**What youll need to make a Servo Winch**

[team3six]

So many people have been asking me what they will need or how to build a Servo Winch. Simply because even though a 3Racing winch or RC4WD winch is very cool looking in scaleness. they often do not do well for most trucks over 8lbs.

Your basically faced with a need to have more power and torque to get the job done.

So I have compiled a list of how too's, why's, and Things youll need.
Some of the product I carry or will carry in my store. If things continue to remain strong on the need for the stuff I offer I will keep it in stock.

So first off is the How to build a Servo Winch. Our very own Papa griz put this together and is without a doubt a great how to thread.
Crawler Tech: How to Build a Winch

I think its important to understand that Metal geared servo's are a plus for this application as well as anything for a higher torque servo. the higher the voltage rating the better the chances are for quicker reeling in and out. Also the rating of the torque is based off the farthest hole in a standard servo horn. The closer you bring your tension to the inside of your radius the more torque you aquire.

There is a conversion for this, but I am unsure of where that is. Maybe Tommy R will chime in and share this information as I believe that is who I aquired it from.

Anyways, it doesnt matter what type of servo you are comfortable with, but the important thing to remember is that it is a good thing to look at the gearing under the hood of the servo case. Some gears are pressed gears and others are not. Not that there is anything wrong with a pressed gear, but you may need to drill a small hole between the two gears and press a pin in between to assure that the gear will not slip under pressure. Another thing is depending on how heavy your truck is, try to stay away from brass geared servos. Brass is a weaker softer metal, but it is used still today and in servo's as a point of fail. If the gear fails, then it will save the more important parts of the servo.

This is a thing that many newbies and unexperianced builders often miss. Pay attention to what is tried is true. Hitec and Futaba are sincearly good servos with a long line of a following for a reason.

Now a common problem after performing the conversion of a servo to a winch application has long been a drift in the gear. Meaning that the center does not stay.

Some servos are worse than others and it results in that a driver would needs to constantly re-center their servo with their controller. But problem solved.
A great Vendor has stepped up to the table and offered a hack that fixes that issue.
Our newly aquired vendor "HeyOK" offers several types of controlers that can be used to put that servo in check. please visit this thread and if you have any questions. Dont hesitate to ask him
HeyOK's RC Electronics items (all in one place)

Now comes the other issue. all ESC's have a BEC built into the controller. everything you have is rated for a certain voltage. so paying attention to that rating is important. Like I said, Higher voltage and a larger C rating on your battery provides strength and speed. but certain products can only handle certain voltages. So getting a BEC like a Castle Creation's, Common Sence, or Turnigy is important and a must have. (Castle Creations BEC can be regulated by means of a patch cord and a computer, most other BEC's have 2 settings 5v & 6v.) The BEC regulates the amount of voltage going to an electronical device. Those can be purchased at most hobby shops or online shops like RPPHobby.com or TCSCrawlers.com.

Recently many have used a round servo horn provided in most servo purchasesd and a sewing bobbin as a spool for your Servo Winch. there is absolutly nothing wrong with that application at all. but it does require a placing a few screws in place to keep your bobbin assembled as well as a little fabricating. I now offer a Servo spool that has been developed by a long time competitor by the name of War pig who has done well in developing a servo spool. The ones I offer are small, hold a bit of servo line, and are splined for a HITEC servo.
Its an easy durable and strong partner that I believe is essential for having a Servo winch. I offer them here.
http://www.team3sixrc.com/apps/webstore/

Now servo line has also been a long time issue among winch users. Now the thing is as a novice backyard baser it is not an issue. but when it comes to competition, having a flexible servo line that is strong is key.
From Sturgeon fishing line to kevlar sewing thread are pretty useable items. Your more than welcome to try anything you wish and or even use what has been accepted and tried by other users. But metal braided all though scale in appearance is not a good line to use when it comes to competition basically because of how small our spools are and the flexiblity of the line.
I also offer an 80lb line of 15' which is perfect for most winch applications and has been prooven pretty good.
http://www.team3sixrc.com/apps/webstore/

Another product that highly helps in achieving not only speed but power is running it at a higher voltage. 3S is great, If you have an ESC that runs 4S better. But lets say you have a Tekin FXR that you require more power. Have no fear but Crawler Inovations has the cure. his little caps make the FXR run 4S as if it was always meant to do it.
http://www.crawlerinnovations.com/in...mart&Itemid=63

Finally, your final steps are choosing your capture and tow packages and winch accs.
RC4WD: offers a great little hook called the King Kong hook which is very scale and does a great job, as well as 2 types of fairleads. and D-rings, shackles, ect.
Team3six: I also offer a very prooven and well used hook as well as a fairlead that does the job just as well at an affordable price. as well as my tow ropes.
R2j: offers Land Anchors as well as several other popular scale accs.
Kuatto: offers Land Anchors and several other scale accs.

There are many, many, other vendors that offer plenty of products being developed and sold to help you progress as a driver and capture a scale apperance. If your are not sure, Visit the scale accs. thread or the Scale section in the vendors thread. There is something for everyone.

I hope this helps and if you have any knowledge that will help this thread progress, then please post it here

[Boogie]

Definitely got my vote for a sticky.
Now I'm gonna go dig through some smoked servos and order one of the control units from Heyok. I'll also probably be hitting you up for a spool soon!

[Rckcrwlr]

Great post Norm...

[Rebelspawn]

Very good post and it is nice to see that you list even the competitors and the available items from them...it shows you are truly trying to be helpful and make people aware of all the choices...

Thanks man I know that I really appreciate it.



Reb

[blckgnx]

Excellant post, and yes, got my vote for a sticky. I'm a newbie to this crawler thing, and you've answered a bunch of questions I had. Very informative. If available, I will ordered the whole sha bang from you. I just got the new battery tray, servo winch mount, so this was very timely. Thanks, Ron

[801RYAN]

Thanks for posting all this info in one place ...

I just built my first servo winch using the links above for all my modding and parts I used a 645, HeyOk's HV controller and Team3six's Warpig spool

Thanks agian

[Rig Rocker]

Awesome thread Norm!

Thanks again for selling the warpig spools and the synthetic line. They are an awesome combination with the 7955 servo.

One recommendation for the spool would be to include a screw for it. Lucky for me I have a bag of 2.6 mm screws in various lengths just for hitec servos. It would be really cool if it just came with one.