Shonen's brushless projects
 

I've got several projects in the works, but to spare the clutter of several threads I will put everything just in one. DrKnow65 wanted me to post up my insane types of builds, so here it is. I'm not gonna post a lot of initial pictures, let me know if you guys want to see more and I'll gladly put up more.

First off: my ERBE (E-Revo Beast Edition :p). I originally bought this off eBay as a 5605 model, without original radio and motors/ESC but with a Futaba 3PM 2.4GHz and Novak HV 6.5 system. I then bought a Mamba Monster combo and 17mm hexes so it was a 'true' ERBE, but then Castle decided to have a garage sale and the 1515 was replaced with a 1717. It didn't run too quick on 4s, my setup with the 1515, so I replaced the Mamba Monster recently with a Mamba XL. This gives me 4s and 8s (and everything in between) flexibility, a BEC powerful enough to power the servo, fans and LEDs by a considerable margin, and of course, data logging.

I've only taken one video of it, and it's during the night with Thunder Tiger ST-1 truggy tires on it...not very grippy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbC0yutQ3aw Attached also is the log during that run. Not very impressive, but I did manage to pull 2550W the next day on dry grass. Now that the ST-1 tires are off and some Zombie-Maxes are on, I want to see the real power output of the truck...

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/8580/mambaxl35.th.jpg http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/6...volver5.th.jpg http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/5...irstrun.th.png

Motor: Castle/Neu 1717 1580Kv
ESC: Castle Creations Mamba XL
Battery: 2x Turnigy 4s 4500mAh Nanotech 25/50C
Servo: Hitec HS-7955TG (Pro-Line steering arm, Racer's Edge horn)
Gear: 24/54 0.8M (experimental, will go back to 23/40 1.0M)
Suspension: TRX Blue front Purple rear, AE 80wt shock oil, P3 rockers
Mods/upgrades:
- AE NTC3 receiver box, relocated to empty servo space
- LST2 diff/axle swap, ~400kwt front ~100kwt rear
- Mugen Seiki 17mm hubs (MBX6)
- HPI dogbones in center, RC-Monster drive cups
- Homemade mistercrash style aluminum slipper pad
- Tekno 2.2mm sway bars front/rear
- RPM suspension arms
- JConcepts rear mount, Losi 8ight wing, nitro Revo rear bumper
- Rear shock mount raised 2mm
- Traxxas motor mount lapped, anti-backing screw+washer in motor mount post


Another semi-interesting thing I've done with the Revo family is an outrunner style 3.3 conversion. I never actually owned a 3.3, this was bought off eBay and assembled as parts off of an E-Revo, Revo 3.3, T-Maxx 3.3, Summit and Slayer Pro. It originally had a Mamba Max Pro + LRP Vector X-12 4.0 in it out of my TC5R, but that setup (predictably) ran very hot and was rather slow. It currently has a Turnigy outrunner and a Phoenix ICE 100 (from a one-off project mentioned later), but I would like this to run on a MMP...just waiting on it to be returned from Castle's excellent repair department.

In the photos, I have them on bare rims...these were 14mm hex rims I got in the eBay auction for my E-Revo, and the tires exploded. I use these rims for drifting. haha!

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/311...trevo01.th.jpg http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/727...trevo02.th.jpg

Motor: Hobbyking 500H 1600Kv
ESC: Castle Creations Phoenix ICE 100 (soon Mamba Max Pro)
Battery: Zippy Flightmax 6s 2650mAh 20/30C
Servo: Traxxas 2075 (single)
Gear: 15/36 1.0M, AE clutchbell, HPI shoes/springs on Tekno Elektri-Clutch 3-shoe; standard Revo 3.3 transmission ratios
Suspension: TRX 2Yellow front 2Orange rear (Summit), Mugen Seiki 60wt shock oil, P2 rockers
Mods/upgrades:
- E-Revo receiver box on extra servo space (guess where that came from)
- custom aluminum battery tray
- Tekno 36mm v3 motor mount on custom steel plate to mate with the TRX engine mount
- TRX Extended wheelbase rear arms
- two stock brake discs (won't work as well as the vented one, but was worth a try for $3)
- 40mm motor fan, mounted with interesting results


Next off is a mini scale, the Associated RC18T2/B2 kit. I got rather ambitious with this one, and in both of its phases I believe I was the first to pull it off. As soon as it came out I put in my order, I am fairly sure I was the first one in Hawaii to buy one.

