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StampedeProject.com
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Basic
Waterproofing Receiver in a bag/balloon trick - A longer term solution is to slowly cut a heavy duty zip lock freezer bag with a hot knife (soldering iron with a Exacto tip) to make a water-tight mini zip lock bag. After wrapping the receiver in the custom zip lock, and taping, I slide that into a section of mountain bike inner tube. This makes a much more substantial cover than a balloon.
"Here's a better way to waterproof ESC - Belker from the monster.traxxas.com forums. For the last year I've
waterproofed my ESC (Futaba MC330CR) by enclosing it the plastic box
(modified, of course) that it came in. Balloons never worked very well
for me. I now found a better box to modify. Option III - Although I have not tested this idea, it seems absolutely the best way to go. Someone posted this idea on the Traxxas Forums (sorry couldn't find the post for the credit) This option entails using the 3M
DP-270 Conformal Epoxy to basically encase the electronics (yes,
supposedly if you do it right you can still put everything back into the
receiver or ESC case). This is a special epoxy which is designed
specially for use with electronics. DO NOT USE REGULAR EPOXY - Due
to the very caustic nature of the regular hardware store variety
epoxies, there is a very high probability that you will corrode and
damage your electronics during the application and curing
process. So make sure you use the right stuff otherwise bad
things will happen. I am sure the 3M
DP-270 Conformal Epoxy is available
lots of places but instructions on how to are here.
You can buy it here
(page down a little) Option III - Mtroniks Waterproof ESC. Have one works great. Would recommend to anyone who likes to get wet. Advanced
Waterproofing - Mili-Pede Buggy - Part 1
The are a thousand and one ways to waterproof your Pede, but I think I have stumbled on the best method. After going to great extremes to
water proof my receiver, servo, and ESC, I was still faced with one very
big problem. The chassis is like a big scoop and you will
inevitably end up with water on or in something if you don't prevent
water and snow from initially getting into the chassis. As you can see I made a three piece custom snap fit cover for the entire chassis. I have even hosed the Stampede down after a mudding adventure. It turned out so good that I nicknamed it the Mili-Pede (Military-Pede). The design also allow me to fit the body over the top if I want (doing so adds some extra protection. I though this was cool enough for a Traxxas decal. and a custom made spoiler. At some point I will scan in the paper templates that I used for the nose cone and body cover, in case anyone wants to give it a try. I really get some of those "What the hell is that!" looks and always lots of questions. I have tested this extensively and the full length cover gives some room for the ESC to breath. Also when its 20 degrees, overheating is not a problem. I will be making a modified "Summer" version with ram-air scoops for the ESC. Stampede Ram Air Buggy Body (Mili-Pede Body Part 2)
I formed the body
as one piece and the ram-air and spoiler out of another and secured them
together with Chicago screws. The ram-air duct/cockpit turned out
to be a perfect carry handle and happens to be just about center of
mass. Although not a surprise the ram-air duct did keep the ESC cooler
during my bashing sessions. Because I removed the stock brace/body
posts, I also made a shock tower support/brace out of ABS to strengthen
the shock tower up. Snow-Pede
- Snow Skis on the Stampede (Part 1) Going back to my
ABS plastic stash, I formed a couple of 7" Dubro style skis with
side ribs and pop riveted on some homemade pivots. I used a couple of
stainless-steel bolts and nuts to secure the mount to the pivots and
used two safety-pins to provide the spring to keep the tips pointed up
and avoid the skis digging in. Snow-Pede
- Pro Version (Part 2)
Although my ABS
skis worked great, ABS plastic is not the best choice for points of
stress or load bearing situations, and my bolt on mounts broke because
of this. So we were back to re-engineering the front end for a
durable solution. Another problem was flotation and
propulsion. The front stock tires mounted on the rear with zip
tires worked pretty well and was super cheap, but there is a reason why
someone designed sand/snow paws, so I picked up a set of Proline
