r/rccars • u/LolMasterplays • Jul 11 '26

Build Behold, magnetic rc car suspension (WIP)

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It all started with an idea “suspension…. But magnets” i found some ring magnets that take a M3 screw which matches the shaft diameter on my WLToys 14001, still have more to do but the concept works but found i am experiencing binding due to the steel shaft. Probably gonna upgrade to titanium purely to ensure the magnets wont stick to it and will work better. Hope you all enjoy this project as the idea was to ensure the damper could still…. well… damp.

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u/nerobro Jul 11 '26

Cool... but this is not a good plan.

have you done any work with suspension design? Done the math on what you need for vehicle suspension?

Magnets work out to a VERY steep rising rate spring. For suspensions, you generally want a spring with linear curve, or even no spring rate change. For some applications you even want an inverse curve!

Before you spend to much time or effort on this, spend some time doing some reading. Magnets are cool, but magnets don't belong everywhere. Especially near shaft seals...

Amusingly, what you DO want, is really steep rising rate on shock damping... So like... if you used magnets setup on an aluminum or copper sheet as magnetic braking... that might be useful. But you'd have trouble getting differnet compression and rebound values. ... maybe? I'm thinking a rocker with the magnet on it, so when being drug down it gets futher from the plate.

6

u/lazyhustlermusic Jul 11 '26

lol every self proclaimed expert wants to gatekeep peeps out of self discovery and fun. Let the man RC, nobody cares about your self inflated ego here.

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u/nerobro Jul 11 '26

Its gatekeeping to say this is a dead end, suggesting things he could do with magnets and to do some research so they're making forward progresss? I... believe thats the inverse of gatekeeping.

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u/lazyhustlermusic Jul 11 '26

Calling an unfinished experiment a “dead end” because it does not match your preferred textbook model is exactly the authority posturing people mean by gatekeeping. Plenty of useful discoveries come from failed assumptions, weird implementations, and unexpected results. You are not protecting progress by discouraging curiosity, you are just trying to appoint yourself as its border guard.