Project Mulligan

hi all/neil...well 1.5mm aint far off considering your working by hand, sounds to me like drill wander, check your drills are nice and sharp and sounds to me like you need a centre drill, they are cheap like £3.00. place centre drill in punch mark and then start drill.
i have spaced holes using the mill and then measured them and they have been all over the place with a normal drill chuck.
to get a good hole you need to drill undersize and then ream out to size holding the ream in a collet, but this could still be around .20mm off, but as you say, you cant justify spending 100s just to drill a few holes.
a good quality drill press can be used to mill soft stuff by using a compound table, but the drill must be a good one, or a bench top mill for the same money??
redshift is right wirewool or scotchbrite leaves a nice finnish in alloy.
never use sand/glass paper on metal, wet and dry is the one(tungsten abrasive) but the halfords stuff is useless.
personally i use scotchbrite (i get it free from a freinds workshop).
but to polish i use 1500 wet and dry then onto the polishing wheel for a mirror finnish but that is a mission and i dont usually bother.
see ya all...

[suicideneil]

Originally Posted by _paralyzed_

have you considered oven cleaner or drano for removing the anodizing? It would help in the little grooves and pits that you're missing with the sandpaper.

I have been using oven cleaner, but the trouble is in the UK consumers can only lay their hands on pretty weak stuff, mainly foam sprays - cant buy the super strength gel or liquid based stuff like Greased Lightning that you can get in the States. I've trawled the web and ebay, and to import a bottle of the good stuff would cost a small fortune, so I'll have to resort to maybe a wire wheel attachment on my dremel and see it that does anything to shift the last few pockets of blue. Doesnt bother me that much, but it does look a little unsightly for sure.

[_paralyzed_]

Even brass wire wheels on the dremel leave pretty deep lines that then need to be sanded.

If you can't get the chemicals to do it for you sanding, IMO, is the best way to go. You were going to sand them anyway, just use your roughest grit on the blue spots.

I screwed up a few too many peices with the wire wheel

[suicideneil]

Screw that for a living, I'd still be at college!

I do have some steel wool, believe I have 0 and 00 in a pack- will have to get some better paper off 'tinternet as there are precisely ZERO useful shops like that in cheery little Dartmouth- its all bloody art galleries, expensive designer clothes shops, silly little interior design type boutiques, pubs, yachty type shops ( for all the rich tourists in summer ) & one useful shop; a Travis Perkins that charges a fortune- 'trade prices' apparently

[suicideneil]

But I like sniffing chemicals....

Interim update:

Hobbycity order arrived today, got all my wires and whatnot, along with the servo; damn, what a beaut. Was planning on testing it quickly this evening & doping to clearance work on the truck's steering mech, but I ended up helping my little sister & her boyfriend moving into their new flat (apartment)- nice place actually. Hopefully at the weekend I will make some more progress, rig the steering up and see how much throw I have after the tweaks.

Question: I bought a spare rx for my 40mhz hitec laser 6 radio, exact same model (RCD3500) as my existing one. I swapped over the crystal (no binding issues here ) and hooked the rx upto the MMM in the Gmaxx just for testing; I get the first 3 rapid beeps, but then nothing, like the esc isnt getting a signal from the rx (same as when the tx is left turned off when turning on the esc). I wouldnt need to recalibrate the esc to the rado just because Im using a different, but the same, rx would I? I would wager not, but that leaves me wondering why this new (but old) rx wont work- only difference between it & my old one is that the antenna is ornage instead of the usual black. Makes me think it may have been replaced at some point and now may be damaged internally? The seller says its a 40mhz rx, but the little label is worn off- would there be anything inside the rx casing to ID the frequency, like on the pcb or not?

Though it may be somewhat illegal technically, is it possible to retune the rx at home- believe its one or two pot type components inside, or would I need an oscilator to make sure the fequency is precise; if thats the case, then I have a new paperweight I guess

[suicideneil]

Dont all rush to answer at once... :P

Anyways:

Date Time Location Tracking Event

20-01-2010 13:51 International Hub RELEASED WITH CHARGES
11-01-2010 09:44 International Hub AWAITING CUSTOMS CHARGING
11-01-2010 09:44 International Hub AWAITING CUSTOMS CHARGES
11-01-2010 09:34 International Hub Arrived in destination country
07-01-2010 16:32 FOREIGN CENTER JERSEY CITY NJ 099 Left origin country
07-01-2010 15:15 FOREIGN CENTER JERSEY CITY NJ 099 Arrived at Outward OE
05-01-2010 08:12 Delivery Agent - UNITED STATES AMERICA Collected from customer

Finally, after a week sitting in customs, its moving again- I expect a randsom note in the few few days or so.

