Another Revo Build :) 6s 11XL

[Sammus]

Well, got rest of my stuff finally
Am running a converted revo 3.3 with:

RCM mount
Feigao 11XL
Turnigy Sentilon HV ESC
6s (2 x 3s) 4000mah 20C/25C lipo's
CC BEC
Tekno receiver box and throttle(read: brake) servo mount

and thats about it I think.

So basically I just put it all together :P There was like an extra motor support thing in the motor mount package that I have only just realised (as I'm typing... literally) that it must be for the bigger diameter neu motors. That confused me for a bit, not too long though :) Also I'm not real impressed with the tekno throttle servo mount. Like sure its better than the original (Stiffer...) but it doesnt fit properly, the holes to line up perfectly and as a result I ended up with a slightly warped servo mount - the servo still fit in ok though.

My biggest hiccup was when it was all finally hooked up and I blipped the throttle with the wheels off the ground... I had accidently put the front diff in upside lol and the wheels spun in opposite directions :P funny stuff haha. (I'm used to diffs coming out the bottom for some reason, so when the casing read 'revo top this way' or whatever it still didnt help!)

Please note, before you see the pics, this is an extremely dodgy assembly just to see how it goes because I was meant to be busy working

Dodgiest looking of them all (is the shaft of these motors normally that short?):


Home made battery tray out of 50mm equal angle 3mm aluminium


My temporary dodgy attatchment (something a little more robust coming soon I promise )


With the batteries in:


Overall layout:




Now before anyone comments, the esc has a second less visible zip tie to stop it falling off all together :P

The lipos we're fixed on with a few zip ties for their maiden voyage - something definitely has to be fixed there, I did it a bit tight and bent one of my cells :( And I thought vented packs were a good idea hehe.... nothing serious though, just bent it back and its good as new. Will have to get the gf to sew me up some velcro straps for a more snug yet less stressful ride.


Overall I'm not too upset with the balance off the vehicle, will definately work on it soon though, so far the figures are
FL: 1.117kgs (2.463lbs) | FR: 1.085kg (2.392lbs)
RL: 1.32kg (2.91lbs) | RR: 1.423kg (3.137lbs)

Giving a total weight of 4.95kg = 10.91lbs
with a 44.5:55.5 F:R distribution.

I'm pretty happy with that... a bit worried about the FR and RR being the lightest and heaviest corner respectively... I'll have to do something about that.


Anyway, all that rambling done and gone, the thing absolutely hammers! For some reason I wasn't expecting a lot lol. It was gearing 16/38 and would easily lift up in second if you gave it full (didn't get to wind it out, those wheels are way too unbalanced!)

Smooth as butter on the startup front, I can start as slow as I want with absolutely zero sign of any cogging. That said, its almost a little too smooth, it seems to lack the punch that I'm used to from the electric, almost like it has a built in punch control. Probably a good thing for my poor old drivetrain I guess :)

I didn't get to run it longer than about 5 minutes, and it was on asphalt. The batteries didnt get above ambient a the esc and motor I could detect the slightest bit of warmth in - maybe 2c above ambient at a wild guess..

Can't wait to get it on some dirt... I'll add some photos and videos as I refine the vehicle.. and yes I am in he middle of a home made esc mount, that should be not quite as dodgy as the one it has now :)

nice e revo mate that esc is massive cant wait to see a vid of it in action im still waiting for parts to finish my e revo and im getting inpatient lol

[tashpop]

you are obviously getting your esc to work. do you have the red esc wire going to the rx or did you disconnect it? also, when you first connected it how did the esc respond and how did you set it up? i can't get anything out of mine.

[Sammus]

The ESC doesnt have a built in BEC so you don't need to worry about the red wire thing. Mines all hooked up like normal. It also means you need either a BEC or a seperate receiver pack.

I had a bit of a fiddle with mine before I worked out what to do. If I just power it up normally it would beep constantly pretty quickly. Because its an aeroplane esc it you have to apply full brakes ("push stick to bottom" in the manual) before turning on the rx pack (which powers the brain of the esc) for it to function properly.

A better idea is to set it up to your transmitter first though. To do that, turn on the rx with full throttle applied. it will beep a little jingle thing signifying your main battery is good (ie not below voltage or whatever) then beep twice. Then you release the trigger to the neutral position (ie not the brake, as implied by the maunuals instruction "put trigger to bottom") and it will emit one long beep that says the range is set properly. pretty much good to go now. You can go through and program your cut off V and number of cells etc if you want.

Another thing about this esc, I havent tried pulling the heatsink off to check yet, but it looks like its thermal interface is just some dodgy double sided thermal tape stuff. So I'm thinking one should be able to greatly improve its heat dissipation using some arctic silver on that thing... doesnt seem to need it at the moment though

Very nice build. Looking forward to seeing it "cleaned up" and set to go.

[suicideneil]

I think the term 'gerry-rigged' comes to mind, but I love homemade stuff. Should be a real performer when its all sorted out and bolted down good & proper. Nice work dude.

[Sammus]

Update. Alright, after a couple failed ESC mount designs I ended up settling on copying the teknorc design, though mine (naturally) isn't anywhere near as near :) Stupid auto focus on my camera wasn't doing its thing too well so the first photo is particularly, can still see whats happening though. I tapped M4 into the 3mm alu sheet, but the front two holes didn't end up lining up properly (all this was contructed with a basic dremel, a drill and a M4 tap so gimme a break :P). One of them was in an ok position to drill/tap a new hole, the other one failed miserable. Three is plenty though






And, still not having a cameraman, I resorted to film the wheel panning action (literally just the wheels panning ) for my bro - and you too if you want to see it. Damn those badlands are so much better balanced than the stockers I tried the first time. And before you ask: I was talking to someone you can't hear in the vid, thats a sewing machine in the background, and no my voice doesn't normally sound like that

[thorbinator]

dear lord get some tape on those things.

[Sammus]

heh I'm assuming your talking about the batteries. thats not how i drive it. Got some velcro straps my sewin wizz girlfriend made.

Actually I think I just realised you meant the tyres lol. never been bothered really, don't really know how either. I guess you just wrap tape around the inside under the tread or something. the wheels don't pan anywhere near that much with weight on them though, ie when your actually driving.

[supralover72]

Yea, it's called belting. If your interested I could write a mini tutorial.

Great build btw.

[Sammus]

Could be a good idea? Depends if it involves much more than wrapping duct tape or something around the inside of the rim :) I cbf deglueing my rims, but will probably do it in the future.

[supralover72]

What you do is you turn the tire inside out, and you wrap even "bands" around it. How many depends on the power of the car or truck. Just make sure the tape ends where it starts or your tire will be off balance, and make sure you use the super sticky duct tape or it will get ripped off. Don't bother with your stock revo tires though. They're known to blow with that kind of power anyways, so just wait for that :).

[GorillaMaxx360]

my tires baloon like that on my emaxx and i use those tires and rims. they seem to hold but on my last run on part came out. I need to tape them.

[Sammus]

How come all my pics disappeared? They're still on my server... too big perhaps? I couldn't find size limitations anywhere...

[suicideneil]

No, no size limitations here as such. More likely your hosting site doesnt allow hot-linked images? or you have bandwidth issues?...