SandPaws. Ski Mounting – What seems to be almost bulletproof are some custom Polyethylene “Y” wishbones - Ski-Carriers that replace the bearing carriers and attach to the skis via Polyethylene half circles. By the way Polyethylene or HDPE (high density Polyethylene) is the same stuff as a white NSF plastic cutting board. I used an $8 3M .5x18x20 cutting board. Polyethylene is very strong stuff that can be cut and drilled just like wood. Polyethylene is also once of the toughest commercially available plastic products for load bearing situation, aside from Acetyl/Acetyl and some custom blended nylons. I basically duplicated the bearing carrier height, and attachment, the set-up allows you to just e-clip them in place of the stock bearing-carriers and all the stock camber links attach as usual. To make the connection to the servo, I used some steel 106mm or 116mm Maxx turnbuckles, a worm gear screwed into the ski-carrier topped off with a rod end. I used something different in the pictures, but I ended up using some Traxxas shouldered screws passing up into the ski-carrier steering rod end in the Maxx turnbuckle ball. If anyone is interested, I made about 10 extra the ski-carriers and half moon ski mounts, some fit better than others and need finishing/trimming and don't include any of the turnbuckles, screws, or other hardware. Although the spares are not plug and play ready, I'll be happy to send them out FedEx ground for $10.00. You will have to do some trimming and spend about $20 on the stock hardware and Dubro skis, but you should be able to screw Dubro Skis directly to the half moon ski mounts. The Skis – The Dubro Snowbird Skis work great and are an easy solution. The 9inchers are probably the best choice (measure first), however the 8” ABS skis I made work great but are a little wider than the Dubro models. Now that I corrected the mounting, I can turn a very tight 1-1.5 ft circle. The skis do a great job of steering the vehicle (with the new mounts) and keeping on top of the snow, even the really light stuff. If the propulsion and floatation part was worked out these would be great. The Tires - The Proline SandPaws are outstanding quality. The fit and finish of the tires was first rate. I was a little disappointed that the tires had a smaller diameter and were quite a bit narrower than the stock tires. In trying to achieve more flotation, these tires were a little counter productive, but it did provide the traction for forward motion in up to 2" or so of snow. I would recommend using front rims on the rear. This will give you a little wider more stable stance. I also moved the shock mount up two holes on each arm to add a little more clearance. The Look - I was more anxious to get out an test the set-up so I haven't completed the finish work and dying of the ski-carriers. Once dyed in black, I think the Ski-carriers will look very cool and will last a very long time. Supplemental
Floatation - After some testing in 4" snow, I devised a
contoured 8"x8" ski that bolted to the under rear side of the
transmission support. Yeah, it was a good idea that kind of
worked, but the tires really had a hard time moving the vehicle forward
in that depth of snow. The set-up did easily float the
entire truck in 12" of fresh snow powder, but wouldn't move. Don't
bother on this idea. The only thing that will work in deeper snow
is a track system with huge paddles. I OK, the Skis look Trick, but so they work? Omaha was blanketed with over 30 inches of snow in Feb 2004 when I developed and tested this project. The snow has been deep and ranged from light and fluffy to wet to frozen to crusty. So say the least I did a lot of testing. The new
"Pro version" ski's I engineered with a wider stance do
work much better turn the truck great. The whole set-up also looks
really cool zipping around in the snow. Bottom line is that
although this is a really fun project, the Stampede is far to heavy to
"float" on top of soft fluffy snow even with dual tires
at the rear. When this happens, you will become very frustrated
very quickly. Even sand/snow paw tires will drill straight down on the
soft stuff. That relegates you to only running on harder packed or
crusty surfaces or in snow less than 2"-3" deep and at this
point skis have a very narrowly focused terrain use and is also
tough or impossible to back up. The
in-efficiency of basically running the motor wide open to keep the truck
moving in even 1"-2" snow will make shorter 10 minute or less
runs common, even with good quality 3000mh batteries. On harder
snow surfaces, studded, zip-tied (which work the best that I've found),
or chained tires provide the
grip the front wheels need to turn the truck. Yes, the skis work
and do a great job with keeping the front end up, and tracking in the
right direction, but again this is a moot point until a track system can