I got some 1" x 1" aluminium angle in today, gonna chop that shizz up and make the battery tray later- an interesting design I have planned, shall we say..

Beyond that there isnt much left to do really:

Install MMM
Install servo saver ( when it arrives, if it actually fits )
Make battery tray
Make rx plate
Paint & trim shell

On the radio issue again, I've given up trying to find another rx that will work- few people seem to have 40mhz radios, and of those many are only single conversion ( I need dual conversion); buying new is out of the question as a 6 channel rx is like £30-40 / $45-60. So, next month, I have a plan:



Yarrr!

I've done my reading & am aware of the batch of txs with dodgey potentiometers, and I've also seen the nice mods you can do like backlit displays in blue or orange, and adding a 'power on' LED- something I did with the laser 6. Granted, I only really need 2 or 3 channels, so could in theory get a pretty cheap stick radio and be happy, but the allure of all those buttons and switches make me warm and fuzzy inside, plus spare rxs are only ~£30; compare that to spare FM rxs of the same price and I know which is better value. I can also use a spare rx and the multiple model memory for the Gmaxx, then sell the laser 6 to recoup a fair bit of the cost.

If anyone has any thoughts on the DX6i or Spektrum radios in general, or any advice / info about quirks when programming them to the MMM etc, I would grately appreciate it.

[_paralyzed_]

I believe air radios use a shorter pulse width than surface radios and don't know that it would program with an MMM. Wouldn't you need a reverse pistix adapter? a xitsip adapter?

[suicideneil]

I believe thats specifically pistol grip radios with air escs that often require the pistix- I have no issues with my laser 6 and the MMM V1, and I have seen someone with a DX6 in their TXT-1 too ( clicky, 3:30 onwards is the good stuff) with a novak SuperRooster esc. Not exactly a conventional setup, but I do want a multi-channel stick radio, and the price on the dx6i isnt much more than a new laser 6 either- so much more you can adjust justifys the layout I reckon.

[lincpimp]

I have a dx5 and a dx6, never used either. They fill the boxes up nicely, and always make me cringe when I drop them on the floor.

I bought the dx5 cause it was stupid cheap, like 40 bucks shipped. The dx6 was more expensive, but I had planned to use it with a dual motor moa crawler, but I may use it for something else, who knows. Maybe I will make some sort of battle truck like Shaun did...

[suicideneil]

Do you ever finish any of your projects dear boy?...

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by suicideneil

Do you ever finish any of your projects dear boy?...

Hmmm, good question!

I have a finished crawler that was good to go for about 1 yr, then I sold the esc out of it. My muggy is done, and the lst was too until I robbed the hubbs off it for the muggy. I have a few pedes that I have never fooled with sice I got them going. But the bulk of the really good projects are still not finished.

[redshift]

I do think there may be a problem or two with using a plane radio. First one is, you have no center detent for neutral on the throttle stick. Most ESCs require a full throttle sweep to calibrate, but that won't work if you're technically using the bottom half of the stick throw for brakes and/or reverse. I'm fairly sure you can program a center position, but it would still be weird without having the spring center-return.

But then you say you've done the 4+ channel already?

I'd personally have to lock 2 of the 4 gimbals, it would annoy me even though I fly. A surface stick radio should have only up/down and left/right IMO, but I am that oldschool... still I use a pistol TX and wouldn't go back. I guess I really don't understand your issue with a trigger radio??? Are you lefty?

There may be a little sticker shock here, but here are 2 I found that would be much better suited to your purposes I think-

Futabe 2.4 2Ch http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...1&I=LXSNN8&P=3

Airtronics 'crawler' radio http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/751726.asp

FWIW...

hi all...that futaba one looks nice neil. oh sorry...am i reading your mind again

[suicideneil]

It woudl be much nicer if it was ~$100 cheaper! 3 channels for $250 is a bit steep for me.

On the gimble issue, its very easy to remove the ratchet mechansim and return the up and down travel to normal, same as how the other stick works- thats what I did with my laser 6 so no worries there ( seen inside the dx6i in some vids and tutorials, pretty much the same looking as a normal stick radio so easy to work on ).

I hear you on the 2 axis thing though Redshift, it is a little weird compared to a normal 2 channel stick radio, but I dont really notice it anymore- you can lock the horizontal and vertical as required on each stick, just takes a little bit of tweaking and some nimble fingers- I didnt bother out of sheer lazyness, just wanted to go drive when I first got my Gmaxx setup and running.

The airtronics radio looks just like a normal 4/6 channel stick radio, cant see any difference really- I will do some more digging though, but I think for the price and features the DX6i has me won over...

[redshift]

Fair enough Neil, I guess dat'll woohk :)

Price on both those radios is just stupid, really.