The "Postman Brought Me" Thread

[ThunderDragonCy 7873]

Good haul today, mostly snowed-in-and-bored related spending! Turnigy modern high torque servo. Going to see if I can feel the difference from the cheap and vintage ones I have been using. It's nearly 4 times more torque than most of the stuff I currently use! Pair of 630 bearings for the other Thunder Dragon upgrade steering arm I designed and got last week. Hopefully get that finished tonight. Lots of other Shapeways goodies! The (hopefully) correct and proper version of the 3 deg tow in rear uprights I've been trying to get sorted for my DT03. Some 3 deg rear uprights with arm length adjustment for my Thunder Dragon, and a new version of the front 10 deg caster uprights I designed for my Thunder Dragon as well; these with lower mounting point for the upper arm and a couple of arm length adjustment options. Hoping to make the buggy less 'on the nose'. Final couple of things are a total punt - 3D printed counter gear for a Thunder Dragon/Shot gearbox. Going to plastic cement them together and see if it works. Smaller gear is 22t instead of stock 20t to see if the 45t DT03 diff will fit in the TD gearbox. If it does that might give a ball diff options for Thundershot chassis vehicles, for the rear at least. All hand waving at the moment. No idea if it will work, but that's half the fun isn't it?

[TurnipJF 9180]

I also received some snow-related purchases today in the form of a TB-03 kit from Tamico and eight 850 bearings from RCBearings. The kit comes with bearings for the whole drivetrain but bushings for the steering and suspension bellcranks, so the extra bearings will allow me to build it fully ballraced from the outset.

 

It will be a while before I get going with the build though - there is still the ESC, RX, servo, motor, steel pinion and paint to buy, all of which will have to wait at least another two paydays. I am also thinking of getting it a generic race blob shell for running duties as the supplied ARTA Garaiya shell is far too pretty to be destroyed on a track.

 

In other news, I am very close indeed to persuading my mate to get one too. He had a poke around in the kit box this afternoon and seemed quite impressed. Apparently it is not at all dissimilar to his FF-03. He referred to the TB-03 as it's "4WD sibling". This has now got me rather interested in the FF range. My little M-03 is loads of fun, and I suspect that a TC-size version might be just as appealing.

[Jonathon Gillham 4605]

26 minutes ago, TurnipJF said:

I also received some snow-related purchases today in the form of a TB-03 kit from Tamico and eight 850 bearings from RCBearings. The kit comes with bearings for the whole drivetrain but bushings for the steering and suspension bellcranks, so the extra bearings will allow me to build it fully ballraced from the outset.

 

It will be a while before I get going with the build though - there is still the ESC, RX, servo, motor, steel pinion and paint to buy, all of which will have to wait at least another two paydays. I am also thinking of getting it a generic race blob shell for running duties as the supplied ARTA Garaiya shell is far too pretty to be destroyed on a track.

 

In other news, I am very close indeed to persuading my mate to get one too. He had a poke around in the kit box this afternoon and seemed quite impressed. Apparently it is not at all dissimilar to his FF-03. He referred to the TB-03 as it's "4WD sibling". This has now got me rather interested in the FF range. My little M-03 is loads of fun, and I suspect that a TC-size version might be just as appealing.

So is the TB03 primarily a racer or will see some track rime for fun? I'm really interested in your build thread for this.

I wish I could persuade my mates to buy some cars, they raced with me when we were teenagers but I think they know it will be a few thousand to get setup, plus the inevitable chequebook racing...

[Granddad Stinky 975]

10 bottles of dry PTFE lube at 15p each, plus £3 postage, normally £1.95 each. Thanks Hobbyking!

It also came with a rather nice Turnigy raised sign, it’s anagram time! 😂

[berman 5315]

Postie brought me a massive box at work. I got my kids one of those rc ride on Ford Rangers. Their birthdays aren't until the beginning of next month so it may have to stay unbuilt in the back of my truck away from prying little eyes! 

[TurnipJF 9180]

2 hours ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

So is the TB03 primarily a racer or will see some track time for fun? I'm really interested in your build thread for this.

