XLCR's tech blog

I’m starting to run out of space to fiddle with my vehicles – the workbench I had set up in the computer room is now taken up with the boat, so when I needed to swap out the motor on my rock crawler I had to take over the dining table and get dirt and sand everywhere! However, I’ve found the ideal solution – a portable tray thing from a local garden centre. It’s actually designed for use when potting out plants, but there’s no reason why it can’t be used for anything else that needs some way of keeping mess under control, and even has an optional raised shelf attachment for putting tools, components etc on. It’s the perfect size for Thunderchild, too!

I bought mine from Shoots garden centre, but it’s not on their online shop. However I have found another company selling it – for less than I paid!  Check out the Stewarts potting tray on the Ruxley Manor Garden website for more details.

The empty tray

...and with Thunderchild parked up

Traxxas E-Revo in red

Here’s my next big r/c purchase – a Traxxas E-Revo!

As much as I love my rock crawler, there are times when I’d like to go a little bit faster. The E-Revo should fill that gap nicely. Originally I was looking at the E-Maxx, which looks like it has much more ground clearance, but looking the specs it seems there’s on a small difference between the two, and the E-Revo is apparently a much more robust machine.

So far, though, it’s just in the “I want to buy one” stage – until there is more Traxxas stock in the UK (I’ll be getting it from Modelsport, I’ve used them before), all I can do is look…

I’m also thinking of getting the Spektrum DX3S controller. The E-Revo comes with everything, including radio gear, but it would mean carrying an extra transmitter if I took this and the crawler to the beach at the same time. With the DX3S, though, I could set it up for both cars and just use the one controller, since it comes with two receivers. I already have the DX6i controller for my helicopters, and that works nicely. Which is more than can be said for my flying skills at the moment…! Also, the DX3S can use sensors on the car to send data such as temperature and RPM back to the handset. Ok, that’s not really much use if I’m just pratting about on the beach, but it’s interesting…

AX10 in the snow

I built my rock crawler about six to eight months ago, and have had great fun with it so far. For a while it didn’t get used too much due to not really having much to crawl over in my garden, but now we’re going down to Bournemouth regularly, that’s changed.

I kinda stumbled into rock crawling – I saw a Tamiya CR01 kit in a shop, wondered why it was so expensive, and whilst looking up more info on it I came across the Axial AX10 Scorpion. After a lot  more research, I decided it sounded like a lot of fun and bought myself the AX10 kit to build. A mate of mine has bought the Tamiya CR01, but so far we haven’t managed to pit them against each other!

As expected, the AX10 is incredibly slow using stock parts, but that’s the point – it’s not built for speed; it’s built for climbing. And it’s very impressive at it – as long as you’re not too optimistic, there’s not much it can’t get over. For a while I did try it out with different gearing; I put a larger pinion and smaller spur gear in, and whilst it did make it go bit faster, it had lost some of the get-over-anything ability.

Current upgrades

Motor: I’ve replaced the Novak Fifty-Five with a Forty-Five. It should give it a little bit more speed but still keep the crawling ability.

Motor plate: So far my only cosmetic upgrade is the green anodised motor plate from Venom.
Slipper clutch: I bought this but haven’t fitted it yet.
High clearance links: I’ve fitted the bent links to the rear, and I’ll get a set for the front as well.
Steering servo: I’ve been through a few of these now – I drowned the first one; the second one just stopped working; and the third one got stripped barrel-rolling down a steep slope! The fourth one is a cheapo one whilst I’m still pratting about with the truck, once my E-revo arrives I’ll be using that for bashing and the crawler will be used more seriously.

Next steps:

For now I think I just need to get more practice, and the rocks down at Bournemouth should be perfect for that, before I go doing lots of more advanced stuff to it. Certainly the next major thing to do is to get myself a battery pack I can mount on the front, and possibly a steering servo with more robust gearing. I’ll need some hi-torque servos for Voyager so may see if I can get a discount for three.

Project Voyager

About a year before I was born, my Dad built a radio-controlled boat. I have a few memories of taking it to a couple of places and running it, and I remember always being very excited if I had a chance to control it! Sadly, as the years passed the boat fell into disuse and spent most of the last thirty years either in my bedroom or, more recently, in Dad’s garage where it has gathered dust as he hasn’t had the time or opportunity to repair it. However, now he’s moving to a new apartment where he won’t have a garage, I’ve taken it on and intend to get it going again!

It’s a first for me – last year I built a radio-controlled rock crawler (Project Thunderchild) and have a basic understanding of r/c helicopters, but they’re all electric – and the boat uses a nitro engine!

Still, I’m sure I’ll learn a lot as I go…

First impressions of the work involved

So far I’ve had a quick look at the boat and here’s what I think is involved:

All-new radio-control systems
The transmitter Dad used/built is ancient, so I plan to go 21st century and kit Voyager out with a 2.4Ghz reciever, and bind it to one of my helicopter transmitters. I’m also considering upgrading Project Thunderchild to 2.4Ghz and switching to a Spektrum DX3S or Futabe 3PM transmitter, so I could use that for convenience – I’d only need to carry one transmitter if I took the boat and a car out on a weekend…

New engine
After a bit of wrenching (and a complete “Doh!” moment) I’ve discovered that the engine in the boat is an “Enya 45 II 6002 Marine”. Although Enya are apparently still around, unsurprisingly the engine is no longer in production. A quick bit of research around various modelshop websites has thrown up a possible alterntaive, the SC46M, but it might be hard to get hold of. I’ve got a model shop trying to get hold of one for me, so we’ll see if he manages it – otherwise I’ll have to find another one. I’ve no experience of IC engines, so this will be interesting…

New electronics
As well as all-new radio gear, I might as well replace the throttle and steering servos while I’m at it. A couple of hi-torque ones should be suitable. I’ve also ssen some nice running lights and stuff, so I’m very tempted to replace the various decorative “light” fittings on the boat with working ones.

New propellor
Again, whilst looking for a new engine, I also found some nice propellors – the boat was built with a plastic one, but hopefully I can get a nice metal one instead.

That should be about it – structurally the boat seems sound; it hasn’t been damaged over the years (apart from a bit of window frame being knocked off) so should still be watertight. It needs a darn good clean, though, and the white paint has faded so I really should repaint it too.

All-in-all, I think it should end up costing around £150 or so (mostly engine and servo costs) to get going again – well, that and quite a bit of time!

Not much blogging lately – mainly ‘cos of 1) putting together a Sharepoint 2007 Intranet prototype for work and 2) studying for my dual MCTS exams. I’m on a Firebrand bootcamp this week, did the first exam today – 70-631 (scored 945) for WSS configuration. Two  more days of training, then I’ll be doing 70-630.

MCTS: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 – Configuration

Since this is stuff I deal with day-to-day at work, and WSS 3.o isn’t massively different to 2.0, it’s been fairly straightforward so far (although I have learnt lots of new stuff about firewall configurations and network load balancing – didn’t expect that). However, from working with it for the past few weeks, it seems that MOSS 2007 is a whole new ball game compared to Portal Server 2003, so I’m both looking forward to, and dreading, the next couple of days.I’m keen to learn how all the new stuff works, but it’s going to be hard un-learning four years  or so of SPS2003…!