1:50 Dragline

[modelman]

Rvjimd-I can see in the picture that the ring gear is not a precision gear and with it cast directly against the lower body that will cause a small problem. Is the ring gear out of round or is the problem holding the pinion in position. The O-ring idea could work but everything will have to be perfectly round and true to keep equal pressure on the gears for 360 degree swing. Keep working at it. I think you have done a great job in a short amount of time. Also I think making the tracks work is a great idea. To have all functions working on a model this small is quite an accomplishment.

[Rvjimd]

Made some really nice progress today on the dragline! I machined down another pinion gear, went up one tooth to 19T to take up some slack in the mesh. I also pinched down the sleeve that the drive shaft runs in to take out some slop. This has completely smoothed out the slewing.

Rewired the battery and plug in socket so I can plug into the RX or unplug and use an adapter to charge. So I won't need to remove the battery for charging. I may still remove it and put back the balance plug that I removed.

The BIG thing I did today to improve operation was went to the hobby shop and bought a new DX6i and a small 4ch RX. The 4ch RX fits really nice in the cab!

I tried the two sticks up and down (throttle and elevator) but was not happy with the throttle stick. There does not seem to be any rate control or centering on the throttle stick.. So, I changed the drag drum to use the rudder channel instead. That way I get centering and can slow down the rate! Sure wish they had rate control on the throttle like all the other channels!

It is supposed to be a bit nicer here Sunday so stand by for some outside video! I practiced on the indoor dirt pile and thought I was doing pretty good work. Can't wait to get outside tomorrow! Gona have to find some material to load!

Here is a picture of the backyard yesterday! The snow did finally melt today from all the rain!



Jim

[Rvjimd]

I still had bit to much slop in the mesh of the pinion and ring gear so took some pics and video of the fancy turning machine I use for this sort of thing. It is not exactly a computer controlled mill, but you get the idea...

Finished gear after turning down



Installed on the crane


With the track assembly in place


And the video of the turning process
http://youtu.be/7-lkVaW3V-I

And the ops test video
http://youtu.be/CSAW4rwGt5M

Loading barge video to follow...

Jim