Forum

PS Waverley

Doug I will PM David. Been busy all day dealing with casting problems on the wheels of the Vincent and making dozens of dummy nuts'n'bolts. I would have thought you'd have used Modelling Timbers for pre-drilled stanchions. His prices were so low, but now, alas, he's gone. I would probably make a little jig to drill the cast stanchions. I think boredom would set in before I broke a drill, but you're bang on about hand held minidrills. They go too fast and cannot be held really firmly. I use mine for cutting and grinding, shaping and polishing. I have a very small pillar drill with a buggy motor adapted to hold a small Jacobs chuck and run off a variable . Today I drilled 40 1mm holes in the pattern for the Vincent rear wheel to assist the mould maker. All went very well. Cheers, Martin

6 years ago by Westquay

Forum

Charging NiMhs, one for Doug?...

"Heat getting ridder" Just what you don't want your craft to do "SINK" Wall wart is usually used to describe any plug-in charger or i;e;crimbo lights.

6 years ago by Wingcoax

Forum

3d printing

Top prize to Marky, it is indeed a willys jeep, I found a 1/10 scale model on Thingiverse, I'm printing everything at 63% to get 1/16 scale. in comparison to the LCM3 it isn't taking very long to print, dependant on how it turns out I may print a few 😎👍 More pics tonight🎈 The printer runs off a at 12 volts, to be honest I don't pay any attention to power consumption 🤓 Cheers Wayne

7 years ago by Midlife306

Response

Taycol Pt 3. New Brushes Pt1

Ain't nuttn cheap about Proxxon. I only got my Proxxon drill and in a once in a lifetime deal! You have a 3D printer? Can you do the CAD for it? My son also has a 3D machine and does some good stuff using free files, but he's having luck with a thing called TinkerCAD. Martin

7 years ago by Westquay

Forum

What type of wire?

Hmmm! Didn't think it was necessary to get into this as PTFE is practically the industry standard, except for special cables used in aerospace and naval shipbuilding (my direct background experience). All the recommended types most probably have PTFE insulation and all used stranded copper wire to improve current carrying capacity and reduce losses. I never had any sweat stripping PTFE, been using the tool in the photo for donkey's years with ease. Adjustable for all sizes we are likely to need; grip, twist and pull and you're done! In emergency I have also 'carefully' used small (sharp!) side cutters or the ubiquitous Swiss Army Knife - no problem. Can't recommend using varnished CW like that, not what it's meant for. As you say solenoids, s, not to mention inductances for various circuits (including the all pervading solar garden lights, ever wondered how they make a 2V LED work on a 1.2V NiMH? Oscillation and inductance!) and of course E Motors! I On the electrical side: A single wire like this will have less current carrying capacity and warm up more than a stranded wire of the same diameter. Skin effects and so on! the warmth is wasting energy you want in the motor. On the practical side: A messy and time consuming business, and what happens when you want / need to mod something? Tear the ship apart? Not surprised you have never done it! Don't even want to think about what happens if the wire gets hot inside an epoxy jacket 😡 Also, before your can solder it you have to burn off the varnish, which produces toxic smoke so you have to work outside (!) or in front of an extractor / filter, as I do. 'Every home should have one' 😉 But I only use TCW or varnished CW for fixed links on circuit breadboards and test jigs. Or sometimes for detailing on models; railings, ladders, masts, scale antennas etc. Very good for the Yagi antennas of the first generation naval radars etc. 👍 Hope this clarifies and helps the novices to cut the wheat from the chaff. Happy modelling 😎

7 years ago by RNinMunich

Forum

What type of wire?

