FlexCar (Transformed from Flexbot Series)

grabcad

I had a blast playing with my Flexbot, a 3D printed copter kit. After assembling the parts and flying it daily, I pondered over its potential uses. Deciding to repurpose it, I considered making a ground vehicle using my 3D printer and Flexbot's open-source Arduino electronics. The quadcopter's control mechanism intrigued me - the four propellers could make different spinning speeds for various directions. I thought of applying this concept to a four-wheel car, controlling each pair of wheels to turn left or right by varying their spinning speeds. To transform Flexbot into a car, I removed its gear sets and propellers, installed four wheels instead, designed a chassis to house the PCBA board, batteries, and gear sets, and fixed the wheel gear seats with self-tapping screws. I called my creation 'FlexCar'! While FlexCar worked, it had issues that needed improvement. The gear sets were inefficient, causing fast speeds and difficult control; they needed better optimization. Also, the gear sets were fragile and prone to bending under stress - stronger axles or shock absorption design could help. But this was a prototype, the FlexCar Beta version! I'm excited to improve its look and structure further. Join me on my journey, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, visit our website, and explore our projects on GitHub and Thingiverse!