waterproof clods

[Basherboy]

hi guys, just researching building a mod clod but how do you cope running them in water and deep mud - surely with the servos and sometimes motors mounted low water would be a problem - is it?

how do you get round the water issue?

Would like to build one to anywhere ( well almost )

cheers

Lee

[phiber_optik]

Hey there, Im in the middle of designing / building my own mod clod too. Im not sure how the motors cope with the water, but I know you can brake motors in be spinning them up in a glass of water so Im sure its not to big a deal when they get wet as long as you let the dry out and oil them up again with some motor oil.

As for servos, you can get water proof ones, you can also cover them with a ballon or plastic dip or even wrap water proof tape around the seems, though this method probably isnt the best.

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

you can cover all the electronics in ballons, that will seal them up from any water and mud.

if your plannning swimming (big tyres make clods float! []) then seal up all the air holes in the wheels, otherwise a trip out on the water would soon resemble titanics maiden voyage []

you can also seal up the radio gear/speed controller in a plastic box, like a small container or something like that, and leave the ballons to cover the motors and servoes.

i dont know if overheating would become a problem - i know some company made motor covers which completly sealed the motors vents up, thus stopping water from affecting it (ive got one on my monster beetle shelf queen), but as ive never run it, i dont know if it would make the motors over heat. [?]

[DJTheo]

Motors and servos are pretty robust to water and usually work fine even completely submerged, but you could cover the vent holes of the motors, just watch that it doesn't get too hot. For the servo you could put a balloon and strap its opening around the servo horn, you should still make a hole though for the wires, which you could strap around tightly too.

Cheers

[terry.sc]

You will need decent servos for your project anyway, and most good servos come with rubber seals to waterproof them. They will not need any other protection, maybe a blob of silicone grease around the output shaft and wires. High power servos can get warm so I would not recommend covering them in anything else to seal them, they just don't need it.

[mud4fun]

Just a warning about the ESC - it is not recommended to cover that up with a ballon because it can get very hot and the balloon prevents air flowing over the heatsinks which are designed to keep it cool. I'd suggest either buying a waterproof ESC such as an Mtroniks one OR using a plastic box (similar to the ones futaba receivers come in) Putting the ESC in the box will prevent water getting on it but still allows some air around the ESC. You can then mount an extractor fan if things still prove too warm.

Futaba boxes are pretty generous in size, here is one mounted on my crawler and it is big enough to fit the RX AND a novak Super Rooster!

and this one got a bit hot as it was running a high performance motor so it needed a fan. Even though slots had to be cut in the box lid for the fan it still keeps most water out. This particular vehicle has run along the beach in and out of the water and didn't suffer at all - as long as it doesn't go submerged.

You should also use the search function in the top right hand corner of the page. It will bring up loads of tpoics on how to waterproof, try these topics:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/xforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=15534

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/xforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11214

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/xforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10776

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/xforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12696

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/xforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11811

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/xforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17779

[jedzuki(2)]

How do Daggers fare in the wet? The motors and battery seem rather exposed. [?][]

[Petrolhead]

Well, I ran my dagger through a nice 'n large puddle today, and I had a balloon over the reciever, so that was fine. The biggest problems were the motors. They got pretty wet, and the rear one stopped working. I just sprayed it with some water displacing oil and it was ok. Driving fast into big puddles really slows it down because of the size of the tyres compared to a clod's. The battery does get splashed, but I don't think any damamge was done to it?