06-10-2020, 06:10 AM | #1 |
Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Malta
Posts: 345
| 2 ESCs on one receiver.
I am in the process of modifying a recently purchased toy-grade forklift. The steering is BAD and so is the drive control. Another problem with the steering is that is it rear-wheel steer with front-wheel drive with a locked diff. Imagine the turning circle on that hahaha So I am thinking a motor on each of the drive-wheels controlled separately. I am assuming I would need 2 ESCs (going for the cheap and well proven Hobbywing 1060) to control each motor. I use a Spektrum DX8 radio which I had originally bought to fly quadcopters and when I moved over to crawlers, I continued using that same radio. For those knowledgable about the DX8, I use the rudder channel for steering and the elevator channel for forward and reverse while the radio is set in Mode 2. I would want to continue using the same method for forward and reverse and steering, and will, later on, decide which channels to use for life and tilt. I'm assuming that I will have to do some mixing to control 2 channels, one for each ESC, with my ELEVATOR channel and when I steer left, the left drive wheel will spin slower or the right drive wheel faster and the same idea for when I steer right. Am I on the right track? Here's a pic of my forklift. |
Sponsored Links | |
06-10-2020, 06:33 AM | #2 |
I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: california under the rock im crawling on
Posts: 4,288
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver.
i think you would need a radio that has tank mode i dont know how you would steer the back wheels though cause the steering channel is used to mix the throtle and not run a servo maybe one of the gurus here will chime in with some actual knowladge on the subject sounds like a realy cool project please do a build thread on it once you get it all figured out |
06-10-2020, 06:39 AM | #3 | |
Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Malta
Posts: 345
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver. Quote:
| |
06-10-2020, 08:21 AM | #4 |
Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: US
Posts: 275
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver.
If you plan to run a motor to both the left and the right side... it means you're getting rid of the locked axle. Maybe try it with 1 wheel drive? I don't know where you're operating, but seems like anywhere this thing is being used, that should be fine. That's assuming that your steering issue is mostly the locked front axle and not lack of weight on the rear. Seems like putting in a diff would be easier than running 2 esc and motors... but I don't know what the guts look like either. |
06-10-2020, 08:44 AM | #5 | |
Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Malta
Posts: 345
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver. Quote:
Steering, being a toy-grade is either full left or full right or off, straight. This will have to be changed for sure. I have done this on a 1/18th truck. The level of difficulty depends on how much space is left for a servo after removing the stock steering guts. As for weight, yes it WILL need some added counterweight, but it looks like there is room at the rear under the body and also some scale accessory on the back on top of the body behind the driver. Stacks of room Last edited by JoeConti; 06-10-2020 at 08:46 AM. | |
06-10-2020, 09:51 AM | #6 |
Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jan 2017 Location: Olathe
Posts: 361
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver.
I know you already ruled out 2 motors, but incase you go back to it you would need a tank mixer like this: https://www.amazon.com/Quickbuying-D.../dp/B0754HVZ3B It allows you to drive 2 ESCs from a throttle and steering input from the radio. Normally these mixers will make a tank spin in place if you turn by running one motor forward and one backwards. This mixer has a feature I hadn't seen before and you would want for this project. "Applying rudder at low throttle will NOT cause either output to cross over to the opposite direction." You would want this since you will still have steering and you don't want a full tank drive. The mix ratio would be like adjusting the diff. It is adjustable between 33-100%. It can't go this low but 0% would like having a solid axle. 100% would make it so that full steering would only make the outside motor spin. |
06-10-2020, 09:59 AM | #7 |
Rock Crawler Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Dela-where?
Posts: 502
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver. |
06-10-2020, 01:42 PM | #8 | |
Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Malta
Posts: 345
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver. Quote:
Sadly there is no room for 2 motors side by side instead of the axle, but then I was thinking 540 motors hahaha - smaller ones perhaps but it would be very challenging to install them correctly and keep them secured. Unless when I do is a sure thing, I would not like to cut up the plastic underside only for it to fail and then I cannot reverse what I did. I'd be left with a pile of trash :( I'll try the one wheel drive approach for starters and take it from there, but like I said, its a great idea you mentioned above. I will give it some serious thought, if not for this project, who knows what comes next? | |
06-10-2020, 01:42 PM | #9 |
Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Malta
Posts: 345
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver. |
06-10-2020, 02:07 PM | #10 |
RCC Addict Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Kelowna, BC
Posts: 1,274
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver.
