brushless 1/5 4wd conversion about to begin! couple questions.

[Ryu James]

i bought a craftsman metric tap and die set on ebay 2 weeks ago and it has already come in very handy. i used it to tap and drill holes into a set of aluminum hinge pin braces and then screwed them to the chassis. they are just like the ones you can get on the rampagehopups site but they have been out of stock forever so i just made my own. i was amazed at how well they turned out. the 5mm screws go in very smoothly and perfectly. wish i would have bought one of these sets a long time ago. i used a 1/8" drill bit for the 4mm screws and 5/32" for 5mm screw holes and both worked perfect.

so i thought about tapping the pinion myself but i really want to get the holes straight and all i have for drilling is a cordless dewalt. i do plan to flatten one side of the motor shaft and then put 2 set screws in the pinion cuz it is very long.

[RC-Monster Mike]

Our mod 1.5 pinions use a 5mm set screw. 4mm set screws are used on the mod1 pinions. :)
Oh, and the project is looking good - I am anxious to see the finished truck. :)

[Ryu James]

Originally Posted by RC-Monster Mike

Our mod 1.5 pinions use a 5mm set screw. 4mm set screws are used on the mod1 pinions. :)
Oh, and the project is looking good - I am anxious to see the finished truck. :)

after i typed that i realized that. the reason i was thinking 4mm cuz the ramp uses 6mm screws and i thought they were 5mm so then i thought the smaller ones were 4mm. but i see both a 5mm and 6mm in the stock rampage drivetrain. i ended up using 6mm on this pinion only because i had 2 set screws the right size in 6mm. i didnt have any 5mm ones.

thanks for the feedback mike. btw, i still plan to use your pinions on this. i got the 12t only in case i am having heat issues. if i can get away with running 15t or 16t believe me, i will.

[Ryu James]

so i took your advice and Kaz and "grew a set" and drilled and tapped the pinion gear myself. its not perfectly straight but it went a lot better than i expected. here are some pics. you can see how long this gear is. i used 3/16" drill bit and 6mm x 1.00 tap. 6mm set screws go in perfect. fat little stubbies, they are!

[RC-Monster Mike]

Just don't forget to harden that 12t before you try it - otherwise, you get more practice with the drilling and tapping when you make another one. :)

[KaztheMinotaur]

That pinion is really long. I was thinking about putting the set screw holes on opposite side of the hub from each other instead if "on top of " each other. That was you could make use of the entire length of the pinion if necessary.

For those who use bullet connectors: Do you cover one to prevent accidental shorting?

[Ryu James]

Originally Posted by KaztheMinotaur

That pinion is really long. I was thinking about putting the set screw holes on opposite side of the hub from each other instead if "on top of " each other. That was you could make use of the entire length of the pinion if necessary.

For those who use bullet connectors: Do you cover one to prevent accidental shorting?

i thought of doing setscrew on each side but i wasnt sure if i would then need to flatten both sides of the motor shaft. remember that 37t smartech spur gear i bought? it had a hub on it and set screws on each side from each other so apparently it is something that is done.

as for bullet connectors. i used to have 6.5mm bullets on everything i ran (have switched recently) and you need to use heatshrink on both. just make sure that the batteries always have the female connector. on this project i will be running 8mm connectors on motor and esc but not on the batteries. they are just too much of a pain. here is the thing, first the larger connectors are really hard to get apart when they are put together like they should be so after a few uses you end up pulling off the heatshrink when you are trying to get the connectors apart. also, you have to always be watching and be careful for shorts. although i never had one short on me, my buddy did. just a tiny bit of gold was showing cuz his heatshrink had been pulled back, just like i mentioned, and he had his short several times, both while running and when disconnecting/connecting. so for me i run 6.5mm or 8mm connectors from motor to esc but on the lipo-esc connection i just use the losi ec5 connector. these are high current like dean or traxxas but much easier to solder and large enough for 10awg wire no problem. sure they dont have as much amp capability but i didnt notice a difference when i swithced to them from the 6.5's. anyway, just my experience with using large connectors on lipos.

oh, and thanks guys. i will take your word for it and get all these gears hardened.