Version 1: Castle powered screamer with a 4200Kv motor. ...wait what? How is that motor gonna be a screamer? Cause it was gonna run on 6s... (:

I'm well aware that on 6s the motor is almost at 100krpm, but I've had my 1:10 motor (Orion 2.5) at higher RPM for much longer and it's fine. It does heat up extremely quickly, which is why v1 was just to be silly and to have a stupid-fast RC18. 70mph? easy.

http://a.imageshack.us/img809/1379/ae13.th.jpg http://a.imageshack.us/img828/5927/ae15s.th.jpg

Motor: Castle Creations CM20-4200
ESC: Castle Creations Mamba Max Pro
Battery: 3x Turnigy 2s 800mAh 20/30C 'long'
Servo: Blue Bird BMS-376DMG+HS (drilled out servo horn, modified servo mount)
Gear: 12/60 0.6M
Suspension: Hot Racing chrome onroad springs front/rear, Mugen Seiki 60wt shock oil
Mods/upgrades:
too many to list here conveniently

Version 2: Just as I was wondering what to do with the chassis, Castle decided to have their garage sale...long story short, the new setup was a CM26-4600 and a Sidewinder. This was 'just' on 2s, but I don't think anyone has fit a CM26 in the RC18-2 before. It was much slower (which was good), and handled quite nicely when using 1:10 scale wheels. The torque and temperatures was most appreciated over the original setup.

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/2434/cm26h.th.jpg http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/6...winder2.th.jpg

Motor: Castle Creations CM26-4600
ESC: Castle Creations Sidewinder
Battery: Elite 2s 2200mAh 35/45C
Servo: Blue Bird BMS-376DMG+HS (drilled out servo horn, modified servo mount)
Gear: 23/60 0.6M/48P
Suspension: Hot Racing chrome onroad springs front/rear, Mugen Seiki 60wt shock oil
Mods/upgrades:
too many to list here conveniently

And lastly, a one-off project that was completed in September last year. Not sure what you guys will think of it, since there are no motors in the drivetrain... :p
http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/3...7654867.th.jpg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKye7j-QDbY

You got some wild stuff man. Since you live in Hawaii and have water all around you need to throw some Jumbo Kong tires on that last one and turn it into a hovercraft! LOL

Hehe, that EDF powered revo is cool! I like the black 1/8 revo too. Nice cars :)

sweet rigs mang.

Thanks for posting all this up!!! reminds me I need to put some time into my profile :lol::whistle:

Were you running the 1717 on 8S in the data log? Love to know what it ends up spinning at max RPM, max amps, and how the ripple is with the Turnigy's.

I have a 1717, 2x 4S 5000mah 40/50C's, and a RCM universal motor mount that could one day power an associated MGT with another XL.
For now it's going 6S with a MMM in a Losi 8ight T E that I should have delivered some time this week.

The Revo looks cool, you got a lot of wires to deal with running those paired connectors though.
I have to say I like the Castle 6.5mm's better but they are stiff to plug and unplug, hoping they'll wear in a bit.
Need to shoot some daytime vids bro :whip::mdr:

Got any video's of that rc18 when it had the CM26?
And good job with the for sale description, I can't imagine you missed ANYTHING

P.s. commented on both your vids on youtube, and just out of coinsidence my "hyper 7 8S lipo Mamba XL" was the next video in the auto playlist :-)

haha! thanks man. I have a friend looking into throwing together an RC boat (he has the hull but nothing else), but personally I like staying away from salt water. things rust fast enough as it is in Hilo, 90% humidity is not friendly with metals. ):

thank you! I thought that the mono black paint scheme would be boring...as I'm not a skilled painter, the best I could do was to put some flake over the black and stick some 8mm white/5mm blue LEDs on the front and some wide angle 5mm yellow/red LEDs on the back. (:

