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Old 03-18-2013, 10:49 AM   #1
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Default inspection rover

Hello guys. I have built plenty of RC cars and trucks before all of the speed version. I am now starting a project for work to make a rover to inspect small places. I work in a wind turbine testing facility near Boston. I made a prototype out of a rc10e to convince my boss to let me do this project and have finally gotten approval to make a dedicated inspection rover to drive down into our turbine blades equip with a wireless camera to inspect for cracks and whatnot.
I need a good RC base to work off. I would like to start with a rock crawler for obvious reasons. It needs to be slow, and all wheel drive. I would like to get something easy to use and somewhat reliable. Most likely a RTR I am not looking to make a project out of the car itself but if better options were available I would put one together. This does not have to be any sort of performance RC. It also needs to be relatively small in order to fit in tight places. I was thinking I could modify the shocks to make it sit lower to the ground because it only has to drive over cables. Also the body does not matter because it will be removed.



Looking over the internet I see a sea of these things and I am wondering what is popular and will be a good balance for what I need. I wound like something repairable. Can anyone give me suggestions on where to start on this? I would like to keep the car with controller under or around $300.
Thanks!
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Old 03-18-2013, 11:31 AM   #2
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Default Re: inspection rover

Quote:
It also needs to be relatively small in order to fit in tight places.
how small is "realtively small"?

giving us an idea of overall ideal dimensions would be very beneficial and help get you pointed in the right direction.
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Old 03-18-2013, 12:02 PM   #3
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Default Re: inspection rover

I had a customer build a similar vehicle for inspecting tunnels at the local plants K25,Y12 and x10. He ended up going with an emaxx that he modified to suit his needs. The camera mounts he made were pretty sweat and it used coaxial cable to replace the antenna. He said it worked great for him though you could swap out the emaxx for just about anything. I showed him some crawlers but he seemed to prefer the IS setup over the straight axle. To him it seemed less likely to flip over then a crawler type of suspension.

Should be a cool project
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Old 03-18-2013, 07:18 PM   #4
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Default Re: inspection rover

As far as size, the 1/10 rc10 was to wide. Im wondering if a 1/10 crawler would be a little less wide. I guess the next size down would be a 1/18? Does anyone have rough dimensions of a tyipacal 1/18? And im not worried about it flipping. More worried bout it being able to handle a camera and scaling inclines.
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Old 03-18-2013, 08:52 PM   #5
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Default Re: inspection rover

how big is the camera? thats gonna make it top heavy. and if it flips, someones got to go in after it
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Old 03-19-2013, 06:29 AM   #6
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Default Re: inspection rover

I am attaching a old salt water fishing reel to it just in case because it will be going where people can’t fit. The camera is about the size of a go-pro. All i need is a good platform. Something that is popular so that parts and whatnot will be easy to come by later on.
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Old 03-19-2013, 06:52 AM   #7
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Default Re: inspection rover

An axial scx10 is several inches narrower than an sc10. It's the most popular crawler on the market, you can get them in RTR or kit, parts are everywhere, and you can easily put shorter shocks and shorter tires to make it lower..... I think it would be your best bet for what your looking for.....
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Old 03-19-2013, 09:20 PM   #8
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Default Re: inspection rover

I'd personally look for something cheap like a small exceed crawler, you're not really going to need to replace broken parts and they're cheap enough that if you somehow lose it in a turbine it's not a big loss.
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Old 03-20-2013, 08:22 AM   #9
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Default Re: inspection rover

Thanks for the advice. I decided to go with a scx10 rtr. Got my boss to order the SCX10 and a go-pro hero 3 with wifi so i can control the camra from a iphone. The design of this RC looks like i can get it to sit real low with some modification. Ill post pics when i get the prodject started.
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Old 03-20-2013, 08:30 AM   #10
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Default Re: inspection rover

Quote:
Originally Posted by toy4x4runner View Post
Thanks for the advice. I decided to go with a scx10 rtr. Got my boss to order the SCX10 and a go-pro hero 3 with wifi so i can control the camra from a iphone. The design of this RC looks like i can get it to sit real low with some modification. Ill post pics when i get the prodject started.
Awesome! Just a heads up on the go-pro.... I have the same system for my motocross, it doesnt allow me to stream video. All i can do is turn it on and off with my phone. Kinda frusterating when I descovered that.
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Old 03-20-2013, 11:16 AM   #11
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ooohhhhh well that is not good. shit I need a high quality camera that I can stream live feed with... ok. Well after having a meeting today the desire was expressed to have a camera that moves left and right and up and down. sooooo now I’m thinking about getting a kit without a radio and running a 4 channel instead. So I have a couple more questions now.

1: what’s a decent motor? Keep in mind that it will be in a clean environment with only some dust and will see light use.

2: the radio, is that all I need is a 4 channel radio to control 2 extra servos? I guess I could get away with one. Either way what would be a good radio to use for this?

3: speed control what do yall use.

