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Ian_Grant
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Everything posted by Ian_Grant
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Glen your models just keep getting better! I'm in awe, it was stressful watching your videos. Banshee looks wonderful in her bottle...... It was nice to hear your voice; you know how you imagine someone's voice when you've never met, or have a picture in your mind of people on the radio? As always you sounded nothing like my imagined Glen. 😊- 235 replies
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L'Ambitieux by Nek0 - Altaya
Ian_Grant replied to Nek0's topic in - Kit build logs for subjects built from 1501 - 1750
Vic, I knew you were a ship model artist, but these sculptures of yours are high art! Christie's is waiting! Cheers, Ian -
Bruce, now we're getting somewhere with diagnosing the problem. Don't quit just yet!! Either the ESC -to-Rcvr plug is the wrong way round (which doesn't seem to be the case in your photos) or somehow its BEC (battery eliminator circuit) cannot supply the Rcvr with 5V, or 6V, whichever. Two simple steps to take: 1) With batteries connected to ESC, use a voltmeter to measure across the red and blk/bwn leads of the Rcvr plug. Verify voltage and that the red lead is +ve. Now you know the BEC is at least working under no-load condition. 2) If that looks ok, plug into the Rcvr (ensuring that -ve is at the outside edge of the Rcvr) with no servo. Now use the voltmeter to measure across the centre and outside pins of any one of the accessible Rcvr connectors (BATT, the rudder channel). If no voltage then the BEC isn't working under load. Again, the centre pin should be +ve. Finally, if this is the case, get a little battery holder for four AA batteries and solder a standard 3-pin RC connector at its wire outputs (best to include a little switch). Plug this into the Rcvr's BATT connector, BUT BEFORE powering up, cut the red centre lead of the ESC-Rcvr cable; you DO NOT want it clashing with the external battery pack. This must work with at least one of your Rcvrs or I'll eat my hat. Here is an example battery holder: https://www.amazon.com/LAMPVPATH-Battery-Holder-Leads-Wires/dp/B07T7MTRZX/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2J7GEUHX775AW&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.xvysxN_iwRmZnDEIHaH0CstSi3dF1HSfoF64pfb4G2tttBIPg0VxFVjJR0UwftMVyg4vJJHcYGGdetzkpppLsWqped1FA3CkjsAqlbc5Rr0LOjOKGpoiT-mB1aA0SEhB-M2pj6GKi0uEuy_3kiswj1T5W3rNjmbOp1J-tJFlvZ22T1W8Mbuml-xjj6n5-IdrrTKgn3p3ETjERVmqHgB350LGuV54xgiqTUxvx1AKUvk.xR0jyb8jDBbU7ZeeAPU-as1qKxkgYF-ooXapWKszepU&dib_tag=se&keywords=aa+battery+holder&qid=1720799675&sprefix=aa+battery+holder%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-6
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Well, the test voyage at the cottage was underwhelming, so much so that I came home discouraged and didn't touch it for over a week. She was unable to overcome even a slight evening breeze, moving backwards while rowing into it, and worse, the rudders had negligible effect. I have thought of some avenues to explore. To help the driving force: (1) Increase the blade area of the (smaller) lower oars. I'm going to make them even larger than the upper oars. (2) Simple software change to allow more strokes per minute. (3) Simple software change to increase speed of return stroke thus spending less time not in water. (4) More complex software change which I mentioned before but hadn't yet implemented: current software maintains a constant servo arm rotation speed which results in less horizontal movement of the oar blade as servo arm angle increases. Result is that oar blades move slower at the start and end of the stroke than in the middle. Need to modify code to maintain constant blade speed i.e. speed up servo arm rotation as arm angle increases. Should be fairly simple trig. As for the rudders: At the slow speed of the galley, they don't really generate much force unlike a rudder which is deflecting prop wash. I look at the situation and imagine the rudders trying to turn this long hull which is being propelled by oars spanning about 22" in total width. My only idea at present is to add a skeg amidships on the keel to act as a fulcrum around which the rudder leverage might be able to act. This is a must: if I keep having to backstroke on one side or the other (which stops the ship in its tracks while it pivots around its centre point) every few seconds I will consider this build a huge fail. There has been so much rain lately I haven't had a chance to clamp on a temporary skeg for a pool test. Fingers crossed. In the meantime I finally added the bow eyes and did some rigging. I drew eyes in several sizes and colours in Inkscape (actually I drew a single eye then scaled and/or mirrored, and edited colour to get all the rest). I considered printing them onto wet-slide decal paper, or even my wife's label paper, but in the end I simply printed onto standard paper and used "Mod Podge" to glue them on to the ship. This was after testing eyes on some scrap wood to ensure colours wouldn't flow when I brushed acrylic clear coat onto them. And the selected reddish eyes on the ship (not clear coated as yet, waiting for Mod Podge to dry). Some mainyard rigging including halyard, lifts, and dangling dark brown shrouds, nothing tied off. Sorry for the focus. Parral.