[aqwut]

Originally Posted by Ryu James

i thought of doing setscrew on each side but i wasnt sure if i would then need to flatten both sides of the motor shaft. remember that 37t smartech spur gear i bought? it had a hub on it and set screws on each side from each other so apparently it is something that is done.

as for bullet connectors. i used to have 6.5mm bullets on everything i ran (have switched recently) and you need to use heatshrink on both. just make sure that the batteries always have the female connector. on this project i will be running 8mm connectors on motor and esc but not on the batteries. they are just too much of a pain. here is the thing, first the larger connectors are really hard to get apart when they are put together like they should be so after a few uses you end up pulling off the heatshrink when you are trying to get the connectors apart. also, you have to always be watching and be careful for shorts. although i never had one short on me, my buddy did. just a tiny bit of gold was showing cuz his heatshrink had been pulled back, just like i mentioned, and he had his short several times, both while running and when disconnecting/connecting. so for me i run 6.5mm or 8mm connectors from motor to esc but on the lipo-esc connection i just use the losi ec5 connector. these are high current like dean or traxxas but much easier to solder and large enough for 10awg wire no problem. sure they dont have as much amp capability but i didnt notice a difference when i swithced to them from the 6.5's. anyway, just my experience with using large connectors on lipos.

oh, and thanks guys. i will take your word for it and get all these gears hardened.

don't flatten both sides.. one set screw is enough...
Those 8mm bullets are just brutal... very strong hold, but stick to dual 5.5, 6.0 or 6.5.. works great...

[Ryu James]

got to work on the 1/5 tonight a bit. installed the battery trays. used RCM trays with 6mm Ramtech wood screws.

[nitrostarter]

Ryu: Like Mike said, I would definitely get the Pinion's hardened. They will take more of a beating than the spurs will. Remember they are turning 3 times more than the spur gear is. You may be able to get away without hardened the spurs, but the pinions are a must.

[brushlessboy16]

James sent you a pm the other day


Looks good so far :)

[KaztheMinotaur]

What batteries are you using again?

I was thinking about cutting off the part of the center locker top plate that the brakes hooked to but that might make a good place to mount the ESC.

[Ryu James]

Originally Posted by KaztheMinotaur

What batteries are you using again?

I was thinking about cutting off the part of the center locker top plate that the brakes hooked to but that might make a good place to mount the ESC.

i am using NeuEnergy 5s 30c 5000mah. 2 of them. if i was just going to use the stock center top plate and not mounting anything to it i would cut off that side part where the stock brakes were. i am actually going to make my own center plate out of carbon fiber and make it large enough to mount the stock rx box where my esc will be. i will also have a little pulley mounted that will direct the cables from the integy disc brakes to the brake servo. this is my plan anyway. but of course sometimes things dont always go as planned when you start building. but i defintely want to mount my esc on top of the center diff so that it is between the motor and batteries. that way i wont have to run any wires that are too long. depending on how i cool things i may make a larger carbon rear top plate also to mount a water tank and pump on. as soon as i get my frickin motor mount back from CNC i will be able to really start on this. i dont want to do anything until i get the motor mounted and know exactly where it will be.

[Ryu James]

hey Mike,
can you tell me the hardness rating on your mod1.5 gears? i contacted a local shop to harden my gears for me but they need to know how hard to make them and also what grade of steel they are. i am gonna check with SDP on the steel rating but i was hoping you could tell me how hard your gears are. Thanks.

[RC-Monster Mike]

It is generally considered bad practice to use set screws at 180 degrees from each other on a shaft in applications like this. This would be less secure than a single set screw. The very tip of both set screws becomes the only contact points on the shaft, while a single set screw allows the entire opposite side of the bore to engage the shaft - much larger surface area for securing the gear.
If 2 set screws are desired, they should be located 90 degrees apart. :)