9.1.25.
20:01 Arduino Controlled Rc Car : 10 Steps - Instructables
Arduino Controlled Rc Car
By BONEVET in Workshop3D Printing
Introduction: Arduino Controlled Rc Car
This is the RC car that we created using an Arduino uno. It took us about two months to complete
it. Below, you can see all the steps you need for building this RC car.
Here is the list of what you will need:
1. Arduino Uno Board
2. Arduino Bluetooth
3. 1 Servo motor
4. 12 volt motor
5. Flex filament 2.85 mm (Black)
6. PLA filament 2.85 mm (Green, Silver)
7. Batteries
8. Battery holders
9. Box for Arduino
10. Power bank (optional)
11. Drill
12. Relays
13. Cables
14. Epoxy Adhesive
15. Rubber Mallet
16. 4 Rims
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9.1.25. 20:01 Arduino Controlled Rc Car : 10 Steps - Instructables
Step 1: Programming
The program that we used was online, but we edited it based on our needs, because we used
relays instead of motor controller. The code is this:
Step 2: How Each Part Works
The car moves with a 12 volt motor and we used spur gears, so they will enable the rod to be
spined. The motor is connected to the relay, which is four channel relay that enables us to go
forward and backward. For the controller we used an arduino uno;for the joystick we wanted to
use our phones so we installed a bluetooth module. For the energy of the arduino we used a
power bank: the reason is that our batteries weren't capable of giving enough energy for both
(arduino board and moving part). For the treading we used a servo motor.
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9.1.25. 20:01 Arduino Controlled Rc Car : 10 Steps - Instructables
Step 3: Chassis
First of all you will need to make the chassis of the car. When we first started building the RC we
made the chassis using wood but it did not look appealing, so we decided to 3D print it. We used
Sketch Up Program to design it, and then we printed it with PLA material. Since our 3D printer in 20
x 20 cm, we had to split our design into two pieces and connect them after they were printed.
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9.1.25. 20:01 Arduino Controlled Rc Car : 10 Steps - Instructables
Step 4: THE BOX
We designed the box using Adobe Illustrator, but for easier way you can make it using the online
site - click here. When we were thinking how to make it to stay fixed, the best way was to cut all the
sides by using indention (just like in the picture - the transparent box). After the design is finished,
you have to go to File/Export/save as type: (choose) AutoCAD Interchange File (*.DXF). You can
name it as you wish and choose the place where you want to save it.
- "Why as .dxf? – Because the file than can be read from the programs such as Corel Draw and
LaserCut.
13.5 x 11 cm, height 4.5 cm
In this box, we set the Arduino boards and the relays, and then we did the whole cable
management.
Note: You can use wood board for the box, but we decided to use Plexi glass because we wanted
to be able to see what's inside it.
Step 5: Gears
We 3D printed the gears as well. We used Autodesk Inventor to design our gears, because it offers
a really good and easy way to make what you want. We used the same material as for the chassis:
PLA (green).
We used spur gears: one of them bigger and the other smaller (Measurements are given in the
attached designs). We connected them to the motor at the back of the chassis.
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9.1.25. 20:01 Arduino Controlled Rc Car : 10 Steps - Instructables
Step 6: Steering
For the steering we again were based on our 3D printer and PLA. We designed it using ScetchUP.
We used a servo motor which we connected to two steering rods, which were attached to two
steering blocks on each side and then we connected everything to two steering hubs on each side.
Step 7: Batteries
For the batteries we used lithium ion batteries (18650) which we got from some unusable laptops.
Battery holders' design we got from the internet: [Link]
We downloaded the file, 3D printed it and then we decided to glue it to the chassis. We then
realized it was not a good idea because if we wanted to be able to remove the batteries from the
chassis to charge them, we could not do so if we fixed them. So we used Velcro (it became such a
good solution).
- Below you can download the .stl file of the battery holder that we used.
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9.1.25. 20:01 Arduino Controlled Rc Car : 10 Steps - Instructables
Step 8: Wheels
For the wheels we wanted to buy them because we had a deadline for our project but we couldn't
find the ones that we wanted, so we designed them.
For designing, we used Autodesk Inventor with the help of this tutorial on YouTube:
Creating a wheel on Autodesk Inventor
When we printed them we had a problem, because they did not become strong enough, so we
printed the inside part again and used epoxy glue to fix it to the whole rim.
As for the tread, at first we printed them with flex filament but there were not enough friction. We
used some sort of thick electrical tape that we glued to the rim (attached below) and that seemed to
work just fine.
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9.1.25. 20:01 Arduino Controlled Rc Car : 10 Steps - Instructables
Step 9: Cover
Since we are converting an actual car to an electric vehicle we thought that maybe our RC should
look like the Twingo the we are converting. Designing it did not take a long time, but printing it did.
First we had to split our design into two parts because it wouldn't fit in our 3D printer. It took
approximately 20h in total to print it.
Step 10: Bumpers
Here at BONEVET Makerspace, we have a lot of kids who want to play with the RC so we needed
bumpers to protect it. We 3D printed the bumpers with flex filament and it took about 20 minutes to
print both of them.
We made 3 designs in total, but only 1 of them worked, because 2 of them were not designed good
enough. The problem was that those were not enough protective.
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