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nowinaminute

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Everything posted by nowinaminute

  1. I'm on the fence with this. I agree in principle, for the most part, but on the other hand, I sometimes enjoy making stuff handle better. Ironically, my Lunchbox with DT-02 front suspension and 4-link rear is probably one of my favourite runners, in large part because the rear suspension doesn't lock up under throttle anymore. I find it incredibly satisfying to watch the rear end glide over bumps now. On the other hand, some vehicles I prefer to keep as they are. Sometimes it can be fun to try and keep inside the limitations of something's abilities.
  2. Uneventful day, but I did pop this on youtube. This was the day sand ingestion wrecked the TD gearbox, so it was a bit of a fail lol. All patched up and better sealed, now, though, so there should be more soon!
  3. I really like it! The mix of mono and colour reminds me of movies like Sin City, in a weird way. If we're going to have "lazy" redecos, it at least helps if the schemes are interesting, and this one is really left field. Kudos, Tamiya.
  4. I can confirm no noticeable sand inside the gearbox casings! But there was a little alloy dust! That's how a Tamiya alloy pinion holds up to one spritied run on brushless! Now replaced with the RW hardened steel pinion which I wanted to out in to begin with but had to wait for a replacement as they sent the wrong one first time.
  5. Good news, everyone! The silicone sealant appears to have done it's job! It doesn't look like any sand has made it's way through, here. And even the crummy 15T kit pinion I was forced to use because I was sent the wrong one has held up fine and I really gave the thing badword on the throttle. The only sand present is stuck to the outside of the silicone. I could have left it time to cure fully before driving but I figured it might make a better seal if I installed the motor mount when it wasn't completely dry and it seems to have paid off. It made a lovely "schluck" kind of sound when I removed the motor mount and required a little effort to pull away, too, so it seems like it made a really good seal. This would be a good time to stress the importance of using that little card gasket, too, even though it's a "sealed can" motor and even though it seems counter intuitive to not use the motor mount as an additional heat sink. This applies to many other models too and depends on how the motor mount area is designed. But as an example, on this gearbox, the "lip" that is designed to prevent sand ingress does not prevent sand and dirt from reaching the some of the unused motor holes on the motor which partially line up with unused holes on the motor mount. Without a cover in place, sand is free to get into the motor via the holes and on some models, it can even come back out of over holes and get into the gearbox. Another option could be to put grub screws into the unpopulated holes, that way you could still get the heatsink effect from the motor mount. Anyways, looks like it's a win! I'm going to strip it all again just to be thorough then apply a new bead of grease and silicone and then run it till something breaks.
  6. OK...so I was kind of nervous to see what was going in in the gearbox, hoping my efforts had at least made some difference to the amount of sand getting in. I decided to be a wimp and take off the prop join cover first, just to get a sneak peek at what was going on. As you would have seen, that entire compartment was covered in a blend of sand and powered pinion and spur gear so anything in this little section would give a clue to what's happening in the main box. Well, I took the cover off, and was met with this scene! I think there's one grain of sand in there and I'm pretty sure that just fell off from the outside as I was taking the cover off. The gears were already looking roughed up like that because I resued the same ones. This is a very good start! I still need to take it all apart but that fact that this compartment is effectively spotless compared to the first time is very encouraging!
  7. Took her for a spin, great fun as always. No idea how it went in terms of sand ingress. Not like I can go by ear, it made a right racket from the second I finished building it 😂 Will take a look inside tomorrow probably, when the 16T pinion turns up.
  8. Lol that's literally all the stuff I get. Those Kodak Alkaline batteries are ace and I've used the primer loads of times. Now and then, if you're lucky, they'll get a job lot of brand name car paints in or various other brand name stuff for cheap, that's when I fill the backpack up lol So many things but hard to recall off the top of my head. Cable ties, mounting tape, little LED head torches refurbished as makeshift night time running lights, a couple of little selfie sticks I use for RC videos that are still holding up after years, microfiber clothes etc etc Clear nail varnish I use for retaining bearings on shafts and in seats, too, so they don't start slipping. (Thank god for self service lol)
  9. By the way, in the process of mashing the gearbox the first time, I did get some nice video, at least. So I'll post it up when I finally get around to editing it.
  10. Looks like I'll make it to the beach for a run today. Hopefully I won't be ordering another gear bag tonight!
  11. Aww that's a shame. Despite half the stuff now being way more than £1, you could still find some useful stuff in there amongst the rubbish. Definitely picked up more than a couple of bits that have helped with RC stuff!
  12. I decided to just live with the slight tight spot between spur and diff and hopefully it will bed in. So the gearbox is all reassembled now with a bead of grease all around the the contact area of the two halves. For the lip on the motor mount, I put a (very untidy) bead of silicone sealant. Who knew it was so difficult to get a nice consistent layer with a little tube of poundland silicone sealant 😅 Still, once its dry, it should do the job fine and make nice pliable and soft seal that can compensate for any flexing between the mount and the gearbox Had to go with a 15t pinion for now while I wait for modelsport to send the correct 16T one I ordered (turned out RW racing put an 18t in a packet marked 16t) I may be able to test it this evening but not sure yet. Fingers crossed! Hopefully it's now sand proof but even if not, as long as there's progress, at least I will know I'm going on the right direction. To be honest, even the first time around I expect it would have held out 5x as long with a decent steel pinion so even if I've somehow made no improvements, which I highly doubt, it would still probably last a lot longer.
