Flexprint cable in micromodels

[Fred]

Originally Posted by kalkurap

... How is the build coming up? Are you going to post your progress here? I would like see it!!

Hi,

in short: the electronics are in great shape, but I do experience unanticipated problems with my main transmission. As soon as there is weight on the main axle, friction in the transmission increases. I may have to replace 2 or more brass bushings by ball bearings.

... gears that you use. What is your source for the gears and the motors? ...

I am not sure if this forum permits us mentioning commercial websites. I have bought M0.2 pinions from several vendors; "Mikroantriebe" in Germany is one of the sources. Finding this size pinion is not very easy. Motors and gears can also be obtained from Didel in Switzerland.

I don't know how I will be able to solder them on to the PCB. If I fail to come up with a way to solder them, I might glue them upside down, and try to connect the pins to the PCB traces with copper wire.

That should work. You may try to imitate the commercail process where these chips "float" on liquid solder if I understand the process correctly. Just make sure you connect the ground pad to some heat sinking surface (doesn' have to be big, though).

I also made some progress regarding my IR system. I have identified the IR receiver module and the LED that I need to use, and verified that they both work properly.

Great. If you are using one of the standard demodulators, verify it is rated to work at voltages < 5 V.

Last year, I presented an earlier version of my IR gear in another forum (my user name over there is "fredhs"):

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...42#post5601742
and
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...24711&page=194

Warm regards,

Fred

[kalkurap]

Ahh, didn't know that you are a member of rcgroups as well. I followed that thread (DIY Infra red) for a while, but that thread got too long for me to read through till the end!! There are just too many projects and circuits all wrapped up in one long thread.

I will take a look at it later to see what you had to say. Initially, I was going to use Mr. Koichi's circuit for the transmitter. Later I foundout that he hasn't published the source code in assembly, but in HEX format. That is OK as long as I don't need to make any changes or need to port it to another chip, but I doubt I have the exact same chip that he has used. I might have to write my own code, or just design a simple oscillator and LED driver as I am not all that fond of coding.

[BiLLy bOb]

im not gone, just dont have my satelite internet working yet. dial up stinks. great thread, im learning with it, thanks. the both of you are definately beyond me in the electronics end of things.

[Fred]

Originally Posted by BiLLy bOb

...just dont have my satelite internet working yet. dial up stinks. ...

Hi,

I agree. Is your high speed connection up and running?

I ended up building a new frame for the main transmission:



The picture shows only one ball bearing, the one on the other end is not visible. The gear in the background is the driven gear (motor and driving gear are not depicted), this drives the shaft with the worm gear.

This modified design works really well. I secured the bearings with Loctite, being well aware of the fact that this is not ideal. Well, as long as it eliminates the issue I had...

I completed a preliminary set-up to make the wheel loader operable and I am quite happy with the result. As of now, the model moves, handles small obstacles, and I have full directional control using my IR R/C. The bucket remains stationary at this point.

More pictures to follow this weekend, I will probably open a new thread in the gallery.

Have fun,

Fred