The "Just shut up and build it" thread...

[durok]

Needed 1 more post to make the 30! Spent it here to say nothing but Good luck on the LHS!

Thanks, Miatardo - I sorta got half-way lucky... "thumbsup"

(read on for what I mean)

Good to hear that Promodler is going to take care of you. "thumbsup"
Instead of using those jst connectors, I started using the tiny XT30 connectors...much better connection. I grabbed 10 male and females off eBay for $9-10 might check into using those later on. I have seen a few of those GearHead wheels on some Bomber vids and then seeing yours, I had to grab a set. Picked them up in all black and also grabbed some CI Double Duece 5.5 in medium ":mrgreen:

Yet another mind-reader!

As soon as I looked up on the wall at the LHS, I spotted ONE lonely bag with a male & female XT30 connector for sale. I really wish they'd had 2, so I could be proactive and also get one for the JX, but whatever...

Enjoy those Gearhead RC wheels, but I recommend using threadlock on the hub bolts! ;-)

(other than that glitch, I absolutely love mine...)

Are those as small as the JST's? I've never seen one in person

See the pic below, XT60 on the left, Gearhead RC XT60 w/JST powertap in the middle, a male/female pair of itty-bitty XT30s and then a wimpy JST on the right.

Spoooookyyyy...lol. I always feel like...somebody's watching me...and I get no privacy... Now I will be in your head because you'll be hearing that song for the next two hours :lmao:

I would've been truly surprised and disappointed if an outfit like ProModeler would have had any different response, but glad I wasn't.

My 3Brothers servo arrived while I was in Italy so that will be going in this weekend. Anxious to see how it will work feeding off full 3S power via the balance plug port.

Now for the oldtimer's disease mantra: remember to reprogram the Mamba while the box is open, remember to reprogram the Mamba while the box is open, remember to reprogram the Mamba while the box is open...

I'll forget

(You better actually reside in Princeton, North Carolina my friend, cuz you're creepin' me out - if I find out you've actually been living below me and have bugs installed in my apartment, well.... I don't know what I'll do!) :shock:

We'll need an unbiased report after you've thrashed the 3Brothers servo for a decent length of time!

I gotta say the Mamba X is such a sweet chunk of hi-tech sweetness... I set my LiPo cutoff relatively high to make my packs have a longer life-cycle, and it shut down, and beeped Morse code at me - I quickly checked the beep-code guide, and sure enough - time to swap packs! I got home and it had cut off at EXACTLY where I set it, 3.5v per cell... And the occasional beeping sounds it makes (that I could turn off in the programming) don't even annoy me now that I realize how helpful they are.

Sure, I appreciate a quiet crawler - my Ascender, for example - but for a high-powered rig running 4S brushless it's nice to know what's goin' on at all times!

Time for me to do some soldering.... (yuck!)

And I'll try out the new setup tomorrow if this town doesn't self-combust - high Friday is expected to be 105, Saturday 106, Sunday 107...

They need to rename Austin - Welcome to Hell, Texas! :twisted:

 

[ScoJac]

Are those as small as the JST's? I've never seen one in person

They are pretty small and will handle a lot more load than the JST connector.
I’ll snap a pic in a little bit and come back and edit this post and add the pic.

I run the large XT90 on all my crawlers and road cars, I do have some XT60 for the plane and the XT 30 I use on small batteries, bec’s, and lighting.

EDIT:

I must have tossed the JST connectors I had, cannot find any to put side by side.
Anyways here are the ones I use... XT90, XT60 and XT30. Added a wheel nut and a dime for comparison.

Edit again: I usually get all mine on eBay in bags of either 5 or 10 m&f sets that way I always have extras for myself or anyone needing one.

XT30 10 sets $6.50 free shipping



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[ScoJac]

OH :shock:

I guess you found some, I left that post unfinished and am a little late to the game.

 

[durok]

OH :shock:

I guess you found some, I left that post unfinished and am a little late to the game.

HumboldtEF was the person looking for info on the XT30 connectors.

I use XT60+ for my battery connections on my crawlers, they have the cool slide-on gray plastic cover for the base of the connector, making it optional if you want to mess with heat shrink.

I dislike soldering a great deal, but prefer the XT-series if I have to do any...

So, finding XT30s at the LHS was a happy thing!

