Cheetah rebuild

[electric]

Really nice work! Keep the pictures coming!!

[larryrose11]

Battery Trays
So, I decided to strike out on my own a bit.


Here is the original idea, in CAD


When I was testing the pattern with the water-jet using aluminum plate, I liked the results so much that I polished them to a mirror, and gave them a matching sparkly orange power coat.
I made the battery trays base out of 1mm CF plate (I made myself, vacuum bag process), but without the Fighter Cat graphic.




The trays need to be raised slightly off of the sponson floor, so I glued a 2mm strip down 1 side, which will be mounted on the inboard side.


Image

I couvered the finish powdercoat with panters tape, and bonded the decorative aluminum plate to the CF base. I used Laminating epoxy over the whole surface, and put it all in a vacuum bag, to ensure complete surface bonding. Here isa what it looked like when it came out of the bag. The holes in the tape are where I used weld nuts flanges to keep perfect alignment of the slots.


After removing the tape, m there were some minor blemishes. If anyone tries this in the future just use hatch tape as the protection mask.
Im going to gently sand out the blemishes in the powder coat, and hit it with clear coat.

Here is the finished receiving tray.
Up next is the battery holder

[larryrose11]

I realized a long time ago, that I am not great painter.
After a lot of homework on hydro-dipping, I decided to go with the professionals.
Im working with James, the owner of Michigan hydrographics HE has a solid process, and even a warranty, IF I give him a clean hull, with no rattle can crap on it to prevent a good bond. Only epoxy or gelcoat exposed.
I have stripped the hull down to the bare glass. He is using an epoxy primer, block sand, epoxy base tint, dip film, then 3 coats of automotive clear. It is going to be sweet!!

[kfxguy]

Looking good. Looking forward to how this turns out!

[Fella1340]

I have to say that's one fine rebuild! It's going to look great, I can't wait to see it all together.

[larryrose11]

Long time, no type!
Well, I have some catching up to do here

Battery Trays:
I needed to finish the recieving trays. I want them to be pretty rigid, so I decided to use some CF angle I made earlier
But the mounts were giving me pause...
So, I found these things called Weld Nuts to use as the feet for the mount . the looked perfect for the job. (I had them before I designed the receiving tray, so I knew what the exact dimension of the reeving tray channels needed to be)

Attaching them the the CF tray that was flush required a bit more creativity.
I wanted to use 6-32 taper screw, So, I mod a 6-32 blind nut. I dremmeleded off the barbs on it, so it was flat. I then glued the 6-32 nut inside my 1/2 weld nut.

I used the 6-32 screwws to hold it all in place while the glue set.


After it set, I machined off the ta little of the top the weld nut,



That took care of the front 2 mounts.
For the rear, I just used a short hex nut, a washer, and I glued a piece of CF to the weld nut to keep it from spinning in the receiving tray channel


Here it is all done

[younglings]

nice job bro !

[kfxguy]

Nice

[larryrose11]

Mtor mount do-over:
When I ran it last year, I ended breaking the motor mount off the hull at the glue surface to the hull. Lucky, nothing else broke!!

Lessons learned:
- Turns out that I did not scratch the bottom of the foot enough to make a good glue bond, So I'm going to dremmel groves in the bottom of the mount feet, and drill holes there too.
- the feet themselves were square, but he hull is angled a few degrees. I will bend the feel to match the angle of the tunnel.

So, I went about drilling holes and bending the feet to match the tunnel angle.
Sand out the scratches, buff, and clear coat. Sand off the clear on the bottom of the feet with 60 grit, make it rough.





here it is, assembled, and all purdy.
You can see my stuffing tube holder and matching front and rear mount, all in sparkly power-coat.


End view:

[kfxguy]

Tip: use jb weld on the motor mount. it wont come out. In my experience, regular non metal based epoxies dont have the bite on aluminum like jb weld does.

[larryrose11]

This just in from James, Owner of http://www.michiganhydrographics.com/
It is the first of 3-5 dips, paint (purple with copper fleck ), and clear coats.
So, no, its NOT done, just an in between shot(!!!!!!!)
I'm so excited!!!

[rearwheelin]

Holy hell batman this boat is going to be trick !

[larryrose11]

Got the servo mount done.
Here is the naked servo, Fresh from OSE!


and the finished mount with servo, with carbon fiber sticker on it for more bling, all nice and purdy

[larryrose11]

After a bit of a hiatus, she is back from paint!!
I'm thoroughly impressed.
Mi HydroGrapphics is DA BOMB.

http://www.michiganhydrographics.com/

The cloudy day does not do it justice!!
The fleck in the paint stands out in the sun.

[kfxguy]

Slick!