Mabuchi RS-555PH. They're nominally rated at 5000rpm at 12v but according to the datasheet can do up to 20v. I'll be thrashing them with direct drive at 24v this weekend. At this level, torque seems to be up there with brushless outrunners. Lets see how they hold up...
Since my deck and gun assemblies detach from the hull so easily, I built this test firing jig for lakeside use. No need to haul 30 pounds of boat down to the rickety test table for tweaking! I wasn't to impressed with turning last year so I ordered a set of rudders from Strike to test (didn't feel like building more rudders). Nice coverage at full throw
After battle report: This past weekend the Tyng Barham slugged it out at the IRC Spring Regional at Greenbriar in it's first battling. I'm happy to say the Barham battled all three days with no major issues but there were a few minor inconveniences. The good: Turning, the new Strike rudders worked extremely well. At rest, the model was able to turn almost on a dime. At speed, throwing the rudders over would slow the boat down and then swing her around within a 5' circle. Acceleration/deccel, very good IMO. up to speed or full stop in a boats length or so. Was able to deccel more quickly than a couple of nasty Seyditz that had me sandwiched on the last day. 24v drive train, not an issue at all. The brushed RS555PH motors at 24v worked reliably all weekend. No over temp issues were noted. The custom ESC setups for the drive and pump motors worked without a single problem. At 24v, SLA batteries appear to be quite efficient also. After two sorties on one battery pack with heavy pumping, ending voltage was at 24.9v (22v is considered empty). Cannons, shot well all three days but the cold was messing with the tweak a bit. Electronics box, not a drop of water inside. Plastic props, no issues yet. The not so good: Pumping, on the first day balsa debris was getting past my last minute half-ass filtering I had installed and restricting the nozzle (kept me out of a second sortie). That night the pump got a better filter setup which worked very well. The new filter even kept the Greenbrier snot (slimy green algae) out of the pump. Bb loading, the 90 degree fill fitting on my aft sidemount developed some sort of restriction that was keeping bb's from flowing easily. I had to load this cannon practically bb by bb. This will get addressed. Pump capacity, I'm running the same motor on the pump as the drive. Though it's pushing water well, I think there's room for improvement compared to what others are running. I'll be keeping a lookout for other motor options that will work with my 24v system. I may move the .5 unit from a magazine to a second pump). CO2 usage, on the first sortie I ran my 5oz bottle dry before expending my bb load. I loaded up the 9oz bottle for the rest of the weekend and there were no issues after that. The steel 9oz increased the weight a bit so I'll be changing this out for an aluminum 9oz. Water channeling, worked OK over all but on the first day when the pump was clogged and not pumping as hard, I noted a list when taking on water from a couple of large midpoint holes I had. I'm going to be adding more channeling along the perimeter to push the water better towards the center. Overall I was very happy with the Barham. Definitely a different form of battling than my Mogador. The "real mans" boat received many compliments on design and build quality. I had a great time and look forward to taking her out again. No longer a virgin! Some love from Tom Tanner's dual sterns. I think a removed at least half of Tom's bb load from the bow after this battle. Pumping the lake dry The hotel room pump filter mod Not a wisp of water got in here!
The Tyng Barham is getting some upgrades. Had a feed issue on my haymaker so I'm pulling all the copper mags and replacing with my ML mags. Besides hopefully better feed, the new mags will save 8oz of weight over the old copper ones. I'm also dumping the through deck loading as it's not needed and it simplify's things. Yep, that's a push-to-connect load fitting. If these work as well as I expect, this will be THE GREATEST advance in cannon tech since the interrupter! With a heat gun and a soft touch, you can get some nice bends in this 500psi nylon tubing.
Finished up the new mag install on my aft three. Pressure tested to 225psi Little silver balls all in a row
Looks good, Steve, but wouldn't it be better to put regular numbers on the mags instead of having to count tally marks? Less chance of misscounting and easier to match up at a glance.
Oh, don't you know you're supposed to use different style markings for separate systems. Building code and protocol you know...
Been working on the Barham on and off getting ready for Fall battling. Just finished up on the re-plumbing of the aft end. The new plastic mags of course, and I redid the CO2 feed a bit. On the plastic mags, I'll be battle testing two different plastic to brass connections methods at the regional (bonded and mechanical). Of course, the push-to-connect fill fittings will be getting tested also.
Have you tried removing the air supply to the back of the magazine and then fire the cannon, letting the bb's slam into the PTC cap?
I guess your thinking there's significant and energetic back and forth movement of the bb's in the mag? If there was, testing as you suggest would be warranted but in my testing, there is no backward flow of the bb's that I've noted. The bb's stay packed up towards the tee.