I will likely get another few sets for future use elsewhere, but I'm nearly done with all the connectors that need changing.

 

[durok]

The rig is all buttoned-up again after swapping in a Holmes SHV500 v1 servo and soldering XT30 connectors to the XT60 power-takeoff and servo power pigtail.

As it's currently 105deg outside (at 5:20PM CST), I'm waiting another hour before heading out to test it on 3S.

Should be easier then to find some shade!

 

[durok]

Good news, 3S is NOT boring for the 1800kv Revolver... "thumbsup"

Just as a refresh, I'm running standard kit HD diff gears (no OD or UD) and 64t/12t spur & pinion...

Top speed is fine, and there's definitely enough wheelspin to launch up a ledge completely airborne! ;-)

HH SHV500 v1 servo is VERY strong, no issues to report on that score.

I did however, notice that my passenger rear wheel is no longer "driven", it's freewheeling.

Gotta look into that! :shock:

A Green Heron came within 6 feet of me and was just chillin' in the creekbed, and later I saw a little watersnake zig-zagging across the water... 8)

It was a perfect spot for low-key driving, in the shade of a bridge - because of the time of day the shady area was much larger than the last time I was there.

Couldn't really open it up, though.

Later on - after between 1.5-2.0 hours of slow-crawling (I'm pretty sure I nearly took the SMC 4300mAh to the low-voltage point - it was at 3.65 per cell and being put on storage charge now) I went to my apartment parking lot and switched to my cheapo Venom 3200mAh and did some flat-out running across the cut grass and was satisfied overall.

That's when I noticed the rear wheel not getting power...

I'm needing to cool off for a few (!) so I won't mess with it right away.

Some pics at the site - and I have more craptacular one-handed videos coming later!

 

[2mtech]

Geez, dude, one trip out and you shear an axle? You're going to be restricted to NiMH until you can learn to play with your expensive toys properly, young man. :lmao:

The ADHD note about the heron and the snake was entertaining though...maybe the heat? Didn't see any leprechauns or unicorns out there, did you?

All in fun. I can't imagine trying to run my setup on 4S so I can believe 3S is not boring. 2S, now...kinda snore.

 

[durok]

Axle better not be sheared!

It's still attached, and it free-spins on the axle.

Ah-Ha!

I just snapped a pin and broke part of the hex - no worries, a new pin and hex will fix that right up!

The cheapest and easiest fix I could have!

EDIT: Other axle had bent pin, gonna be proactive and change out both... "thumbsup"

 

[durok]

Well, I tried to use Vanquish locking hexes, but try as I might I couldn't get the Gearhead wheels to slide over them.

Using LURC narrow hexes instead...

All is back to normal, Bomber has 4WD!

The Losi Maxxis Creepy Crawlers are already showing a little wear, nice soft rubber... "thumbsup"

 

[durok]

Is 3S enough for an 1800kv Revolver in a stock-geared Bomber?

(I do believe so... altho' 4S sure is fun!)

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[durok]

It's official...

I'm ham-fisted. :evil:

After previously breaking off the tip of a 1.5mm MIP hex driver, I now have done the very same thing to a MIP 2mm tip!:shock:

All I was doing was changing out a servo horn, not even bearing down hard - check out the flaking metal (the so-far-unbroken 2.5mm is there for scale):

 

[durok]

For a while there, I thought I had ruined my v1 SHV500 as well, but seemingly I have it working again - just went out to the grassy field nearby and ran laps and figure-eights for a bit to check... ;-)

It locked up on me in a VERY minor impact to a wheel two days ago, and when I touched it - it was scorching hot! :shock:

VERY strange, as earlier when I ran it - it was as cool as a cucumber.:roll:

I remember previously thinking that was pretty interesting since my ProModeler got quite warm when it was in there only getting 8.0v, rather than the full 3S voltage a SHV gets...

Anyways, after waiting a day and a half, and dreading the thought of having to bust out the soldering gun AGAIN for a JST connector (or having to call around and find ANOTHER XT30 connector) and swapping servos AGAIN (this time for a questionable strength JX BLS-46KG 14v model) - I said screw it and took the servo horn off, plugged everything back together - and it seemed to work as if nothing had happened! :ror:

Of course I couldn't do something as simple as bolt back up a servo horn without any more trouble (see previous post, broke another MIP hex tool tip - a 2mm this time!) - but at least the dang thing is still working. 8)

Going out hopefully each day of the next 3 days and crawling somewhere different each time!