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More a question of lesser accuracy than of quality, I think. Mine also has very impressive finish and fit.
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Bruce, I got a reply from Mtroniks. He repeats my suggestion to try running on a lower voltage (ie one battery) to eliminate over-voltage shutdown from the theory list although he says it should run nonetheless. His contact info is at the end should you wish to discuss. ============================================================================ Hi Ian, Sorry you sound to be having an issue with our products. First of all, yes, a Viper Marine40 should be ok running the two motors you describe. Secondly, the Viper controllers will run on Lead Acid, NiMH or NiCAD cells. NOT Lipo cells. Lastly the Viper controllers do not have over voltage lock out so I doubt this is the problem you are seeing. What voltage are you trying to run it on? Have you tried it on a lower voltage and it works? If you can answer these questions for me, I’ll see if we can get you going again. I hope that we have helped you with your enquiry, if we have, would you mind clicking on the link below to add a review on google? We don’t have many reviews and it would help us with our online profile. If not, no problem at all! https://www.google.com/search?q=mtroniks+reviews&rlz=1C1VDKB_en-GBGB985GB985&oq=mtroniks+reviews&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRhA0gEINDk1NGowajSoAgCwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Best regards, Paul Kenningley Mtroniks Ltd Tel: 0044(0)1943 461482 http://www.mtroniks.net
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An elegant hull, elegantly planked. Great work!
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Yes we have one nearby, called "McBead Creations". I first found them when I needed to make parrals for my Heller Victory. Worryingly, they recently went from two units to one unit in their building.
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Very interesting Keith; smallest I can find locally is 18/0 which is pretty tiny itself. \i planned to use beads instead of actual blocks higher in the rigging of Preussen, when I get back to it. And Glen, your Banshee is impeccable.
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Nice work! Yes, they're at 90 degrees, same as a steam locomotive. That way one or the other is near the top or the bottom of their cycle and can be pushed or pulled to keep the wheel turning.
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But with sails raised, they wouldn't have the engine(s) active because of the fire danger! Right, Glen? 😉🤙 Seriously, she looks fantastic! I'm taking notes for my coming attempt at sails for my galley. "Kindergarten-level sewing skills".....LOL !!
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She is looking great! I set up the standing rigging on my Preussen from aft forward for the same reason. By the way, to add to your story about her foundering under Capt Sven, I read somewhere in my books that Mr Erikson was furious and poor Sven ended up leaving the sea to farm sheep in South Africa. Or maybe it's an apocryphal story......
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From what I am reading now, Viper ESC quality seemed to decrease a few years ago and many people switched to MACK, which is what you bought originally. There's no way all four ESC's are bad; it's something else. By the way, I PM'ed you to say that the MACK spec sheet lists up to 12-cell NiMH so they should be ok with what you have.
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Bruce, not to deluge you with messages and confuse you; I an not satisfied with input received about ESC input voltages so I have sent a query to the horse's mouth, Mtroniks, themselves. Response TBD.
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Bruce, One further idea worth trying: return the Transmitter to factory settings to reverse anything you may have programmed that could lead to problems. Don't see anything about this in the manual, but googling it results in the following two pieces of advice. "Power on the TX, then simultaneously turn the wheel right and press the BACK button. This will clear all model memories." "Press the BACK and END buttons simultaneously for three seconds. This will reset the GT3B" You're welcome for my "help" such as it has been. The engineer in me wants to solve problems. Did you try powering from one battery pack?