be engineered to support the weight of the truck. Tires are fine up to about 2-3” of hard crusty, wet or powdered snow. I have found that snow/sand paddles work best, even on the packed snow. The contact area of even dual tires or Maxx tires on the back just did not provide the floatation and forward motion that is required to keep the tires from just sinking in during acceleration on deeper or powdery snow. Soft powdery show has a surface tension of about 1oz./square inch. There is a reason they have specialize vehicles call snowmobiles that will outperform any other vehicle on snow. As a result a track system is required for snow deeper than 2-3 inches. The good news is that it can be done, and a couple of people already have, however you can expect to spend between $200-$400 for all the parts to make it work right at full speed. Although I have found all the appropriate materials, and have developed a solution in my CAD program with all commercially available materials, which will simply bolt on to the Stampede and E-Maxx, I think I would rather spend the money on something else. After all we only have decent snow about a month out of every year. The
Video-Pede -
Flying Mailbox - Video Cam Armor
Wet Mop
Stampede [Shoot the Image is missing and can't find it anywhere, oh well you get the idea] Later in the morning I started thinking that I could probably attach a standard Swiffer head to the front of the Project Stampede using available spar parts. 2 each - front and rear bearing carriers, two front stock turnbuckles and some shoulder screws. Screwed the front bearing carrier to the Swiffer, and the rear bearing carriers to the RPM bumper. Roomba Smumba... Works great, and I can use the wet pads also. System has plenty of give in case of low speed accidents. [Shoot the Image is missing and can't find it anywhere, oh well you get the idea] The Old Capacitor Trick - and some background on why and when to use it. The problem So I slapped that brushless system in the Ultra-Pede yesterday and glitching problems galore. Geared 13/87 - which from the online threads seems to be a little under-geared. Da..da..da..da..daaaaaaaaaaaa.. Like it's attempting to send Morris code. I get zero glitching and non-existent cogging (as advertised) when running with the wheels off the ground, however the moment the Pede hit the ground I get glitching when attempting a full throttle take off. If I do a slow start no glitching then I can punch it full throttle without glitching. I also get some glitching at extended 20+ foot ranges. I also seem to only get a feel of the full power and speed when the wheels are off the ground otherwise when on ground it only seems to only have about twice the power of the old Titanite. Batteries are standard PowerMax Pros, GP3300s and similar style stick/shotgun packs with Deans Wet Noodle and plugs added. Even after resolving the glitching issue, to get the full power of the brushless system and I had to do a high current battery pack conversion - see this. Attempting to move the antenna around to see if it was a antenna/power wire related issue, but did nothing. Tranny is packed with plenty of Lithium Grease to minimize radio interference. Dropped a new battery in and thought for a second that cured the issue but started glitching just as before. The ESC was set at factory default, with the exception of running Drive Profile 2 (100% F/R mode). But have tired other profiles with the some glitching results. Drive frequency is fixed in brush-less mode on the GTB.
The esc is mounted in standard placement
with the power wire side of the ESC on the left (antenna side of the
Pede) and the receiver and wire harness bundle is on the right. This
points the blinky ESC lights
forward and allows the two separate groups of wires to go around each side
of the rear shock tower. I also twisted each group of wires to shorten
them and hopefully cancel out any potential other interference problems.
That process in itself did not relieve the major glitching issue but may
reduce any other issue that may have occurred - i.e., still needed a
capacitor. Just covering all the bases in advance. The Solution from the conversation with Novak Talked with Novak tech support. Their
recommendation was two fold. B. Purchase a capacitor to plug into the battery pack slot on the receiver or use a battery pack. That should provide enough juice to the receiver to get through the initial current hit on the battery during hard acceleration. What they say occasionally happens is that there is such a huge initial current draw that the receiver current drops low enough (a brown out of sorts) that you momentarily loose signal because there is not enough power to run the receiver, then of course everything rebounds and the process starts over again and then the voltage pogos until you let off the trigger. To you it looks like glitching. Novak was correct in diagnosing my issue. Moving the cable did nothing, although I left them separated as it seemed like a good idea. The receiver was in fact experiencing a "brown out" during full acceleration and with the addition of a simple 1000uf (1000mf) 35V polarized capacitor from Radio Shack the glitching issue was resolved although everything worked even better after going to the Novak 5700mF Cap. The glitching issue was history after this very minor "The Old Capacitor Trick" upgrade and will take longer to explain than do.