(Bringing my Ascender as backup, of course..."thumbsup")

 

[ScoJac]

Good to hear the servo is still going strong, and that’s some strange coincidence that you have now broken 2 MIP drivers.

 

[durok]

Stretched out and then broke an Axial rod-end on the rear upper links today, my fault for not yet picking up some SS links with Traxxas rod-ends.

Can't justify any additional expense towards crawlers at the moment, so will just replace with the same and keep going.

Thankfully, this time I did have my Ascender with me, so anyone that's interested can check my "Ummm..." Ascender thread for a pic and a video - also up on my Team RRC² channel.

It's the first video not shot one-handed, as I was with Miatardo and his Bronco and Bomber - he shot a couple vids of my K10 and I shot a couple of his Bronco.

 

[durok]

Decided to (at least temporarily) install all the JEC Racing stainless links as well as swap over to kit tires on Incision MR307 wheels with CI Double Deuce CompCut foams.

Once again I was reminded what an exquisite pain-in-the-ass Bombers are to work on... and mine requires removing rear and side body panels on top of the usual.

Troubles ensued because I hadn't noticed one and a half years ago that the links were accidentally shipped with extra upper front links in place of upper rear links...

I contacted them and it will be taken care of, but since I was so into it I wanted to finish for a crawl session later today - I made it work by swapping in some Jato rod-ends for some of the Revo ends.

Lots of trial and error, however!

At one point the rear driveshaft sliders were so compressed that after using up about a half inch of travel, the driveshaft was bottomed out - not good!

i now have it all worked out, full travel, no binding anywhere.

The rig is MUCH heavier than before, all that stainless replacing aluminum or titanium (steering was SSD ti, the rest was aluminum - everything is oversized SS now).

It's also lower to the ground because I've dropped from 6" tall tires to about 5.3", so it should handle pretty well.

We shall see!

 

[2mtech]

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the relatively limited access the Bomber presents. Glad you got straightened out.

You must have a French bomber like Jboucher with those Peugeot emblems on your side panels. ;-)

 

[durok]

It's a lion from the coat of arms of the City of Braunschweig (aka Brunswick) in Germany, where many of my German relatives live.

I was given a sticker sheet ages ago and thought it looked really nifty....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braunschweig

8)8)

When I build the second Bomber-based rig up, it's going to be much easier - being that it's just a skid between chassis rails!

I gotta say, every time I pop the body off the Ascender I am amazed at how easy things CAN be!

 

[Crawler Cads]

Near Hanover?
Went there (Braunschweig) for a weekend when I was at school in Germany way back in the 80s. Small world [emoji2] the family I stayed with had a 1:1 off-road buggy which I remember being 15 years old was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen!

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[2mtech]

It's a lion from the coat of arms of the City of Braunschweig (aka Brunswick) in Germany, where many of my German relatives live.

I knew that, but every time I see it fresh it still reminds me of the Peugeot lion.

I like sausage better than escargot anyway. "thumbsup"

 

[durok]

Near Hanover?
Went there (Braunschweig) for a weekend when I was at school in Germany way back in the 80s. Small world [emoji2] the family I stayed with had a 1:1 off-road buggy which I remember being 15 years old was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen!

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Yeah, it's pretty much due east of Hanover...

I've lived in many parts of Germany when I was young - and was born there at a US Army base hospital.

My mother is German, and when I can swing the funds and vacation time, I try to get over there.

**************************

So, I went out and ran a pack through the #777 Bomber - it handled noticeably better with more weight down low and smaller diameter tires.

I was at the little limestone bluff again, so I didn't "need" the bigger tires obstacle-clearing ability.

The kit tires with CI foams worked fine traction-wise, and I never traction-rolled in the gravelly and rocky surface.

I didn't bother with video - I find it reduces my enjoyment factor, trying to drive one-handed and shoot video at the same time.

Hopefully Miatardo and I will get out together for another session sometime soon!

Then, there WILL be some good video of both our Bombers.

For now, here are some stills (I noticed the steering link was drooping after the head-on shot and fixed that):