  13. I don't think Sanyo or any other LSD manufacturer ever made sub c cells, sadly. It's a shame because even the AA Eneloops pack quite a punch for what they are. I've seen them just about handle sustained 10A loads on flashlight forums. Probably not recommended for continual use, but impressive for an AA, none the less. I've managed to run 280 and 380 brushless motors from them fornshort periods where any other AA NIMH I've tried wouldn't even get the motor turning. I bet they would perform pretty well in sub c format, along with the LSD benefits. I don't think they even make normal C or D cells, though. I'm pretty sure they have AAA and AA cells inside, running in parallel. I guess they just came too late in the game for it to be worthwhile them making them in sub C format, especially if it wasn't even economical to make them in regular C and D without "cheating" In regards to "balancing" NIMH, it's worth remembering you can sort of balance them by doing a very low current trickle charge with a "dumb" wall charger of say 150ma output. NIMH cells can happily dissipate that excess energy as heat so its possible to leave the pack charging until all cells are full. Definitely not recommended with higher currents, like 1a+ though, as it will cook the cells.
  14. So, that brought me up to tonight, when I set aside some time to re-assemble the transmission, or so I thought! First fail was that modelsport sent me an 18T RW pinion and not the 16T I ordered! I wouldn't mind so much, but 18T isn't even an option on this buggy! Guess I will have to email them in the morning. Putting that aside temporarily, I continued with putting the gearbox back together. Next issue! With just the spur and diff gear installed, there's a noticeable tight spot when you turn the transmission. Now, I know too well that the bevel gears on the sides of the transmission are prone to tight spots due to poor moulding, but they haven't even been installed yet! It's literally just the spur and diff. I can't even remember if I checked the first time around, does anyone know if this is common thing with this transmission? I know that it can happen to any model, on a broader scale, certainly not unusual for there to be a tight spot somewhere on a gear but I'm not sure if these are known for it? I guess my choices are the usual, let it be and see what happens, try and work out the bad spot and gently file the teeth down or get another gear set and see if next lot are any good! I naively thought I would be taking it out for a shake down test tomorrow after work!
  15. Well, this hasn't quite gone as smoothly as planned! I thought I would be up and running in no time when the parts showed up yesterday, but still not there, yet! I thought I had discovered some human error that may have contributed to the sand getting in but it turned out to mostly be a red herring. For some reason I put washers on the motor mount screws, not sure why I made that decision during the initial build, but I realised the washer on one side was perilously close to the lip on the gearbox casing. I wondered if perhaps it had prevented the mount from sitting totally flat against the case.... But in reality, it seems like it had clashed very slightly, but had scraped down the inside of the lip, thus not causing the mount to be proud. So, with no obvious weak spot, I just have to assume it's just the usual case of small gaps here and there, possibly combined with some flexing now and then creating tiny gaps. Once a grain or two gets in, the gap is then held open for more to get in and so on. I can clearly see several areas where sand has gotten where it shouldn't, I've used the flash on the camera to make it easier to see several areas of abrasion I've found around the "lip" area of the casing halves. Interestingly, I suspected the prop joint compartment may have been a weak spot as it had the most distinguishable sand inside, but there's virtually no sign of sand entering through the seam between the two parts. So, with no obvious "smoking gun" it seems its just a case of doing the usual and putting a bead of grease around the seams to trap any grease that tries to get in. To be fair, this usually does the job nicely for most models. I may put a bead of silicone around the lip that goes against the motor mount, just to be sure, too. I was tempted to put silicone along the gearbox halves, too, but the diff gear gets precariously close to the seam there, and I'm worried that even with a tiny line of silicone, it might migrate onto the diff gear teeth when I close up the two halves and the excess gets pressed out of the seam.
  16. It definitely needs intervention. I'm thinking silicone around the mount area at least, looks like that might have been the main issue. Silicone usually does a great job. All my DT-02 and 03s have had the same weak point where the front of the gearbox meets the chassis, there's no lip there and if you hold it up, the gap is wide enough to see light through. The shock tower is supposed to seal that area but it's not even close to a good seal so a line of silicone alone there and underneath works wonders.
  17. The pinion is utterly wrecked, I do wonder how much of this would have happened even if sand wasn't a factor. There was a tiny bit if misalignment, too but i don't think that would have saved the day. And you can see the spur is literally showered in alloy dust but there's not actually all that much sand present. That's the cases all cleaned.
  18. By the way, if anyone knows of any obvious weaknesses in terms of dirt proofing on this particular model, let me know!
  19. I was tempted to do the toothpaste thing too! Or try some lapping compound, maybe. The gears definitely seem quieter now although they are a bit chewed up looking, I guess because they have just had some random exposure to sand and not a slow, controlled breaking in session. I wonder what it would be like after a few hours of sand mixed into toothpaste 🤔 Better still would be if Tamiya sorted it out!
  20. The spur gear was shredded but the diff gear isn't too bad. But I think I will change this as it will no doubt have some dirt embedded in the teeth and will be in contact with the new spur. I'm less concerned with the bevels as they are sort of separate so can only affect each other plus they seem to turn a lot smoother now 😂 As you may have noticed, I put diff putty in these. I can't say for sure if it helped with beach running, but the thing sure does drive nice on sand and dirt etc.
  21. Here's everything that fell out of the main gearbox! Interestingly, it seems like there isn't all that much sand, more a combination of shredded alloy pinion and some spur gear material...
  22. Nice! I really enjoyed my beach runs till the little incident but I think it was mostly down to that alloy pinion and a lack of my usual precautions. Got some sweet video, though, so it's worth the wrenching time.
  23. And then the gearbox halves themselves, definitely some sand made it partway into the seam. Whether or not it got all the way through, I don't know, but this is the kind of place I usually put grease, can't remember why I didn't at the time. Maybe I naively thought this was going to be a shelf queen 😅
  24. Next up, the motor and mount area. This is one of the places I don't trust entirely, just because the mount sort of has an open side and relies on the gear case moulding to make a tight seal, I think this could have been a potential source of ingress, especially bearing in mind I didn't add any grease as a precaution the first time around.
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