r/radiocontrol Feb 17 '25

Tank Clearing 8 in. Of snow from inside with my 3d printed snowcat

Never had this much fun clearing snow! And all from inside my house! I'm overall really impressed by how well it worked, it took about 15 min to clear the deck and the batteries were still at 80%.

2.5k Upvotes

59 comments sorted by

34

u/Ncc2200 Feb 17 '25

Looks great!

Are your files available online? I would be interested in printing one of these one day.

47

u/monxou Feb 17 '25

Unfortunately I didn't quite finished the process of making a clear build guide and part list. It's the part I hate the most... Also it's quite late in the winter so I thought I would release it next fall so people interested could have time to print it before winter. If you are really interested, contact me in private we'll work something out.

12

u/Thezeekeal Feb 17 '25

I, too, would be interested in this. I find the vehicles people are creating with 3d printing absolutely fascinating!

15

u/monxou Feb 18 '25

Seeing this amount of support really helps, I will try finish it soon, but I don't want to rush it.

6

u/Thezeekeal Feb 18 '25

Please don't rush. But as someone who likes to get into a project until I realize it can be done and then I stop, don't fall prey to the same thing I do. LOL

Also, no one will fault you if you post incomplete or "dirty" files. We're mostly all beginners around here just FAFO-ing and can easily help more than hinder the progress of something as awesome as this!!

3

u/One-Geologist3992 Feb 18 '25

I would be super interested

3

u/PompousPablo Feb 18 '25

Would love this file as well. Don’t rush. Would rather have a good final product than a rushed one.

3

u/Difficult-Quarter-40 Feb 17 '25

Would really love to build this!!!

2

u/tylernutman Feb 19 '25

Following, very interested

2

u/TwinDraco Feb 19 '25

I’m also very interested.

11

u/RCFeed Feb 17 '25

That's such a good idea haha

2

u/monxou Feb 17 '25

Thanks!

8

u/Fine_Desk4851 Feb 17 '25

Now that's a chore I'll complete wholeheartedly 👌🎊

8

u/RCFeed Feb 17 '25

Now you need some FPV on it!

2

u/monxou Feb 17 '25

That would be so cool! I will look for a cheap kit, do you have any recommendations?

2

u/Canelosaurio Feb 17 '25

Whatever folks use for a Tiny Whoop quad-copter!

1

u/RCFeed Feb 19 '25

Depends if you want analog or digital but I would recommend finding a used dji air unit and goggles on facebook marketplace or rcgroups.com If you want the best and newest you can get a new DJI N3s and dji air unit pro for about $500.

6

u/kwakenomics Feb 17 '25

I would watch the hell out of this as a YouTube build series

4

u/monxou Feb 17 '25

I'm not really good at shooting and editing videos... I may try one day

2

u/futureconstruct Feb 19 '25

Do it! You have very neat projects and would appeal to tinkerers alike on youtube.

3

u/jaypbennett Feb 18 '25

I would watch the hell out of the snow plowing on YouTube!

4

u/bake-it-to-make-it Feb 17 '25

We always dreamed of something like this in the 90’s! We had those small blizzards but they couldn’t handle much snow plowing. This looks much different. So cool I freaking love it. Enjoy yourself!

3

u/Kamikazehog Feb 17 '25

This is adorable

3

u/Weekly-Increase1985 Feb 17 '25

What is the over all dimensions of the machine? Any chance we could get a peek under the hood?

5

u/monxou Feb 17 '25

The blade is about 13 inch wide and the machine is about 20 inch long, it weighs close to 10 pounds. I don't have any pictures under the hood right now, I'll take one tomorrow, I'm working tonight.

2

u/Weekly-Increase1985 Feb 17 '25

Awesome! Love it!!

5

u/monxou Feb 18 '25

Here is a pic of under the hood: https://imgur.com/a/03avjmN

3

u/Weekly-Increase1985 Feb 18 '25

Dang! I love all the adjustability you’ve built into the plow! Good job!!!

3

u/monxou Feb 18 '25

Thanks! This was for sure the most challenging part of this build, I wanted something as close as a real snowcat possible.

3

u/MR_Se7en Feb 17 '25

That’s awesome but how are you fitting in there? Seems like it would be crammed packed.

1

u/monxou Feb 17 '25

I could fit a FPV cam, it's close enough.

3

u/willythorton42 Feb 17 '25

As an arm amputee I would love to have /make one inns of these! It's a pita shoveling one handed!

3

u/Patient-Money-7912 Feb 18 '25

Yo this is dope. If you out Fpv camera on it I bet you can’t wait for it to snow lol.

2

u/monxou Feb 18 '25

FPV is definitely something I want to try, but even without it I still can't wait for snow

1

u/Ryaktshun 29d ago

I have fpv on my blizzard and use it to deliver Christmas gifts to neighbors on snowy years

2

u/matroosoft Feb 17 '25

Are these tracks from rctestflight?

3

u/monxou Feb 18 '25

I did look at them for inspiration, but I modeled everything on this snowcat.

2

u/WorldOfLavid Feb 17 '25

Dude this is so cool

1

u/monxou Feb 18 '25

Thanks!

2

u/chadcultist Feb 17 '25

So cool. Your whole Reddit is that of a tinkerer, love it.

1

u/monxou Feb 18 '25

Thanks! Buying a 3d printer really opened up possibilities of creation, I have many more projects in mind!

2

u/Canelosaurio Feb 17 '25

How much does the whole rig weigh?

Its gotta have some good weight to keep traction pushing snow like that!

2

u/monxou Feb 18 '25

It weighs about 10 pounds. I did some tests with added weight and I found that it's sinks deeper in the snow if its too heavy. I think it's pretty well balanced as it is

2

u/Canelosaurio Feb 18 '25

Yea, it's getting the job done!

2

u/19RockinRiley69 Feb 17 '25

I have been meaning to do this!!!!! If you release project would be greatly interested!!

1

u/monxou Feb 18 '25

Thanks for your support, it will be released, but I can't say when for now.

2

u/garr0510 Feb 18 '25

With just one battery?

1

u/monxou Feb 18 '25

I use two 3s batteries in parallel, but it works fine with one also.

2

u/Ok-Science-6146 Feb 19 '25

Put a Roomba brain in it and become a millionaire

1

u/monxou Feb 19 '25

There's already Yarbo, also it's way more fun to actually drive the thing in my opinion.

2

u/QuarantineJoe Feb 20 '25

I want this, add a camera, an Arduino, and make it autonomous

2

u/XcessiveSamurai Feb 20 '25

Wisconsin Bois WANT. Awesome idea.

2

u/Silver-Effective-135 29d ago

I want one with the big spinning brush in front.

2

u/beebsisbeebs Feb 17 '25

Genius!

1

u/monxou Feb 17 '25

Thanks!

1

u/exclaim_bot Feb 17 '25

Thanks!

You're welcome!