It sounds like you might find what you're looking for in the Sabretooth ESC. It comes from the robotics industry and is commonly used in Kyosho Blizzard upgrading.
|
06-10-2020, 03:04 PM | #11 |
Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Malta
Posts: 345
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver. |
06-10-2020, 04:13 PM | #12 |
RCC Addict Join Date: Aug 2017 Location: Fredericksburg, VA
Posts: 1,912
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver.
I second the Sabertooth ESC if running two motors, it has built in signal mixing between channels 1 and 2. I have one in my Blizzard and it works exceptionally well in a two motor tracked vehicle. Not sure how it would work in the forklift application though since it has a steering axle. I would think an open diff or one wheel and steering servo would be more effective in this application.
Last edited by Inspector86; 06-10-2020 at 04:44 PM. |
06-10-2020, 05:15 PM | #13 | |
I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: North Idaho
Posts: 3,648
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver. Quote:
I use a stick radio for mine, it works, but no matter how much I tweak the settings, it is still a bit twitchy. What size motors are you running in your Blizzard, and what flavor of Sabertooth are you running? | |
06-10-2020, 05:32 PM | #14 |
RCC Addict Join Date: Aug 2017 Location: Fredericksburg, VA
Posts: 1,912
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver.
Yes, I run my Blizzard using my GT3C and it works very well. I can tweak both steering and throttle exponential to really tailor the feel of the mix to fit my driving. Not twitchy, completely controllable. I'm running the 2x12a Sabertooth which is a simple plug n play into the receiver with dual 380 can motors. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Last edited by Inspector86; 06-11-2020 at 12:22 AM. |
06-10-2020, 11:09 PM | #15 | |
Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Malta
Posts: 345
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver. Quote:
| |
06-11-2020, 10:01 AM | #16 | |
RCC Addict Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Kelowna, BC
Posts: 1,274
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver. Quote:
https://www.robotshop.com/ca/en/sabe...or-driver.html Sorry for the thread-jack! Now, back on track - FORKLIFT STUFF AND THINGS! | |
06-12-2020, 10:26 AM | #17 |
Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Malta
Posts: 345
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver.
Progress so far. One wheel drive sorted. Only driving it on a flat surface so I'm assuming it will be fine. Steering micro servo sorted. Had to use tue dremel to remove some plastic from tue chassis. Didn't wish to do that but it was then only way to go forward. Works now. Might need some tuning from the radio. Will see later. Installed Hobbywing 1060 ESC and a receiver and rewired the forklift. Original battery was 4.8v. Not enough for the 1060. Cut some plastic out to make room for a 2S 1500mah lipo. Perfect. Drives like a a Rolls 👍 My next question is: I can see no way out from using an additional 2 ESCs for the boom and lift. Is there a small sized dual ESC I can use? |
06-13-2020, 01:06 PM | #18 |
Quarry Creeper Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Malta
Posts: 345
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver.
Decided to go the way of 3 ESCs. Ordered some today and boxed the project until the parts arrive, which could be a few weeks. Thanks for your comments guys |
06-14-2020, 01:02 AM | #19 |
I wanna be Dave Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: My mothers basement
Posts: 2,128
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver.
Honestly I think just unlocking the front diff and controlling it with one esc would make quite a bit of difference. If you have dual drive in the front and one esc it's really not much different then an open diff either. The outside tire will rotate faster because it has less load on it, but it won't get stuck with one wheel spinning like an open diff. You can wire the dual motors in parallel on one esc. If you don't like that you can alwayse add a second esc later. No clue on how to power one side less when your turning though, at least with rc electronics. An arduino could do that no problem, provided you know how to write the code. __________________________ Handy gearing spreadsheet |
06-14-2020, 01:14 AM | #20 |
I wanna be Dave Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: My mothers basement
Posts: 2,128
| Re: 2 ESCs on one receiver.
For a small light esc maybe a quad copter esc would work. But you probably need a drag brake. Holmes and castle both have micro crawler esc's with dragbrake. The micro sidewinder 2 I think from castle. Br mini from holmes. I guess both of these comments were too late to the party. __________________________ Handy gearing spreadsheet |
2 ESCs on one receiver. - Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Removing receiver from Receiver box | alank | Axial Wraith | 4 | 05-17-2016 10:30 AM |
What escs? | ddr | Superclass Crawlers | 4 | 04-21-2013 07:52 AM |
2 ESCs, 1 receiver | RC Storm | Electronics | 5 | 04-08-2012 01:03 PM |
| |