RC modelers create a remote controlled 'Bed Mobile' and publish 3D files

Between the ability to create both prototypes as well as finished products themselves, a 3D printer has become the ultimate tool in a hobbyist’s ‘tool kit’ when it comes to creating entirely original designs quickly, easily and cheaply.  Among other hobbies that have seen a surge of growth in the last few years - and subsequently, the use of 3D printing - is building remote controlled vehicles.  

While remote controlled - or RC - vehicles have been in existence for a few decades now, the rise of drones and action cameras - among other factors - have helped make it a popular hobby again for those who enjoy the process of creating things from scratch.  While drones have been among the more popular builds, vehicles including cars, boats and off-road vehicles have also been very popular.  Additionally, with the rise of YouTube, more hobbyists are increasingly sharing their build experiences with the rest of the world.  Among others are the LANE Boys, who recently chose to build what is perhaps a first in the RC community with their recently-acquired 3D printer: a remote controlled bed.  

“A few years ago we were amused by the motorized furniture creations of Edd China. So we decided to build (the bed),” said the LANE Boys on their blog.  

The bed was chosen both for its whimsical concept as well as its ability to fit a standard RC chassis.  To make theirs, the LANE Boys used a Tamiya TT02  - a popular chassis that provides the power for RC vehicles.

Because the Tamiya TT02 provided all of the necessary power and components to propel the bed, all that was need was to create the ‘skin’ of the chassis.  To do so, the Brothers used the Open Source CAD software OpenSCAD.  

The final model of the bed is constructed around a 2 mm thick plate of 390 x 230 mm acrylic that all fit around the TT02 chassis - while also ensuring that there is enough clearance for suspension travel and steering of the wheels.

Since all sides of the bed are larger than the print area of our printer, they had to be printed in sections and glued together. To achieve good strength we added slots into the parts and printed tabs.  The material used by the Brothers for the parts is high impact polystyrene filament (HIPS).

Once the parts had been 3D printed, they used Tamiya cement to glue everything together.  Once the parts were assembled, the bed was painted to give it more of a ‘wooden’ look before fastening it to the acrylic plate that was previously installed onto the chassis.  

To finalize the model and make it ‘road legal’, the Brothers added a license plate and lights with some spare parts that they had laying around from an Axial light kit.  All of the necessary wire components were concealed in a tube that was modeled into the rear end of the bed to ensure that no wired would detract from the bed design.  

 

Once the bed frame itself was made, the Brothers tried to make a mattress using cloth-covered foam, however it did not work and so they opted for a 3D printed mattress that was made of six individual parts.  Of course, a mattress needs sheets on it and so the brothers repurposed an old bedsheet by cutting it up and sewing the pieces into finished bed sheets that perfectly fit the mattress.     

In total, the whole project took the Brothers approximately one month from start to finish including the 3D design.  The total print time was 33 hours; 16 of which were for the mattress parts alone.

For those who want to create their own Bed-Mobile, the LANE Brothers have generous supplied all of the necessary CAD files to print the necessary pieces over on the project's Thingiverse page.