Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

Nice solutions on the drive. Wish I built smaller so servo could be used. Maybee some day....
Servo city, is that a supplier??
Dan

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

Thanks Modelman, I believe there chain will fix it.

I only used the servos because the hoe is small & light (probably less than 6 lbs when complete). If I had the room and needed more power I would use a 200:1 geared motor on each track and esc's. But, I am making the undercarriage all one rc unit...meaning there will be a (4 cell 500mah) battery pack and a separate receiver just to run the drive. That way there is no electrical connection between the crane/house and the undercarriage.

Yes, Servo City has some nice unique servo related items that you can't get/find anywhere else. Adapters, sprockets, reduction units, aluminum arms...

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

Looks very good Scott, you will have more than enough power there. Do you need a speed control , as the servo has it already ?

greg

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

Thanks Greg.

You are correct there are no esc's needed, all of the servos just plug into the receiver. The undercarriage electronics will consist of 2 servos, one receiver and a battery. The cranes main electronics will consist of 4 servos, one receiver and a battery.

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

Well, since I am waiting for parts to build the undercarriage I made a large bucket so that I could load trucks faster at the meets when we use ground up rubber.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...HoeBuckets.jpg

Its really too big for actual dirt but, I had to load the Mack up a couple of times just for the fun of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtjl5kGhRhc

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

SmallHaul-looks to my like it handles that bigger bucket pretty good!

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

I like the quick change system on the backet. Cant wait for more!

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

hehe one for show and one for GO GO GO! lol

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

It is fun to use the large bucket because it forces you to operate it more efficiently. If you just reach out over the pile and drag the bucket all the way back and lift it out of the dirt the crane really stresses to lift the bucket but, if you smoothly lift the bucket just as it is filling up, the crane lifts it well.

Thanks.

:) Yep, it seems like we can never load all the dump trucks fast enough at the meets.

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

Well you will take awhile to load the 1 I'm building now :p:) It'll take Steve's drag to load it :rolleyes: With the big bucket :D

the hoe works nice Scott :cool:

IHSteve

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

Well, I pulled this project back out and started working on it again. I am hoping to make the National Pike show and would like to have this finished for it (May 21st). The chain drive works nice and has plenty of power. It is going to be cool to get the chain rotate setup, it should work smoothly.

Here is a video of it working:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft1fAnn2sIA

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

Scott. The car body works very nice. When the upper is on there and you have cleats you should be able to go anywhere. I'm surprised at the power the servos have.
Rob

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

Thanks Rob, I am a little surprised my self at how much power it has. I also dragged a 10 pound steel weight with it and it pulled it just fine.

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

That's a cool little robot in it's self:eek:. That won't have any trouble traveling up a pile of dirt. Definitely the "High Walker" version. You'll be able to do pipeline up mountains!

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

What a neat project!
ServoCity are great, I use their adapters, too.
Haven't had a chance to check their chain - good idea.
I assume this is the plastic chain here:
http://www.servocity.com/html/chain.html

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

Thanks. Yes, that is the chain but, it is not plastic it is steel. The entire drive train is metal except the servo cases.

I couldn't get their servo splined sprockets to work though. They were very helpful trying to help me (GREAT customer support) but, every sprocket they sent me grabbed the chain badly. The only way there sprockets would work smoothly is if the chain only wraps around a small portion of the sprocket. I said to them "simply wrap the chain around the sprocket and you will see that it is STUCK on there" and they just ignore the comment... the standard $3 sprockets I ordered from a discount chain work fine.:rolleyes:

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

Ah, sorry, I was confused! Need to learn to read :D
Their plastic chain has a spacing of 0.1227, so I thought you meant this.

""""
Turns out the #25 chain I am using has a smaller roller diameter (.120) than they use (.127) which would explain why my chain binds up when you wrap it around more than 100 degrees or so. They are sending me some of there #25 chain to rectify this.
""""

But what you wrote is that it's the diameter of the rollers that is different. Never heard that before.
However, using a chain with smaller roller diameter on a sprocket designed for a larger diameter should work, I would guess. (Never tried it, though.)

Thanks for the heads-up, will have to remember this...

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

Got a little more done. The chain drive for the rotates is finished. I maybe over engineered it but, I wanted it to be strong so that I could push dirt sideways with the bucket on occasion and not worry about anything breaking.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...ringschain.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...s/IMG_1972.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...s/IMG_1978.jpg

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

Short vid of it in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tYFjqwk45g

Re: Unit Cable Hoe
 

This may be a silly question but what are the black wire leads going into the track frames? Are the drive batteries between the rails?
It sure works well on rotation and looks to have a good speed on the tracks:cool: