Great Dane excavating co.

[Lil Giants]

Originally Posted by Cooper

Oh and anyone else getting these, there is a left and right!! I found out right after I soldered and put the heat shrink on that the holes don't line up. . I really hate when I do things like that!!!

That sounds awfully familiar I'm finally making myself fit all mechanical components together 1st before do any painting, wiring or hyds on new models or upgrading old ones.

[Cooper]

Oh s#£t!!!! It would have been really nice if they would have said the new esc's were only rated for 7.2 volts!!! Dammit!!!! Why would you sell a (upgrade) that you have to downgrade batteries?? I wired everything up and had the excavator up on a block to check direction of tracks. Plugged in 3s battery ,what she runs on, and wow!! They were like little race excavators!! I was really shocked to see how fast the tracks moved. I knew they said faster speed but it seemed too fast!! Started to smell that magical electric smell, and knew right away something wrong. Unhooked power checked (multi-meter) voltage and inspected everything. And the one esc fan was like a turbine, I figured I might have a bad esc right off the bat. Messed around some more and finally no motion!!! Looked up the esc on internet and then I found they are susposta be run on 7.2 volts!! 2s max!! Yup my 3s input cooked um!!! Guess I have another lesson to learn, no spec sheet= turn on the computer first and find out what you are dealing with!!!!! What a crock!! Oh well I would have had to switch them to 3s anyway. Yup, I just looked on the site to make sure I wasn't putting my foot in my mouth, excavator battery 3s, specs on esc from looking them up on internet, 2s lipo!!! Kinda pi$$ed!!

[Supermario]

Awh man, that Really sucks! I was thinking about the new drives. I would have done the same thing and powered with the 3s.
I feel for ya Ralph.

Mario

[Lil Giants]

The 2s esc's would have been fine on 3s, you could have just dialed back the EPA in the radio.

That china crap with no thermal protection.

[Cooper]

Some more d11 work, I changed the locations of pins for the front crossmember connecting the left and right track carriers. It lessened the amount of torsion the tracks could move relative to frame. And lowered fron end about 1/4". Handled a bit better giving the tracks a bit more traction. Even though it's muddy it still had noticeable more traction from that little change. Guess those engineering changes from one model year to the next have some merit!!! Lol!!
http://youtu.be/nutnBMz-pTc

[Cooper]

Had some sand to push around the barns. The work equated to about $3.17 earned. (Hourly pay for operator 1:14). Didn't charge the landowner machine cost as he and I have some agreements. (My dad's house) lol!!!


Started working on a lighting system for the big guy.





I know the light housings may not look scale or real good but I have had this box of LEDs for several years and the bezels to go with them, figured this would be a good way to use them. As I remember I had to get them but don't remember what for!!! They are bright white 10mm LEDs. Should light up the way pretty well!!

[Lil Giants]

I don't think anyone here is anything too anal about perfectly scaled, whatcha got started for lighting looks great so far!

[Cooper]

Yea I hear ya, I have the empty sockets at the steps of the cab to install lights in. As for reversing lights I have seen where they mount on the side of the rollover structure. That gives me two more to face forward. I'm thinking of a total of 8 forward and 4 backwards. These LEDs are pretty bright, I forget the forward current and lumens but rembember they put some good light out. Going to have them on a switch via radio. Also have to get a sound system for people to enjoy when I get my but to some of these gatherings!! If my wife would get her rump in gear I could have been able to attend Brownsville in the motor home this weekend. By next Wednesday we should have all the paperwork done and then I just need to get two new sneakers for the front end. We acquired her grams motor home that they hadent used for a couple years. It's pretty new but got cought in a flood. Had water over axles but not in cabin. I'm taking it to get a good go-over from the dealer soon. That's going to be my heavy hauler for the toys to attend some relative close events. . Who else do you know that can haul a d11 with a class a motor home ?? Lol!!!

[Cooper]

Second half of earlier dozer video.

http://youtu.be/oSZcLtqovp4

[liftmys10]

Originally Posted by Cooper

Second half of earlier dozer video.

http://youtu.be/oSZcLtqovp4

Dozer looks good! I like the chain squeaks.

[Cooper]

http://youtu.be/nyGcePXuNWg

Some dozer and excavator work.

[Supermario]

Watching you dig away makes me realize how much I hate ROOTS !!!

I really like the work area and you know how much I love that dozer

You've been busy. You have a lot more paint wore off the bucket than I do....I better get busy.

Mario

[Cooper]

Lol!! Great Dane construction co., "the more we dig, the more you pay!!,,,the more you pay the more we play!!"



I think I have another servo go bad, the machine gets a mind of its own, reves up tracks move,,ect,,,, last time it did that it was the servo cooked and somehow was messing with radio causing the out of control. I'm definitely enjoying the little guy, but these tower pro servos are not lasting me. I still think there is a radio glitch but I'm sticking with it till winter overhaul. Anyone know of some quality servos of same size as a tower pro 995, digital metal gear? Might have to have a look at hk stuff.

[ihbuilder]

try the hitec 645MG

[Supermario]

Now that you mention that, I've definitely had 2 or 3 radio glitches now with mine! No servos failed yet but maybe cause I got too much paint on the bucket still

As always, I was shutting off the pump while hauling with the dump truck. Then when I flipped the pump on it was running but I had no hydraulics. I adjusted the dial for the 4th valve and couldn't hear it move. Figured the servo failed. It was 10:30pm, I just packed things up and called it a day.
2 days later I fire it up to see what's going on....all good!

A few days later, starting and stopping pump, suddenly nothing again. Turned radio and hoe off. Plugged back in, flip the switch..... All back to normal?

[Cooper]

Originally Posted by ihbuilder

try the hitec 645MG

Will do thanks

[Cooper]

Mario, I'm not sure but,,, maybe someone els knowledgeable can chime in. To me it seems like some oil may be (or had been before leaks stopped) infiltrating into the trim pot inside the servos. The one I replaced had a clear malfunction visible on the circuit board. It was ever so bit charred on one of those little circuit thingies. And pot was also wet with some oil. The second one that failed (I took apart but not cleaned and tested yet) did not have any visible scored areas but trim pot was again wet with oil. I know the gears internally have grease but until I take a new one apart I can't compare on the viscosity or amount of grease, and if any is around the pot dial shaft. I don't think the little trim pots in these servos need or have any lube on them from factory. I may be wrong but to me it seems like grease or oil would compromise electrical contacts in them. Sooooooo,,,, that may have been my problem from the get go. But I still can't understand how the servo would back feed some sort of electrical signal into radio receiver. Kind of makes me double think about using the flysky radio system for any air use. But I only have micros and park flyers that we dog fight with a small ribbon on tails. Try to wreck them but it's hard!! One thing I have not looked at is to see if any leaks are around the rotary valves in the actual valve block. Gonna keep running her hard till ground freezes with efficient quick repairs until winter overhaul.

[Supermario]

I noticed early in the operation of mine that the relief valve leaks past the set screw threads. ( I found it right away because I had the thing running at max speed and the 4th valve wasn't working so , the relief was " busy " all the time

Even now , after setting correctly , I still get a little leakage. I placed a towel under it to capture the oil. I think I ran 3 or 4 battery cycles before the towel was getting oil soaked.

Anyway, I bet that leakage is what got into the servo? It's the only possibility

Here's a pic, notice how the relief is directly above the servos?



Mario

[Cooper]

I did stuff some soft material (ear plug pieces cut ) into the servo shaft where there would normally be the arm screw. These tower pro servos have a hallow shaft, it could have easily wept oil into the servo that way.

Now one of the centering spring boards in the radio broke. It popped off the rocker pin before and a quick fix. I may not be the only one but sometimes when I'm prying on a rock or root I find myself pressing rather hard on the radio sticks. Yea, at least I'm not sticking my tongue out, holding my breath and rotating my body the way the excavator is moving. . Lol!!

A BFG!!!

Went to put the radio away- why???



I try to post work pics for others to see, maybe it will help someone. The track motor loosened up, the two Phillips screws removed to get to the internal screws attaching to motor. And I found a way to remove tracks painlessly, I remove the outside housing then the tensioner and wheel can be removed allowing track to be removed without removing any track pins. Only draw back is sometimes it's a trick to get the roller shafts lined up for re installation.



I was going to build my own voltage reducer circuit but found these for just a couple bucks. They are for dropping voltage to the upgrade track motors that I had problems with previously. One for each motor, rated for three amps. I really doubt the tiny brushless motors in the upgrade kit are able to sustain that for any length of time. The motor lead wires are very tiny about a pin thickness.

[Cooper]

The progress on dozer lights. Crude and not set in stone but coming along. These will be painted black.

And one more stupid pic, any of you middle agers will remember vanilla "Robby van winkle " ice. It's a long story with my wife but I bought this old movie to win a debate and to torture her by watching it!! Got about 1/2 hour into it and went back into garage!lol!!!

But it was rather funny looking back on the early 90's.