It will be a racer, although probably not a very regular one much as I would like it to be. My shift cycle only lets me attend about half the race meets at our club. Still going to give it my best shot though. 

[moffman 5746]

9 hours ago, Klausen said:

Todays arrival. Super excited.

If it's anything like the optima (which it obviously is) it's a real pleasure to build enjoy!!

[Grumpy pants 4445]

This arrived today, I have one on my Wild One and I really like it.

This one is going on my daughters Lunchbox 👍

 

[frameskip 63]

16 hours ago, Granddad Stinky said:

It also came with a rather nice Turnigy raised sign, it’s anagram time! 😂

Curious to see what you come up with. The best I can do is GRUNTY...!

[Granddad Stinky 975]

1 hour ago, frameskip said:

Curious to see what you come up with. The best I can do is GRUNTY...!

I had RUN GIT but I like GRUNTY. That’s worth putting on my Clod. 👍

[nowinaminute 2815]

Nothing exciting, just a pair of lightly used (judging by the brushes) FTX motors and ESCS. Cost peanuts.

I like the 15T 550 motors, nearly as gutsy as the Traxxas 12t. The ESCS are rebranded hobbyking x-car 45 units. Not super high spec but they do have a handy crawler mode with a drag brake so they are quite versatile.

Not sure what I'll put them in yet but handy to have around just for when I want something brushed and quite quick. Just need some deans connectors on them.

In case anyone ever wondered, this is how you program them:

Lipo/nimh:

Hold down the program button BEFORE turning the power on and then release after:

1 beep = NIMH mode

2 beeps = Lipo mode

When you switch the ESC on it will confirm which mode by beeping once or twice.

 

Normal/Crawler:

Hold down the program button AFTER switching the power on and release after:

1 beep = Regular F/B/R mode

2 beeps = F/R crawler mode with drag brake.

You can tell which mode by looking at the LED after turning the unit on. Blinking means normal mode and solid means crawler mode.

 

 

 

 

[evssv69 378]

this beast

strapped on ready to come home 

 

[Peter_B 997]

1 hour ago, evssv69 said:

this beast

strapped on ready to come home 

 

Wouldn't it be easier to strap the bike to the top of that monster?

[novicelad 787]

2 hours ago, nowinaminute said:

Nothing exciting, just a pair of lightly used (judging by the brushes) FTX motors and ESCS. Cost peanuts.

I like the 15T 550 motors, nearly as gutsy as the Traxxas 12t. The ESCS are rebranded hobbyking x-car 45 units. Not super high spec but they do have a handy crawler mode with a drag brake so they are quite versatile.

Not sure what I'll put them in yet but handy to have around just for when I want something brushed and quite quick. Just need some deans connectors on them.

In case anyone ever wondered, this is how you program them:

Lipo/nimh:

Hold down the program button BEFORE turning the power on and then release after:

1 beep = NIMH mode

2 beeps = Lipo mode

When you switch the ESC on it will confirm which mode by beeping once or twice.

 

Normal/Crawler:

Hold down the program button AFTER switching the power on and release after:

1 beep = Regular F/B/R mode

2 beeps = F/R crawler mode with drag brake.

You can tell which mode by looking at the LED after turning the unit on. Blinking means normal mode and solid means crawler mode.

 

 

 

 

My son has a carnage wonder if I can reprogram for lipo at the moment have to use an alarm

[nowinaminute 2815]

1 minute ago, novicelad said:

My son has a carnage wonder if I can reprogram for lipo at the moment have to use an alarm

Should be able to if it has the blue heatsink on the top.

Mind you, because it's not programmable the cut off is probably something daft like 6v. I have got into the habit of using an alarm regardless of the ESC these days.

[novicelad 787]

2 minutes ago, nowinaminute said:

Should be able to if it has the blue heatsink on the top.

Mind you, because it's not programmable the cut off is probably something daft like 6v. I have got into the habit of using an alarm regardless of the ESC these days.