There's actually an in-depth writeup on the EDF-Revo with build photos on Greyscale Racing here. Unfortunately, the EDF-Revo is no more. ): Most of the guts were sold to my friend to build an E-Revo from scratch. However, the chassis and some of the components were kept for the 3.3 'conversion' I'm currently working on, so it wasn't a complete waste :yes: Plus, it was a great exercise in engineering...which I enjoyed immensely, perhaps more than actually driving it around. Not to say it wasn't interesting, it's quite something to experience when you're used to conventional land vehicles...keeping the throttle at a certain point and having the truck continue to accelerate takes some getting used to. :lol:

thanks!

I was indeed, although it was with the ST-1 tires which are smaller and much narrower than MT style tires. The log I took is here. I took another one today that I didn't download yet with the Zombie-Max tires on, but the weather has been uncooperative and the grass was wet. |: I've only run the XL with the 1717, the old Mamba Monster system is actually being sold (tonight!) to my same friend that bought EDF-Revo's guts to make his ERBE spec as well.

In case the image isn't accessible for some of you interested, the headlines are as follows:
- Max Current: 92.2A (2556W)
- Max Ripple: 2.15v
- Max RPM: 43256rpm
- Max Temp: 134°F
and roughly 800mAh in 3 minutes.

Haha yeah. I needed versatility since I want to be able to run it on both 8s and 4s... I would put 6.5mm bullets on everything but I own more things from Hobbyking than I'd like to admit so I'll keep the batteries with 4mm :mdr: Not to mention my fan and body LED harnesses add to the clutter. Relocating the receiver box really helped though, plus I don't need a hex wrench to download my logs.

Note: it's kind of weird but a couple of the Castle bullets are loose. I just assumed they were smooshed in shipping, cause most of them (especially on the Monster ESC) are very tight.

I will shoot some daytime video next time the weather is cooperative and I have a cameraman. (:

There actually is a video up of the CM26 equipped buggy but it's got some slightly NSFW humor (commentary by friends) but it has a hilarious ending.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE3jgotot-g
It's got on 1:10 wheel adapters and HPI A-compound drift tires on HPI TE-37 +3mm rims. The car is too light (and diffs too open) to drift properly. At the very least, the rocklike rubber compound prevents traction rolling. :p It is still for sale though...I don't use it anymore. :cry:

Also, thank you for the video comments! To answer your questions...

1. the LEDs are mainly for show, they do light up the ground but realistically they are just there to show me what direction it's pointing at night. Believe it or not, you need two headlights and taillights to drive properly. I tried with just a beacon (single LED in the front) and I was crashing into everything. The spacing of the LED's really helps tell you where it's pointing.

2. The whole reason why I used the 3.3 chassis was for the braking, lol. It's actually my fourth EDF-powered land vehicle...first was an Xmod gen 1 (55mm), second was my original RC18B (same 55mm), third was a TT-01 (3.5"). The Xmod had such a high CoG that it would tip over before it hit top speed, and the RC18 went too slow to cause problems. Because the TT-01 was the first that could reach fairly rediculous ground speeds, I decided that brakes were necessary from now on. :lol: ...believe it or not, I've taken the 4.5" EDF and T600 motor and put it back in the TT-01 and it now has a braking system too. Project still in progress.

I have more videos on my local community's channel, my personal Youtube is under 'aotsukisho' so that's me commenting on the vids. All RC vids are tagged [RC] on digitalcomplex so just do a search and all the RC related stuff we do should show up. :yipi:

2.5kw is impressive. I would imagine that it can go much higher too though.

1717 is rated for 8s or?

What is the pinion/spur gear here ? I guess you have massive amounts of torque with that setup.