What Capacitors do for your RC car What to Buy If you can go buy the Novak 5700mF cap ($5), you will be most happy with it when used in connection with a high current brushless system. That said I initially used a 1000uf 35V Axial-Lead (polarized) Electrolytic Capacitor from Radio Shack that worked and killed the big glitching issues. The key when looking for a cap at Radio Shack is that it needs to have arrows on the label of the cap (a polarized capacitor), be of decent quality, 10+ volts (35V is the norm and is overkill since you BEC and receiver or only 6V max) and be at least 1000uf (same as 1000mf), but preferably 4000-6000mF. The bigger the number the more current it stores, but keep in mind there is a point where bigger is just bigger. The 5700mF is all you need up to doing timed high speed runs where the motor is pulling so much current continuously that the cap doesn't have a chance to recharge. In that situation you really are better going to a receiver battery pack and disconnecting the BEC. Although I originally thought a 4700uf (4700mf) was plenty, the 5700mF makes every setup run with no glitching, so my recommendation to everyone is to use the Novak 5700mF capacitor. The Radio Shack ones are rated for 35V whereas the Novak are for 10V and are therefore about 1/2-1/3 the size and are more easily mounted and still deliver the same power. Your BEC and receiver only kick out 5-6V so, anything over 10V really is overkill and adding weight. How do I make one of these things: It took some digging on how to hook it up. The arrow on the cap. points in
the direction of current flow (from + to -) so the tip of the arrow is -
and Scrounge a spare receiver jack and solder the red (+) lead to the + end of the capacitor and the Black (-) lead to the - end of the capacitor. Remove the third lead. I also picked up the variety grab bag of Radio Shack shrink wraps and shrink wrapped everything up so no sparking could occur. I also put a nice big shrink wrap over the whole cap for protection - gee looks just like the Novak on the ESC. Then plug it into the spare battery slot on receiver, the same one you would use if you were using a battery pack on your receiver and tucked the cap around the front of the receiver. That's it - super simple. The capacitor will charge from the power supplied from the ESC as needed and will discharge when current drops suddenly. Crude picture but you get the idea of how to solder it together. Make sure you shrink wrap everything well. Capacitors can spark. Capacitors generally can last a very long time but don't last forever, so if you get a year or two with heavy use you are doing great. I also want to re-stress that even after resolving the glitching issue, the potential of your brushless system is almost solely dependant on the quality and build of the battery pack. 3000Mh batteries are an absolute minimum, GP3300 are better, and 4200Mh are preferred. You spent the cash on the brushless system, don't get all cheap on the power source. To get the full power of the brushless system either buy your packs already set up in a side-by-side configuration or do a high current battery pack conversion yourself - see this. As a brushless system will melt stock Tamiya connectors and overheat stock power wire, I am assuming you already know that you should be using either PowerPoles or deans as connectors and something like Deans Wet Noodle power wires. RC Antenna Replacement Resources I have replaced my antenna probably 2 or 3 times at this point and never really had a problem previously, because I had it written down before. This little issue just recently reared it ugly little head during what should have been a routine antenna replacement on the Ultra-Pede. This last time I sheared off my antenna on the Ultra-Pede I had the craziest time finding the right length. Problem is the wire length I was using didn't work right. Antenna Length Calculator if you so inclined (using this just tended to aggravate me)- Tamiya Antenna Length Calculator Calculate the exact "usable" antenna length for optimal reception. Usable antenna length does not include the approximate 1" of antenna that runs from the entry point into the receiver to the solder point. The general rule is 27 inches of wire for 27 MHz. If you're receiver operates in the 75 MHz range, you'll want to use around 20 inches. Don't forget to add about 1" for mounting. Go about an inch longer initially than you need then trim back to length after soldering and remounting the receiver. For example my "Traxxas Red" 27.045Mhz chip set the optimal
(usable) receiver aerial wire lengths should be: Please note: The longer the aerial wire the better the reception (in theory). Google - Find a Metric to English Converter or use this one. but it didn't work right, so I started
with a 55" antenna and started trimming 1/4" at a time. If you seem to eat antennas on a regular
consider an internal antenna such as
this
although I haven't had much luck with internal antennas. Everyone says
they don't affect your range, but I am either doing it wrong or their
statement is incorrect. According to
this site modification of
your antenna of any kind affects its use. MisBehavin RC How To replace and antenna The Stampede Project Squirt-Pede (Practice use - flower watering) Pretty simple project and recipe for fun. 1 - TQ3 Three channel Transmitter and Receiver
Install receiver on vehicle as usual. Velcro servo to squirt gun, fashion servo horn to a zip tie and that zip tie to another one going around the trigger. Velcro the squirt gun assembly to the body and plug in servo. Typically nets 5-6 foot range. NOTE if you have a smart dog as mine is, he will run in fear as soon as it squirts just once. Let it be known that all manner of devices will don the Ultra-Pede. Now where is my air horn and paintball gun...
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the back of the arrow is +. 
