Unique Project - Need Help and Advice

[67mustang]

Emaxx. Those new bigger rc4wd mudslinger boggers. They are likely better and about the same size as the kongs. Wheelspeed is required and i dont think a mad torque will have that.

[pura vida]

Thanks for the offer on the Blizzard, I'll definitely keep it in mind but as mentioned above I'm concerned with how long it would work with continued used in the mud. Thanks for the info on the Maxstone, that's exactly what i was looking for. Sill leaning towards the Mad Torque. A rig with big paddles and high HP would probably work best in mud, but won't work for what I need to do. I need to have a high level of control and precision and high speed just won't work. High precision 3D mapping is exactly what we are doing (my vertical needs to be within +/- 0.1 of a foot) so a quadrotor won't work b/c we can't just fly over the area at an approximate height and landing every 25 feet would probably take longer than just walking. The unit we will be mounting on the crawler weighs right about 3 lbs. I think the Mad Torque with the absolutely largest tires I can find will probably work the best. Unless someone can point me to an airboat/hover craft that would fit my needs but still within my budget? Right now I don't thing there is a very good chance of that but need to hit up the Florida crowd to see if they have an suggestions. I had looked at the Emaxx but thought the high torque/lower speed of a crowler would work better along with the superior articulation due the the significant weight the GPS receiver will add up high. Thanks again for all the feed back, really appreciated and is why I love forums! Merry Christmas to all. And I'll defintely post a video if/when we pull the trigger. That won't be for a while though as I expect to find out if we got the contract in February and will do the work in May. But I'll continue to update as I go. Keep the good info coming!

PV

[KJ10]

Sounds like you need something that will float but still crawl, to me. I'm envisioning something with a large footprint (18" WB, 12+" track width). I'd run the largest paddles I could find. 2 of them per corner, in fact! Yes, duals all around. Two Berg axles from D-Lux powered by some Brood Conflux's on a lightweight frame that's still strong enough to support your GPS and the rest of the electronics. Waterprrof everything as much as possible.

Sounds expensive but, if you're doing what I think you're doing with this device, it just might be worth the investment.

[pura vida]

Thanks for the input. You pretty much have the right idea overall. I had definitely considered duals all the way around. Cost is always a concern as I don't want to spend a huge amount of money and it be a complete failure. But the receiver I'll be mounting to it cost more than $15K, so everything is relative. For my first attempt later this year I'd like to keep it under $500. Hoping that will give me a good idea if it is feasible or not. Even if it doesn't work perfectly I'm hoping it will tell me if I should put more money into it or abandon the idea. Thanks.

PV

[spookyseven]

I see your point why a quadrotor isn't ideal. It might work for mapping a few points, but not really what you need. The summit is still capable of the low speed/high torque, just beause traxxas markets themselves as the fastest name in rc doesn't mean you have to have the trottle constantly pinned. Here are a few reasons I mentioned it. Its full independant suspension meaning you have more ground clearance. While trying to travel through the mud, as soon as your pumpkin or gearbox from a moa gets in the mud it makes it harder to move around. The full independant suspension will give you a higher COG than a solid axle vehicle so there is a balance of which one you need more. The up front cost is higher but since you aren't useing it as a basher vehicle it should be very reliable and parts are easy to come by. Also it comes with a waterproof esc. It has a waterproof reciever box but I don't know how reliable they are. It might be a wise choice to use another method of waterproofing the reciever such as plastidip or a baloon.

[pura vida]

Great info Spook, I appreciate it. I'll definitely keep it in mind. Lots of good points there. And those can be found used much easier... Thanks

PV

[Pgambardella]

A rig with 2.2 flat irons might work because they are so dang wide, maybe even performing the dually mod. Forget the foams. Or some rc4wd tracks might work also. Try to keep it as light weight as possible and get some wiiiiiiide tires.


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[GRIMGREG]

Why not rig up some RC controls on a Power Wheels?

Digitalduino: RC Power Wheels Jeep

[pura vida]

Don't think the power wheels would actually work very well. Size does become an issue as I have to box up whatever I go with and put it on a plane as luggage.

Right now I'm leaning towards the wides tires possible, possibly going dually all the way around. But I really like the idea of the tracks also. Know the work outstanding in the real word but not sure if that transfers over to the RC world. I had seen the RC4WD tracks before but didn't know how much surface area they would provide over a super wide tire or dually setup. Especially considering the extra moving parts and potential maintenance/breakage. But then I cam across the EREVO INTEGY tracks.
Video example:
summit ,snow mobile - YouTube

Now that looks like they have potential. What's the word on these? Good, Bad, Ugly? Would the fit on a Mad Torque? Thanks as always.

PV

[jebster]

While tracks like the rc4wd are nice and work pretty well (have a set myself) they are heavy. Given the desire to maximize contact area while keeping the weight low it seems large tires would be the better option. Plus the tracks are expensive in comparison.

[redsawacs]

I'm leaning towards the Summit as well. It has a very wide footprint that would spread out the weight over a large area and keep it from sinking. Of course , wider tires would help more than stock and there are plenty of tires to choose from for the terrain .

[pura vida]

So to update an old thread, I ended up going with the Traxxas Summit. Kept it stock and tested it out this last weekend on a job. The potential is outstanding. We can collect a huge amount of high quality data in the right conditions. Our first mounting setup worked but we need to get the CG lower as it is too top heavy and falls over on steeper grades. I think the potential is there enough to invest into some different tires. I'm considering going with the largest/wides tires I can find and duals all the way around. The battery life with the stock batteries was even adequate since we run it at a low speed in low gear. I'll try to get some pictures up soon.

PV

[Arctic Fire]

I was thinking summit the whole time I was reading this then bam, you chose correctly. Despite how awesome an scx or crawler is, the summit is hands down the tool for the Job. My friend in the military uses them for long range moving target practice (picture a summit with steel plates on both sides covering the wheels, with a little antennae and a target on it.) they had some issues with COG, but they bought hex wideners and huge tires, now the thing is unstoppable.

* another note, as they didnt' need extreme ground clearance or top speed, so they strapped a divers weight to the underside of the chassis with zip ties., the thing is unstoppable now at the range (or so he tells me)

[pura vida]

researching tires and dually setups, I'm almost thinking a second set of stock tires might be as good as anything. I really need width rather than height and the stock tires are almost 4" wide. Not sure yet though...

PV

[cabron]

the mad torque has a 6x6 version
Exceed RC 1/8 scale 6x6 MadTorque Crawler 2.4ghz Ready to Run

consider plugging up the breather holes in the wheels and removing the foams, more rubber on the ground and no water to add weight

I have a super bully and it already weighs over 12 pounds. I would thing a plastic crawler would be better.
the 3 pounds of the trimble receiver is not much, I doubt using 2 wheels at each corner is necessary.
if you get the 6x6 those 6 2.8 wheels and tires might be enough but getting 6 4.0 wheels and tires will be
easy to convert to. plastic wheels and glue on the tires. no need to buy top shelf stuff for a test.

I did seismic exploration for many years and we thought about using rc cars for the gps receivers
can you control the receiver remotely? capture the data and record the station number?

this is fun a nice change from wheel weights and shock oil