I understand that some of these questions can be found by using the search options throughout the forum. But the radio in particular is something that is a bit more specific to this build. So I really do appreciate your help.
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Old 03-20-2013, 11:38 AM   #12
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Default Re: inspection rover

a 4ch radio will be fine. you just need to make the gimble that the cam sits on. if you need to push some power and still be super reliable, you can look at the holmes hobbies brxl. Its just over $100. Also, check out their motors too. they are very reliable, rebuildable and can push whatever weight your rig comes in at. Get your rig complete, weigh it and then contact them and they will give you the best choice. Any 2.4ghz 4ch air radio will work. Im partial to spectrum radios. You can get a basic DX5e 5ch radio for $99. You may need a full digital radio to dial in the gimble tho....
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Old 05-29-2013, 06:08 AM   #13
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Default Re: inspection rover

It took a while but I finally got mostly all the parts ordered for this thing. The axial scx10 showed up at work yesterday so I eagerly took it home and began the build of the truck itself. I got the truck mostly built last night (put 6 hours into it). The suspension seems a little bindy and tight and I couldn’t quite get the shocks as loose as I would like them. But other than this all seems on track.
Question: I have been trying to get a motor/speed controller from Holmes Hobbies. Several people had suggested the BR-XL speed controller from them. They are out of stock. I contacted the guy and he’s saying maybe a couple weeks. Any other suggestions on a speed controller for this thing? And motor? Keeping in mind this will be a slow crawling only vehicle.
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Old 05-29-2013, 02:35 PM   #14
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Default Re: inspection rover

Quote:
Originally Posted by RMK View Post
Awesome! Just a heads up on the go-pro.... I have the same system for my motocross, it doesnt allow me to stream video. All i can do is turn it on and off with my phone. Kinda frusterating when I descovered that.
You can stream from a goPro but not via wifi.

[Edit actually that's wrong - just found this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8pMkhigRQA but the rest of this still may be useful. Unless you have line of sight you still may need to set up the wifi within the room and need the wifi RC RX - see below ]


You have to get one of these..

Combo Cable | GoPro Accessories | Multipurpose Cable Connectivity

or some lighter weigh equivalent.

and one of these

5.8g 200mw FPV Wireless AV Tx & Rx Set


Technically you also need a HAM licence to operate that radio but since its inside no one can hear you stream.

and some kind of monitor or recording device.

Here's a U choob. There are lots of others.

How to Setup FPV w/ GoPro HD, HobbyKing 5.8GHz Transmitter/Receiver for DJI Naza Quadcopter - YouTube

However one possible problem with your plan is that 2.4Gh and 5.8Ghz are not very good at going through walls so you may need to be line of sight to control this vehicle and to receive a video stream. Hopefully that still fits with your need.

One other approach is to set up a Wifi network within the area you need to inspect and use something like this.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...d_Android.html

You could replace the camera with something more capable. Just a thought.

Last edited by AutoCrawler; 05-29-2013 at 03:45 PM.
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Old 05-29-2013, 07:27 PM   #15
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Default Re: inspection rover

Quote:
Originally Posted by toy4x4runner View Post
[FONT=Calibri]
I have been trying to get a motor/speed controller from Holmes Hobbies. Several people had suggested the BR-XL speed controller from them. They are out of stock. I contacted the guy and he’s saying maybe a couple weeks. Any other suggestions on a speed controller for this thing? And motor? Keeping in mind this will be a slow crawling only vehicle.
Since you are not actually crawling (up rocks) I'm not sure I would recommend a brushed motor ESC. You do not need the low end torque curve that Crawlers value from brushed motors and brushed motors are electrically noisy. For your application a brushless system will probably work better.

I don't have any particular recommendation but I found this combo that appears to be appropriate just as an example.

HobbyWing JS6 Sensored Brushless Combo w/ Justock 45A ESC + XERUN-21.5T 1600kv Sensored Motor for 1/10 & 1/8 RC Rock Crawler Competition (ROAR Approved)

I have no experience with it but I'm sure others will chime in.
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Old 05-30-2013, 03:44 AM   #16
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Default Re: inspection rover

Since in post #13 you mention "slow crawling only" I disagree with AutoCrawler about going brushless.

There are other ESCs suitable for a brushed crawler motor as well, like Castle SideWinder (v2 or v3) or Tekin FXr.
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Old 05-30-2013, 07:28 AM   #17
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Default Re: inspection rover

Quote:
Originally Posted by toy4x4runner View Post
It took a while but I finally got mostly all the parts ordered for this thing. The axial scx10 showed up at work yesterday so I eagerly took it home and began the build of the truck itself. I got the truck mostly built last night (put 6 hours into it). The suspension seems a little bindy and tight and I couldn’t quite get the shocks as loose as I would like them. But other than this all seems on track.
Question: I have been trying to get a motor/speed controller from Holmes Hobbies. Several people had suggested the BR-XL speed controller from them. They are out of stock. I contacted the guy and he’s saying maybe a couple weeks. Any other suggestions on a speed controller for this thing? And motor? Keeping in mind this will be a slow crawling only vehicle.
The holmes controller would be nice because you get his customer service (IMO the best out there) and it has a really good built in BEC for your steering servo. However, an axial AX2 with a integy 35-65t lathe motor (slow and affordable) and a castle BEC would work just fine for what you're doing, and it would be very affordable.

Also, check out servocity.com - they have all sorts of things you can use to make your camera move.
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