Remote-controlled cars can get incredibly fast and complex (and expensive) the farther into the hobby you get. So much so that a lot of things that are missing from the experience of driving a real car start to make a meaningful impact. [Indeterminate Design] has a few cars like this which are so fast that it becomes difficult to react to their behavior fast enough through sight alone. To help solve this problem and bridge the gap between the experience of driving a real car and an RC one, he’s added force feedback steering to the car’s remote control.

The first thing to tackle is the data throughput required to get a system like this working wirelessly. Relying heavily on the two cores in each of a pair of ESP32s, along with a long-range, high-speed wireless communications protocol called ESP-NOW, enough data from the car can be sent to make this possible but it does rely on precise timing to avoid jitter in the steering wheel. Some filtering is required as well, but with the small size of everything in this build it’s also a challenge not to filter out all of the important high-frequency forces. With the code written, [Indeterminate Design] turned to the 3D printer to build the prototype controller with built-in motors to provide the haptic feedback.

The other half of the project involves sensing the forces in the RC car which will then get sent back to the remote. After experimenting with a mathematical model to avoid having to source expensive parts and finding himself at a deadend with that method, eventually a bi-directional load cell was placed inside the steering mechanism which solved this problem. With all of these pieces working together, [Indeterminate Design] has a working force feedback steering mechanism which allows him to feel bumps, understeer, and other sensations, especially while doing things like drifting or driving through grass, that would be otherwise unavailable to drivers of RC cars. The only thing we could think of to bring this even more into realistic simulation territory would be to add something like a first-person view like high-speed drones often have.

You’ve probably seen street performers or family members making giant bubbles at some point in your life. But what if you could go ever bigger…even approaching a bubble of infinite length? That’s precisely what [Engineezy] tried to do.

The common technique behind blowing big bubbles involves attaching a thick rope to two sticks, then dipping the sticks in bubble fluid. The two sticks can then be spread apart to act as a big triangular bubble wand to create massive bubbles.

So the idea here to create a giant bubble-blowing frame using the same technique, continually feed it with bubble fluid, and stick it on top of a car. Spread the wings of the bubble wand, and watch the bubble grow. Oh, and this setup uses special bubble fluid—made by mixing soap, water, and veterinary J-Lube in specific ratios. Feeding the car-mounted wand with fluid was achieved by tubing delivering a continuous flow. Early small-scale attempts created wild 25 foot bubbles, while the car version made one over 50 feet long. Not infinite, but very cool.

As it turns out, the science of bubbles is deep and interesting.

Drift cars are cool, but they’re also expensive. If you don’t have money for endless tires, fuel, and engine rebuilds, you might like to get involved at the RC scale instead. [Max Imagination] has just the build to get you started.

The design uses 3D printing for the majority of the chassis. Rigidity is front of mind, as is creating the right  steering and suspension geometry for smooth, controllable drifts. The drivetrain is 3D-printed too, using plastic gears and universal-joint axles combined with off-the-shelf bearings. Steering is controlled via an off-the-shelf servo, with a brushless motor putting power down to all four wheels. While drifting at full scale is best achieved with rear-wheel-drive, it’s easier to control at the small scale with four driven wheels.

True to the DIY ethos, an Arduino-based RC system is used to drive the steering servo and motor speed controller, with a home-built pistol-grip controller. It also activates a small power supply which runs little humidifier modules, which turn water into a visible vapor for a fun smoke effect. It doesn’t really imitate tire smoke, since it disappears nearly the instant the car moves, but it’s still a neat effect.

It’s a neat build that makes a great starting point for your dive into RC. Meanwhile, if you’re more about speed than getting sideways, we’ve seen a homebrew RC car designed to that end as well. Video after the break.