Also, do you have a build link or a writeup for the outrunner project? Would love to read that mate! :)

Thanks for posting up the data log, that's very close to what I was getting with my 1518 geared 18/47 in the hyper 7... I was expecting a lot more average current, that looks like it will work awesome in the 8ight T :yipi: now I just gotta wait for it to show up so I can start figuring out how to mount it :lol:

Dj Sparky, the max rpm on the 1717 is 45,000rpm. In the data log Shonen posted it spun a max of 43,256rpm.

Ok, that's still very nice. But what were you refering to?

He was saying that the 1717 is rated for 45k rpm and in the log it did 43k rpm so in that application it is fine for 8s lipo.

Given my experience on 6s lipo the 1717 is a stout motor.

Saw a vid on youtube with a Savage on 6s lipo with the 1717, on gravel/dirt, and the torque seemed monstreous. It was by a poster here. Bondonutz I think it was, or you, Linc?

It looked like it would wheelie if he just gunned it, so I'm guessing a car that is extended or front heavy enough to prevent wheelies is even more extreme with the 1717.

Since the 1717 produced 2.5kw in a lightweight app like the Revo, I wonder how much more it can produce in a slightly heavier vehicle? Anyone got some other stats from other apps with even higher results?

I've heard of other people that will be using it on 8s. According to calculations, the 1717 will do 46768rpm on 8s at 3.7v/cell, I figured even at 4.2v/cell (17% over limit) it will not spin at unloaded Kv due to driveline and aerodynamic drag. It worked out perfectly.

The pinion/spur combo I was using on the ERBE during the video/log was 24/54 0.8M. I changed it tonight to 23/40 1.0M.

And the outrunner project is my Revo 3.3 chassis (: It will be inactive until I get my Mamba Max Pro back though. All of these projects are either nearly completed or progressing slowly, so I'd rather keep them in one thread. Easier for me to find stuff :p

not a problem, and the amp draw was quite low indeed. I'll try and see if I can find an overgrown grassy area to load the motor up higher and see what I can get. My ERBE weighs in at 11lbs ready to go, not exactly a Muggy's worth of truck.

for standard bashing, running it on 4s is 'enough' and it doesn't get hot no matter how rough you are with the throttle. I don't have any 6s batteries large enough to handle the ERBE to try it on 6s. :oops:

It does wheelie but if I'm careful I can reach top speed without it. The Revo never reached the 120A rating of the 1515 on 4s, the highest amp spike I got was around 85A geared 23/36 and with Duratrax Raze ST tires (6.1" diameter).

I am interested too, as the Revo can't bring out the best of the 1717. It sounds a lot better than the 1515 though, which was unexpectedly nice. (:

Oh, and I forgot to mention...probably down to superior hardware and probably software, but I was not able to make my Mamba XL cog with the 1717 regardless of what it was doing. Uphill, no problem. Huge gearing, no problem. How the hell? Props, Castle! :yipi:

I'm guessing that you are referring to the 1515/1y? If so, I would be very interested in the amp draw on 6s with that thing. 85A on 4s with that gearing sounds very good though, still lots to go.

Yep, it's the 2200Kv from the Castle Monster combo. Not cool enough to have a custom Neu. :lol:

sorry for the long null in updates. One of my ERBE's rear tires started to wobble terribly, turns out it was due to my terrible taping job. I redid it and put it back on, and shot some videos today. Unfortunately, a guy walking his dogs kind of spoiled my wanting to do speed runs, but I did get some pretty epic bashing in. I found out I need to loosen the slipper clutch cause all it would do is wheelie. :mdr:

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5360/revo33mount.jpg
Mamba Max Pros came back to me! :love:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io1B6naI9tM
outrunner conversion'd Revo running at a park. I have to reset the shift point slightly lower however, as it will not shift once the battery has been drained a bit.

and now...

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/6600/erbefix1.jpg
fixed my wobbly rear tire, my noob tape job had come off. I removed the old tape, and stuck on some new Gorilla Tape (staggered this time).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gx3Y6Mcbrc
Running the E-Revo Beast Edition at the park. I was originally gonna try for speed runs on the field, but some guy was playing with his dogs so I ended up just bashing on the other half of the park. I'll get the datalog up tomorrow. (:

(RCM no let me edit post?)

