Greetings! I am new to the board and somewhat new to the sport. I am currently designing RC warships as training for building a RC combat ship in the future. I had a couple of questions regarding things I have seen around the forums and the internet. 1) tube stuffing- where can I get it? 2) I am having an issue with my DC motors (1.5v) turning each propeller shaft. They will turn themselves and the connecting piece just fine, but when I add the propeller shaft, the motor will spin it, then after 10 seconds the motor will stop and call it caputs, but the other motors keep going (the other motors have no loads on them). I think that the brass rod used for the prop shafts is too heavy. Thoughts? Once I have those two things knocked out of the way, I believe the warship will be just about ready to go. Thanks for any input, -Rob Visit this site
Hi Rob, First I'd get bigger motors. Not very big, but bigger. The 500-size motors run about $3.50 apiece and are plenty strong. For the stuffing tubes, I use a brass tube just bigger than the 1/8" rod that serves as a driveshaft. I lube it with white lithium grease. There isn't any actual 'stuffing', I think the tubes are called that because you stuff the shaft in thru them Welcome to model warship combat! Don't be afraid to ask anything, I guarantee you that everyone had to ask the basic questions at some point
Do they make 500 series motors in 1.5 volts? otherwise I will be forced to switch to two props with 3 volt motors- my restriction is the 6 volt system =/. If I had to, I can go to 12 volts, maxing out each motor at 3 volts (the max rating for each)
you can also run the motors in parallel and then use the 6-12V motors on your 6V system. I suspect you are running your motors in series... and that may be the source of your odd motor problem.
Please forgive the crudeness of this diagram- I need to get Pspice Sim from a professor when I head back to campus next semester. I am also still in Electrical Circuit 101 mode [] I am going to slap myself silly if I put them in series- that means they have been eating twice the recommended voltage! [xx(] I read your post more carefully archer- If I were to put all four motors in parallel then they will all have one heck of an amp draw, and I can practically say that that Nicad probably won't be enough to satisfy it. I DID want to place D cells in the hull though- this thing is a large ship.
Jadefalcon, it looks like you have your motors BOTH in parallel AND in series. The outer two shafts are series, and the inner two shafts are series, and the two pairs of motors are parallel to each other. You seriously do want to upgrade to bigger motors. The little radio-shack motors are horribly inefficient, and are wound for RPMs instead of torque. If possible, stop by an electronics surplus store with your battery, multi-meter, and some alligator clips. You want to test out all the different motors. The motors I use are surplus RS-365SH motors that I got for $2 apiece, they stall out at 2 amps with my 7.2v batteries. Battler's Connection also has some good 365-size motors. PS: is your name "jade falcon" based on the Clan of the same name in the Battletech universe?
I don't know of many electronic surplus stores in the area but I will have a look around the net for potential locations. How did you guys know the motors were from radioshack?[] It seems like the motors are trying, but then they call it caputs. I just tried extending the shaft a little in the connector and I had no problems, then I tried again under the same conditions and had problems. I hot glued the motors to the bottom of the hull- I am going to have a fun time getting them up without damaging the hull. They should just pop off, but jeez this stuff is like super hot glue! Yes- my name is derived from the clan from the battletech universe. I played Mechwarrior3 online in the 90s and was part of an online clan- the name has stuck since 1996 or 1997. -Rob
THANK YOU.... now I won't have to do my own video. Tuggy. Is this not exactly what I said would happen if you wire two motors in series? Did you hear the one motor with the least load speed up considerably? Jade, is one motor actually spinning faster than the rest? Jade, Your solution is to wire the motors in parallel, all of them. Additionally, can you do me a MAJOR favor? Wire it like this and try it again. battery + to motor w/ prop + motor w/ prop - to another motor + another motor - to battery - & make another video? My bet is it will do the exact same thing. Then battery + to motor w/ prop + && another motor + battery - to motor w/ prop - && another motor - Then make a video, my bet is it will work perfectly. If you do this, you'll be my hero. (Afterward you would hook up all 4 motors in parallel & your done.) Moreover, I think your radio shack motors will do just fine for your boat. Are you going to weigh it down to scale water line? Even then, the ship will move just fine... Might be a bit slow to get moving, and probably will have short battery life... but, this is not going in to battle. So, who cares right?
I will give this a shot. I have been debating what is going on here and I will attempt to put them all in parallel. I intend on weighing her down to about the bootline- right now, off hand she feels about 3 pounds. I may put in four D-cells, which will provide around 3 hours of life. Running her will be expensive, but it's not like I am running her every day [] Maybe once in a while. Be warned- these motors have a maximum voltage rating of 3 volts- so I can't test too long without smoking something.
I knew you were right Justin, years ago making my very first RC boat, I wired the 2 motors in series, due to buying the wrong voltage motors, and got the same results, one motor spun super fast, and the other would hardly rotate at all. Just wire together 3 D cells in series, they will run the motors, and should not hurt them at 3.6 volts.
Ok, if I were tro go about adding in this extra battery how can I assemble them into a pack? I know that the batteries need leads, should I just tape them tightly and solder a wire to the other side of each lead? Since the scale says this ship weighs 3.5 pounds, I am beginning to worry if this is enough to move her. I am considering adding the batteries now, but upgrading the motors to 6-12volt motors. a couple of D-cell batteries has to add at least a pound to this thing. In short, I think my baby is going to need some giddy up here. For now, I will try re-wiring the motors in parallel, but if it is not enough to move her far then I will upgrade. If I fry the motors in the process- it was time to get 6volt rated ones anyways [] This will be a challenge for me, because I am used to making battleships that weigh very close to a pound with a two three volt motors, and another with a gearbox- both get about 5mph, but they are so light! This will definetely be a challenge.
Jade, that's a nice ship behind you in your photo... is that the NJ? This series / parallel discussion is happening as we speak.. if you want to understand what's happening electrically. Being a future EE. Visit this site
He did say that the motor that slowed down was the one with the shaft attached, and that the others have no load on them. The motors are all getting the same current, and hence can develop the same amount of torque. However, the load placed on the one puts that motor beyond stall torque. Thank you all for playing.
right, so I need a motor that can produce more torque, right? Should I go for a motor with more rpm? While I am at it I might as well install motors capable of withstanding high voltages. I know these things are operating at approximatly 4800rpm each, so each motor will stall currently at roughly 4800rpm.
I highly doubt you are @ stall current. The prop does spin. Please just try a parallel configuration (even just for a second) so we know the cause of the problem?
gotcha. I will try this first thing tomorrow (or later today!) I will engrave this into my brain. And yes, the ship behind me is the New Jersey. Here is a link to the image gallery- I visited her and she was a workout to explore! Visit this site
