Posted Mon, 08/09/2010 - 14:36 by Drew
Today I recieved my order from http://www.cheapbatterypacks.com and I have to say that I'm quite happy. Reasonable prices, great quality items and very fast shipping. They are located in Oregon and I ordered on Friday of last week and recieved my order today (Monday). I purchased some seemingly impossible to find banana plugs (4mm bullet type connectors) to use for charging leads, some balance taps, JST power leads and a bunch of large heatshrink. The JST leads have very nice and long (~10") leads on them which is a welcome change from those sold elsewhere that
Posted Thu, 08/05/2010 - 12:37 by Drew
I have been fiddling with the new Mabuchi motors that I received and so far they look large and promising. At 7.4v they appear to have similar torque to my geared down Maxons but also appear to be even slower and more precise. I am disappointed to see that they only have 2 M3 mounting holes as opposed to what seems to be a standard 4 holes. I am looking forward to making a temporary motor mount and exploring how they perform. Last night I confirmed that everything
Posted Mon, 06/14/2010 - 13:41 by Drew
I took Huntington out for a sail this weekend and I was very surprised when she went dead in the water after maybe 30 minutes of sailing around. I have not determined the cause as of yet but since it happened shortly after switching battery packs (for no particular reason), I am slightly suspect of the battery pack that I swapped in. It was however raining pretty hard out at one point and the seas were pretty rough. Luckily, we managed to rescue her.
It is sad that her otherwise flawless record has been tarnished.
Posted Mon, 03/22/2010 - 10:32 by Drew
This is actually the third RC charging cart that I've constructed. The first cart was a milk crate that I modified by adding wheels and a handle. The second was more of a purpose built cart constructed from marine grade plywood. It held up pretty well over it's year or two of service but it too had it's flaws. So, late in 2008 I decided to sell that cart and have a third and hopefully ultimate cart constructed. The design is based on some toolboxes that I saw while at the Norfolk Naval Shipyards.
Posted Tue, 03/02/2010 - 16:02 by Drew
I've been thinking building some sort of armored harbor for Huntington to park in when she's not needed and I think I may finally have a viable design. This involves modifying a styrofoam cooler by cutting off one end and cutting a hole in the bottom. Then I can toss this in the water upside down. Hopefully it will float and might require some balasting to make it float level since one end was cut off. Either way it would hopefully provide some protection from stray rounds damaging the club's rescue boat. I hope to go shopping for foam ice chests in the next we
Posted Tue, 03/02/2010 - 15:48 by Drew
I've noticed that many people in the club seem to be unaware of a lot of the sweet new available out there. Some of these are:
Micro: Hitec HS-65 - plastic (HB) or metal gears (MG) -- small strong and fairly quick
Mini: TS-35 (Tower Hobbies) At $20 this thing can't be beat for strength or speed. I however haven't heard any anecdotal experience about this servo.
Posted Sat, 02/20/2010 - 17:48 by Drew
I've been thinking about building a windchime or two for myself and any friends who might want one. In the process of looking for suppliers for the materials, I found a couple companies that have an interesting selection of metals and plastics in both smaller and larger quantities than my usual goto company, McMaster-Carr.
http://www.onlinemetals.com/index.cfm These guys seem to have a large selection of both metals and plastics at reasonable prices.
Posted Tue, 01/26/2010 - 22:37 by Drew
I met with Brian the other day for lunch and this has made me excited to go sailing and see if Huntington needs any more work. She hasn't been in water since her recent visit to the yards so I am concerned about her water tightness. I am also very curious to see if her propulsion is adequate to assist the larger ships with docking and rescue maneuvers. I am also curious to see how her new control scheme works and if I'll need to make any adjustments. I looked at the 10 day weather report and it doesn't look good but I am still hopeful.
Posted Sun, 01/10/2010 - 15:29 by Drew
I was thinking today that Brian has a lathe so he could probably bore out the pinions used in the gearboxes on Huntington rather precisely. When I did it back in the day I was using a hand drill so they're not exactly straight or precise and hence wobble a bit.
Posted Sat, 01/09/2010 - 18:07 by Drew
I've been dying to take Huntington for a sail or do something with her but it's been so cold and snowy lately.