I took the Revos out again yesterday hoping there would be nobody at the park...there was indeed nobody but I shredded the spur gear right off the bat. ERBE was down for the day, but I was able to get some video of O-Revo with its adjusted shift point.

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/1...ndspur1.th.jpg http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/8...ndspur2.th.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqKrdMwD7GE

shift is a bit early for my taste, I will fiddle with it more. and sorry...I will get the datalogs up asap.

Freaking awesome Ducted fan revo...

Need some more pictures of that one for sure.

haha thanks man. There's some photos in the article written on Greyscale Racing, and in my build thread on Digital.Complex.

http://www.greyscaleracing.com/index...rucks&Itemid=8
http://www.digitalcomplex.org/index.php?showtopic=763

It's the only project I've ever dismantled to sell the parts, and I kind of regret it. Hopefully my friend that bought the E-Revo made up of EDF-Revo's guts enjoys it as much as I did.

Very cool builds. Btw, u can't edit posts after 24hours

thanks for the info Overdriven (:

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/1...szombielog.png
Here's the log of my run in the park for anyone interested!

Kind of stagnant, brushless project wise...but I keep shredding my Gorilla Taped tires on the ERBE.

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/356/blowntire1.jpg
at first I just thought it was a bad finishing job, ie. where the tape overlaps

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/6179/blowntire2.jpg
but then I realized that it happens on two sides of the tire

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/5166/blowntire3.jpg
I will overlap this one more next time...

also, my new 1717 ceramic bearings came in. we shall see if they are indeed the right size.

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/5291/boca1717.jpg

How do you guys tape tires? Is two strips usually okay or do you guys double up?

ps. an interesting find by my friend while we went drifting this weekend:
http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/7...vespoolfix.jpg
the O-rings on my friend's Cyclone TC spool disintegrated (as you can probably tell by the existing O-ring) and he lost the locking pin. I gave him one of my TC5R's body clips, and strangely/luckily enough, it works. It doesn't fly out and it seems to be holding up fine.

pps. also, I'm wondering which method you guys use to remove tires from rims...I've been using CA debonder for the past several times, and this past weekend I tried the freezer method...which didn't work :s I left the tire in there for several days too.

Updated my ERBE build thread, the ceramic bearings were indeed the correct size and they are now in. I also took the time to put TIM between the motor and the motor mount, I doubt it will affect much but it's worth a try.

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/5...7upgrade01.jpg
Boca ceramic vs. Castle stock

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/9084/1717upgrade03.jpg
Arctic Silver 5 application

http://www.digitalcomplex.org/index....=0&#entry11341

Also, did anyone else notice this? Castle's Phoenix ICE line seems to have a new look: http://www.castlecreations.com/produ...oenix_ice.html

hey,

love what you've done with this. i tried the 1717 in my e-revo but it was pretty much useless for racing.

Anyway, i noticed you were having issues with your front centre driveshaft.

I recently converted a LST XXL and for the centre shafts i used the LST CVD joint but the e-revo (diff to wheel) shaft. The only issue with this is that the trx CVD's use a ring to hold the pin in but you can use electrical tape to hold the pin in. Hope this made sense. Also, not sure if the centre shafts are a different size (dia of CVD ball joint area).

if this makes no sense tell me and i'll post up some pics of what i mean.

¿any update of the ducten fan car?

Thanks! Useless for racing indeed :lol:

I've never used the Traxxas CVA's, but the LST dogbone ends are 8mm balls which I believe are the same size, since I used the Traxxas Extended Cups on my transmission. The front of the E-Revo uses an extremely short shaft, so short in fact I could not find a 1:8 scale 8mm dogbone of that length. The closest I could come up with was the Tekno RC8 front CVA but if I recall correctly it has a 5mm bore, and it's quite pricey to be experimenting on. I'm no longer having any problems, the 7mm HPI dogbone seems to be holding up fine. I 'would like' an 8mm one, but the one I have works satisfactorily. (:

If you mean EDF-Revo, then it has been disassembled and its guts live on in my friend's E-Revo and my own O-Revo. However, funny that you mention it because I forgot to post up another EDF powered creation I've done with EDF-Revo's parts...

