod, drilled for 4-40 clearance and attached to the chassis plate with 5/16" long flat head socket screws (counter sunk) and black anodized 4-40 small pattern (3/16) hex lock nuts from Faster Express. The flats on the rod where the nuts are were hand filed.

At this point, I don't know if I will add to the nerf bars or not. It depends on how the battery removal is working. Right now, the battery comes out of the cage really nice by lifting it upwards, and then angling it to the cage lower bar.
Till next time!

My first attempt at bending the motor cage was a failure, I didn't realize that as the tube is bent down to meet the cage, they become shorter. I had cut them off, ending up about 4mm short of my goal.

So, start over! I'm close to getting them bent down and notched. I have to make a couple of braces too. Soon, a trip to the welding shop up the road is in order. Hopefully, I can get in there this weekend.
And The Beat Goes On...

Making some progress on the rear cage. I'm close, close to being done.

Yeah, the cage is coming along nicely Nomad.
Unlike before, I think this time the plate gusset and extra tubes are a welcome addition (adding some interest to the back of the cage). Is that hole in the center of the plate for mounting something… or would you prefer to keep it as a surprise?

XLR8 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 8:44 pm Is that hole in the center of the plate for mounting something… or would you prefer to keep it as a surprise?

Maybe a gas can or a spare tire/wheel assembly?

TRX-1-3 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:36 pm

XLR8 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 8:44 pm Is that hole in the center of the plate for mounting something… or would you prefer to keep it as a surprise?

Maybe a gas can or a spare tire/wheel assembly?

Spare wheel/tire it is! There's a few more parts to it, machined from aluminum.

XLR8 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 8:44 pm Yeah, the cage is coming along nicely Nomad.
Unlike before, I think this time the plate gusset and extra tubes are a welcome addition (adding some interest to the back of the cage). Is that hole in the center of the plate for mounting something… or would you prefer to keep it as a surprise?

Yes, I've got to do a little something extra to add interest. I'm thinking bolt on number plates and maybe, 2-3 more tubes.

PROGRESS!

I've added some more to the back of the motor guard and working on a plan where it connects to the main cage.

continuing to be awesome

Now THAT'S a motor guard!! Good job Nomad.

Thanks guys

I've bent some pieces for the front... Incorrectly I might add. The piece/s we're interfering with the lexan gear cover. I couldn't remove the transmission assembly in one piece. Need a new plan!