I am not sure from your original question if you were asking about sizing of conductors or on which type of conductor/insulation was the most suitable. The previous contributors have covered the size issue and here are a few thoughts on other features. From your comments it looked to me you were interested in having wiring in models you wanted to be around for a long time which is quite likely. I think my fireboat is over 50 years old now and is still stuck to gether with the original glue, but has had a number of up dates to its internals from very messy diesel to brushed dc motors. Most reasonably priced wiring is made from copper or tin coated copper wire if you need to do a lot of soldering, with pvc insulation, if pvc is irradiated this gives it a longer life. As far as I can see from my house wiring, so long as it is not flexed, ordinary pvc insulation lasts a long time, but does become brittle. In the defence/aerospace business since the second world war there have been various exotic systems used ( up until the end of the war rubber was the general insulator which did not last very long until it perished ). Various ones being silicone rubber internal insolators covered with glass fibre woven covers, this is horrible stuff to deal with when stripping, vynel with a woven nylon covering being another. With the advent of irradiated pvc and ptfe these were totally replaced. Ptfe is a very good insulator and is very stable and not attacked by any common liquids or solvents. Due to its good insulating properties the thickness of casing can be very thin, the problem with it is it is difficult to strip so you have to have a good pair of strippers. Another option in a model boat installation would be to use varnised copper wire like that used in various electrical items, solenoids, s etc. then stick this down on to a bed of epoxy resin and then add an extra coat, a bit like a fitted p.c.b. I have never done it but if it was well done could look quite interesting. If the radio side is a major consideration the above is not very applicable as, as has been said by others the choice is largely decided by the equipment you acquire.

7 years ago by nasraf

Blog

The wheelhouse navigation light.

While the paint is drying on the hull there’s time to continue working on more of the white metal fittings. The body of the small navigation light on the wheelhouse roof is just big enough to set a small 3mm blue LED into so I started hollowing it out with a fine drill bit in a pin drill. The technique is to start with a small bit and by drilling one or two turns at a time and the backing the drill out to remove the swarf, this ensures that the bit does not jam in the very soft white metal, and then gradually increasing the bit size to the required diameter for the 3mm LED. The wire for the LED was taken from a miniature from a defunct power supply, this tinned copper wire is very fine and is insulated with enamel. The legs of the LED were trimmed as short as possible and the wire soldered to each and insulated with some fine heat shrink, then the pair of wires were passed through some more heat shrink to form the connection cable and shrunk down. The base of the LED was also filed down slightly to reduce it’s diameter for a snug fit in the body of the fitting. After a quick test with a battery and dropper resistor the LED was epoxied into the body. Before painting the LED was ‘frosted’ with a fine abrasive and the body cleaned up ready for paint. I used some Humbrol ‘Maskol’ on the LED before spraying with some white gloss.

7 years ago by robbob

Forum

Pulsing ESC

HI Eric Seems a neat installation. However the rx and aerial appear to be right next to the ESC and motor with the aerial actually running alongside the motor. Speed 600 motors are fairly good at generating electricaol noise, especially at speed, and it is possible that it is this interference that is causing your receiver to lose signal in the middle of the lake. Ideally your high current power wires need to run as far away from any receiver wires and the aerial. With 2.4 Ghz the aerial must at all times be above the waterline as the signal cannot penetrate water, unlike say a 40Mhz system. I usually try and run he power wires on one side of a boat with the receiver wires on the other. Running power and rx low current wires in close proximity can result in noise being induced ( bit like a ). I had a problem with a model Trent lifeboat where I had placed the rx with the aerial pointing down into the boat as it seemed sensible, but it was below the waterline and about 10yds out it started stopping and starting. Looking at your videos the signal is being lost causing the ESC to reset. As you apply power the signal is again lost and the process repeats. Initially try just moving the Rx so the aerial is pointing away from the motor and ESC. ideally you need to move it away from the ESC as that is also a high source of interference. Hopefully your rx will then not lose signal. if this is a new TX/rx its possible you have a faulty set. Can you run the tx in reduced mode to check output? Sorry I do not have a FlySky set so am not familiar with its settings. I also notice that you appear to have a separate voltage dropper. The Viper has a built in BEC so you can't use both at the same time. You can cut the red wire in the lead from the ESC to the receiver. I usually just remove the red connection from the plug and tape it to the lead so I can replace on another boat. Please let me know how you progress. There are other steps that can help reduce the motor noise, but its not normally necessary with 2.4Ghz sets. Cheers Dave 😀

8 years ago by Dave M

Forum

Dangers of charging LIPOS

If your charger is not mains driven you will need a power supply probably a couple of volts higher than the max number of cells voltage you intend to charge. The supply will also need to be continuously rated at greater than the max current you are using to charge your battery(ies). Your charger should specify what power source is required as well as the max number of cells and current. If all your charging requirements are

9 years ago by Dave M