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3...ncar2pau36.jpg
This is my Fancar v2.1, is uses one of the 4.5" fans and T600 motors from EDF-Revo. In this photo I was experimenting on running it on 8s with my old 4000mAh E-Revo lipos, but it's far too heavy this way. It's more fun to drive using the 6s 2650mAh lipos from O-Revo. This is more or less an almost finished project, my build thread for it is here, on D.C.

Any vids of an EDF vehicle in action?

yes, I do actually. (:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKye7j-QDbY
video of the first test run of EDF-Revo after its completion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmSQmgm6-VE
EDF-Revo at the park near my house, fixed camera

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPcL4_1OYJ0
EDF-Revo at the park near my house, onboard camera (very loud, simultaneous video as fixed camera)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDs8KbfE4WU
One of my earliest EDF experiments, a tiny 55mm fan on my RC18B

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I5q1n2xy8o
another vid of the RC18 with the fan duct taped on it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CdNy5pevFs
Fancar v2 onboard testing, using TT-01 bushings instead of bearings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIpFCnTc5_0
Fancar v2 with bearings, makes a huge difference

Fancar v2 did not have brakes, and used a Novak HV 6.5 system with a 3.5" ducted fan. v2.1 is the same TT-01 chassis but with the 4.5" EDF powered by a Turnigy T600 and Phoenix ICE 100, plus a brushed motor hooked up to a complete drivetrain for the sole purpose of braking.

nice projects :great:

Cool, thanks! Take-off is a bit slow, but they seem to work pretty well at higher speeds. Current draws must be less peaky than in normal cars.

@x-y: thanks! :happy:

@BrianG: No prob! The currents are probably less peaky but compared to ground RC they will sustain higher current for longer, it's all down to the thrust velocity vs. the actual velocity of the fan. The Novak 6.5 in the 3.5" fan pulled 93A peak (Turnigy wattmeter) and runtimes for a similarly set-up car with a normal powertrain would be longer...Novak rates the 6.5 for 730W, which means around 60A input current assuming 85% efficiency. The T600's pulled ~83A each in EDF-Revo on 8s, not sure what it will be like on 6s. Assuming amps scale linearly in fans, it's about 60A which is just over the 20C continuous rating of my 6s battery.

Having to run the fan at high power a lot of the time pulls a lot of current though, I am fairly certain I got runtimes around what a jet/heli will expect (ten minutes tops). Despite being an amp hog, it's actually really fun to drive, even though it handles badly due to 25/75 weight distribution :mdr: I have to fix Fancar v2.1 as I've borrowed its ESC and some other things for testing, next time I take it out I will make sure to shoot some video and post up the Phoenix log.

I've been kind of busy with schoolwork lately, and that coupled with the uncooperative weather means that I haven't been able to do much RC stuff lately. I did get some things done, but no relevant logs yet (loaded 1717 for one).

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/4229/rainyerbe08.jpg
http://www.digitalcomplex.org/index....ndpost&p=11348
ERBE project main updates:
- redid cooling, 2x60mm fans
- also redid harness to accommodate +1 fan
- pushrod rear body mount brace mod
- replaced blown knuckle/pillow ball
- blew the Gorilla Tape in three tires...
- added some decals on the chassis for moar jiggawattz

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/2633/orevoled4.jpg
http://www.digitalcomplex.org/index....49&#entry11349
O-Revo project main updates:
- added LEDs to the body shell
- added brake light simulation circuit
- threw a screw pin this afternoon in the front diff input
- rear body mount brace mod

took two videos of the brake lights in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzmFxzjfcoE (testing)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzmFxzjfcoE (test driving)