New ArndtCraft brand and product line

0 Nov. 14, 2017, 9:50 a.m.

By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com

ArndtCraft has just launched their new site and product line. The new product line includes a 1/10-scale touring car parts tray/shock build station, 30mm fan inlet bell mouth, Team Associated B64/B64D front brace, B64/B64D 30mm fan shroud mount, rotor sleeves, and more.

ArndtCraft is the brainchild of Mike Arndt. Mike, a former motocross rider, who suffered a life-changing injury when he broke his T6-7 vertebrae, leaving him paralyzed.

"In the rehab hospital my father brought me up a Traxxas electric 4 Tec. The entire able body to para transition can be rough at first. The R/C was an escape from my mind, body, and condition. It's always been that for me, and much more. Not solely an escape, but a way for me to be the creative (tinkering) person I am. I can remember as a kid, playing with Legos, erector sets, electronics, model cars, and my first R/C car at 10-11 years old; an AE RC10L. Since then, I've taught myself TIG welding and fabrication, which has been quite an adventure. I've been in this industry about 15 years now. I've worked for a few big companies and currently employed at Underground Racing in Charlotte, North Carolina. Through the different race teams and shops I've worked in, I've picked up quite a bit that directly correlates to the R/C world.

I began racing off-road R/C roughly 2 years ago now, and try to attend all of the larger South Eastern events. Running these events, getting wheel time in, I've met so many extremely helpful people, and built some good friendships. I mean, when a grown man carries another grown man up the drivers stand...doesn't get anymore personal. Haha. The R/C world has become another family to me, when my own family is 500 miles away.

ArndtCraft seemed to have snowballed after discovering 3D printing for myself. Stemmed from looking for solutions to my electric cars running HOT and fading halfway through a run. I looked around and could not find any efficient way to cool these motors. Not a single cooling fan that utilized every bit of the fans cooling potential. To break it down, your average automobile has a cooling fan and shroud fixed to the cars radiator. Remove the shroud and you will most undoubtedly overheat quickly. Proper shrouding utilizes the every bit of air the fan produces. So once I felt motivated to create a solution, I opened Solidworks and began sketching ideas. Literally hundreds of scrap parts later, the ideas became reality.

There is something very rewarding about pulling an idea from with in, into the real world. I've made many prototypes of the parts I offer, and realized quickly, the most efficient route for me was to have a manufacture produce them in quantity. Some of the parts I offer, such as the tool tray and rotor sleeve, are still FDM 3D printed by me. The process in which the fan shrouds are manufactured, is referred to as SLS. SLS uses a very fine Nylon powder, which is sintered layer by layer with laser technology. Short of injection molding, this is the best route I've found for producing fine detail and strength in these parts. Usually the process will go from idea, concept, 3D modeling, test fitting and testing, and occasionally repeat...until I have something that works and proves worthwhile."

CLICK HERE to view and shop the entire ArndtCraft product line.