Its only a 20amp esc only been brave enough to run 2s on it at the moment, it does considerably improve the performance over nimh

[nowinaminute 2815]

Just now, nowinaminute said:

Should be able to if it has the blue heatsink on the top.

Mind you, because it's not programmable the cut off is probably something daft like 6v. I have got into the habit of using an alarm regardless of the ESC these days.

Just checked the specs, it says 5.6v for the cutoff but there seems to be a general consensus that it's a typo because the BEC is also exactly 5.6v.

I'll have to test one some time and see. 5.6v would be way too low for my liking. I guess if you were bashing hard it might not be a disaster because the cells should bump back up above 3.0v but not ideal.

Reading around though it seems it might well be higher.

 

[ChrisRx718 4470]

So instead of the postie I found a local hobby shop.

Y'know; those things that died off after the financial crisis in 2008. 

In fairness, it's only been there 2 years. But more shockingly; I didn't know it was there. And "there" is just 1.8 miles up the road 

I'm an idiot.

I bought my Lipo down because I had done a terrible job of trying to re-solder the XT60 plug on to it. The guy not only put a new plug on but also showed me how to do it properly myself. I bought some Fastrax Wing Mirrors.

So I return home with my Lipo ready to balance charge it. Only I can't find the Deans-XT60 plug. Idiot again.

So I go back and politely ask if they have a lead in stock. No leads. But he had a lead in his toolkit, which he gave to me FOC. Awesome. I bought a desk vise on his advice just so I could do some soldering of my own.

Place is packed full of crawler stuff. Has RC4WD stock, gmade, Kyosho. Tamiya insofar as rc kits, can order spares in.

Even have a local crawler group. 

Great day.

[nowinaminute 2815]

27 minutes ago, nowinaminute said:

Just checked the specs, it says 5.6v for the cutoff but there seems to be a general consensus that it's a typo because the BEC is also exactly 5.6v.

I'll have to test one some time and see. 5.6v would be way too low for my liking. I guess if you were bashing hard it might not be a disaster because the cells should bump back up above 3.0v but not ideal.

Reading around though it seems it might well be higher.

 

Just found found this comment on another forum from someone who wasn't aware that the ESC was the same as the Hobbyking:

"funnily enough, it cuts off at 6.5/6.6v so makes me think if it has a cut off. Running 2s and it cuts everytime."

Sounds like it's 6.5v instead of 5.6v.

That's not bad for bashing!

[Grastens 2795]

1 hour ago, ChrisRx718 said:

So instead of the postie I found a local hobby shop.

Y'know; those things that died off after the financial crisis in 2008. 

In fairness, it's only been there 2 years. But more shockingly; I didn't know it was there. And "there" is just 1.8 miles up the road 

...

Great day.

Love and cherish your local hobby shop - we don't know how much longer they have left...

Today, the postman brought me my custom decals:

The price kind of stung, and it is far from perfect (that mostly has to do with my design), but it is my work

[Ann3x 220]

On 3/7/2018 at 5:14 PM, ThunderDragonCy said:

Final couple of things are a total punt - 3D printed counter gear for a Thunder Dragon/Shot gearbox. 

Really interested in how that works out. Ive considered 3d printing the gears myself but I decided S&F is just too rough.

If you can get it to work I might have to revise my viewpoint (and plans)!

[ThunderDragonCy 7873]

Just now, Ann3x said:

Really interested in how that works out. Ive considered 3d printing the gears myself but I decided S&F is just too rough.

If you can get it to work I might have to revise my viewpoint (and plans)!

Longer term project, but will keep you updated.

[Ann3x 220]

1 hour ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Longer term project, but will keep you updated.

Cool, please post something separate when you make progress. V interested in your findings (even if it fails, useful testing to rule out the option).

[Wooders28 4718]

A facebook purchase, i couldnt resist!

 

[Jonathon Gillham 4605]

3 minutes ago, Wooders28 said:

A facebook purchase, i couldnt resist!

 

 

Nice!  I did the same thing for my Lazer and its an awesome servo, noticably quicker than the 1251MG.  Don't know if I would want to pay the full price though so FB groups the way to go.