SMS Deutschland Build

With the average mental age of most members at 5, you might want to rethink your response Nick

 

Many of us have battled for 3+ years with brushless. I have had No problems with the motors. Basic maintenance goes a long way.

 

I rinse and lube regularly. Keeps them in good shape

 

I RESEMBLE THAT REMARK...

 

Trials are still ongoing but all reports so far have been positive.

Brushed is obviously a lot easier to control electrically and makes a better starting point for something like this. The original version has a standard relay based H-Bridge for throttle to keep it simple and get the rest working while I sorted out the brushed ESC stuff. I would like to do a brushless version since I think a good portion of the hobby is moving that direction and it’s what I typically favor these days, but I dont have anything worth posting about/showing at the moment.

As for brushed vs brushless, use whatever works for you. They have both been proven to be able to work very reliably in our hobby as well as both having the possibility of failing horribly.

 

I've been in a bit of a holding pattern with this build recently. I was waiting on the propeller to arrive but as of a month ago when I got an email from prop shop about the fire and they weren't going to be able to fulfill my order I've been weighing different options on how I should proceed. I ended up deciding that there weren't any available propellers that checked the appropriate boxes and I may be better off just building exactly what I wanted. I ended up with a 1.5" 4-Blade design which should look pretty typical for anyone that's been around the hobby a little while. (I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel, just tweak it to better match what I want.) Hopefully the biggest difference between this and say a prop shop Kort prop is more even bi-directional performance. The reason I started using the Kort props was that they are the LEAST directional cast prop that PropShop sells. (according to one of their engineers who I was talking to about their propellers) However they are still fairly directional which I don't think is a good thing. This is currently in the process of getting cast out of bronze, once I get it I'll need to clean it up some and bore the shaft hole in it but once that's done it shouldn't be much different than any other cast bronze prop. (I have another "simpler" design to try if this doesn't work well for some reason but didn't want to pay for them both at the start.)




The extended hub will get removed but is there so I have something to chuck up in the lathe.

 

Nice! What's it cost to get something like that cast?

 

Thanks. It's about $40 which really isn't that bad for a lost wax cast bronze one off design when you think about it.

 

So do you just provide them with a 3d model and they take it from there?

 

Yup, it's Shapeways. I've used them for a number of things, way better quality than consumer level printers for getting masters to mold and stuff like that.

 

Are you casting the prop your self or is there a place to have that done also?

 

Shapeways is doing it.

 

WOW.. I didn't know they would make the bronze casting!! Sounds expensive though.. but as the Prop Shop burned.. it may never return...Quick somebody scan some 2 inch Korts!!!!

 

It's supposed to be for jewelry which is typically smaller ( and therefore cheaper) than props, but if it turns out OK I can deal with the cost, cast props tend to last a long long time.

I believe that prop shop is/was just a small division of swan casting, from the news article it made it sounds like just the prop shop part of the office burnt but the rest of the business didn't. That makes me think they will likely be back once they get everything cleaned up and sorted out.

 

prop shop was originally just the hobby of the folks that own Swan casting and grew into a small side business due to popularity. They've always been mainly an industrial foundry. I suspect that it will come back eventually though the inventory may differ.

 

Propeller Update

I received the cast prop today, not bad considering I ordered it on May 13th. My first impression of it is really good. I was expecting a much rougher surface finish but am pleasantly surprised by the smoothness so I don’t think I’ll need to do any “post-processing” work in that regard. I obviously still need to bore out a hole for the prop shaft and mount it to the shaft, I thought about putting a hole in it to begin with but decided not to for this prototype, if I do this again (I probably will) I suspect I’ll at least put a pilot hole in the hub. Once I start cutting metal and mounting it on the shaft I’ll update again with any issues and if I still think this is a good way to go or not.

 

Man that looks SWEET! Very nice!

 

Such shiny boat bits. Does it feel like brass?