Scout is an experimental vehicle that can be printed by anyone with a 3D printer with at least 155mm of travel in one axis. The original Scout vehicles were printed on an Ultimaker, but we also recommend Printrbot, Lulzbot, and Type A Machines.
Scout does not use any screws. Sourcing screws is annoying and time consuming, and screwing things together is boring. Scout snaps together using interlocking parts and clips. The whole vehicle can be disassembled and reassembled in just a few minutes.
For more info on Scout's recommended wireless platform, check out http://FlutterWireless.com
Scout has no crash protection for frontal crashes. Small frontal crashes can damage the steering servo horn and large direct crashes can crush the front frame member. A redesign is in the works to support a bumper and improve steering protection. Scout V1 liked to flip over and roll back onto the wheels. Scout V2 has a flatter top and is more likely to land square upside down, requiring the operator to go flip it back over. A more turtle-like top shell should alleviate this. Two pins in the steering system have no retaining mechanism. They will not fall out under normal operation but can fall out when Scout is upside down. This usually happens when showing someone how cool Scout's gears are.
See this blog post about Scout for some more information. http://community.flutterwireless.com/t/introducing-flutter-scout/208
Please see the Flutter community forum for details on assembly and parts ordering for Scout. http://community.flutterwireless.com/t/flutter-scout-robot/203
Flutter Scout's gears use the "Solidworks Gear Generator" file from thingiverse user msruggles, found here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8077 The developer has given me permission to use the gear files in Scout.
Scout was created in early 2015 by Taylor Alexander, and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0), which can be viewed at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
If you would like to help with Scout or have questions for a news article, please reach out to me via email. My email is the same as my github username, but at gmail.com
http://makezine.com/2015/03/12/3d-print-this-kickass-snap-together-rc-race-car/ http://blog.atmel.com/2015/03/12/scout-is-a-3d-printable-flutter-based-rc-car/
These were the issues in Scout Version 1. Essentially all of them have been resolved in Version 2.
The current vehicle was designed quickly over a few weekends as a proof of concept, and so it has many flaws. A short list: The right angle mounting of the motor creates a week point with the bevel gears. The wheels are supposed to slip on, but using my printer they need to be hammered into place with a mallet. The steering requires a piece of bent piano wire, and should be replaced with a printed linkage. The body shell easily comes off, and so tape should be wrapped around the body of the system. There is no hole in the body shell for a power switch, so without modification the tape needs to be cut to toggle power. After agressive driving the motor gets hot and eventually wiggles in its mount.
Despite these flaws, the car is impressibly capable. It can even pull ten foot wheelies.