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Michael, 1) Your gammoning, indeed all your rigging, is phenomenal; is the rope from Syren or do you make it? 2) I've never seen bowsprit shrouds like that; interesting! 3) I'd swear this is a wood model. Excellent painting! 4) Just in passing, do the fore tacks not pass through sheaves in the bottom of the stem beneath, say, the shrouds? 5) From time to time I peek at my SoS in my stash, just to remind myself of the scale you're working at. Five stars! 6) I see a nice jointer in the background. Is there a table saw somewhere out of the picture?
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Bruce That looks correct. In other news, I must apologize for my Viper recommendation. Although the datasheet says NiMH and NiCAD can be used, it is really designed for lead-acid batteries. I got the following feedback from Harbour Models: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Ian, The Viper line of speed controls are only compatible with SLA (sealed lead acid) batteries and can handle the extra voltage when fully charged. The ViperHV line can handle 12-24V and is compatible with SLA, LiPO, NiMH, NiCad. The TIO line is made for 6-12V for use with LiPO, NiMH, NiCad. - This is the line you should be using for the description of your battery described. Sincerely, Nick Jacalone Harbor Models 626 963 4591 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A couple of RC club members that use Vipers use them with gel-cell lead-acid batteries. I think it would be worth a quick test with one battery to see if we're barking up the right tree.
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Bruce This makes me wonder how you are connecting your two batteries to ESC's. You want to have your batteries in series; I assume they each have a 2-pin connector? You need to have the +ve of one connected direct to the -ve of the other. The second pin on each connector should connect to the ESC. This would require some wire snipping and splicing, but you'll want to keep the 2-pin connectors on the battery leads whole for charging. Don't you need to make up a special harness to achieve this, or did Big Mack supply something? Here is a picture. Upper half shows the electrical connection you want. Lower half shows how to do it without cutting your battery wires - make up the harness circled. Do you have something like this?
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No, it is not normal at all. It's going to be something silly. Can you take a photo of your wired connections out of the boat?
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Bob, Looking way back in your post #7, your original ESC model can be powered by 6-12 cell NiMH so the ESC input voltage (of those original ESCs, not the Viper, should not be a problem. I will let you know what I find out about the Viper. I've asked the guys in my RC club, and Harbour Models. Also, look at pg 19 of your GT3B manual "D/R Function". By any chance could you have set the channel 1 and 2 outputs to 0% ie no servo travel, while playing around with programming? The factory default is 100% which might explain why everything originally worked. ?? Similarly, pg 17 programs "end point adjustment" which if accidentally changed to 0% could also set servo travel to none.
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Bruce, A brushed ESC should be able to run two identical brushed motors in parallel as long as their combined current draw is within ESC limits. I still think the Viper ESC is a better part than those others. Did you follow the Viper ESC's calibration procedure? (given in the manual) Place voltmeter probes across the PWR/GND pins (centre pin and outer pin) of the Rcvr's BATT connector when the LED is on; do you read 6V supplied from the ESC? Your question about the 12V ESC range is interesting given that the NiMH packs will charge up to about 14.5V (hmmm). The ESC may be designed more for lead-acid batteries which are in fact 12V when charged. Try running with just one battery (6V) and see if it works. Meanwhile |I will do some more digging on this. Have you tried leaving the motors unconnected to see if the rudder works then? It bothers me that the ESC fan does not turn, unless it only runs when the ESC is getting warm, maybe? Again I urge you to try using a separate 6V battery to supply the Rcvr at the BATT terminal to see if the rudder then works. If so then pick one of your ESCs, cut the power wire on its Rcvr link, connect the motors, or just one motor at first if you like, and see if everything works now that RCVR supply is NOT the ESC.
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Paddlewheels like that strike me as an ideal candidate for 3D printing. Then again I have 3D printing on the brain now. 🤪
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....."next layer of piping"........Egad!!
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Bob I wish I could help bit I have no idea why your rudder servo at least isn't working.
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