PDA

View Full Version : The Spud's motor


LBRC
07-25-2005, 10:23 PM
http://lbspd.com/v-web/gallery/albums/album56/Spud_1.jpg
Ball bearings, ceramic magnets, gold plated contacts connecting specially tweaked brushes, aluminum strap, the armature is wound with 34-gage hi-temp wire, has a diamond-trued comm, and a precision balance job.

Turbo required, on a stock Epoch the car barely crawled, then the motor driver IC smoked and died :( .

http://lbspd.com/v-web/gallery/albums/album27/Test_1.jpg
For this test the power was supplied to the motor buy disconnecting the motor wires from the 2x2 Turbo/LiPo Epoch and a completely stock Epoch with the 3 cell battery charged using a LRP Comp. Pro charger then connecting each motor with a set of test leads while taking the readings. A multimeter was hooked in series for current and a Team Orion MPM was used to read the RPM. For consistency the same transmitter and crystals were used for each car. The readings were taken at full forward power. As chance would have it the voltage reading without the motor by both cars was 3.8 volts.

Since it is now clear that the Epoch is not dead :D I have resumed my quest for the ultimate, and eventually affordable Epoch motor upgrade. The spud was my first ultimate Epoch motor attempt based off professional grade AFX and Super G slot car parts, with a custom wound and balanced armature the prototype was not cheap to make, around $100 in parts alone, not counting the failures; i.e. parts that didn’t fit, magnets that where two strong or weak, armatures etc.

The third motor “HP” in the above test is a Tommy High Power slot car motor modified to fit in an Epoch for comparison. Unfortunately pro slot car motors are designed to run on 18 to 20 volt 3 amp tracks and obviously don’t do very well even with a LiPo or 4 cell.

arfin
07-25-2005, 11:12 PM
Man an increase that high, how is it actually racing? Much faster?

vlis33
07-25-2005, 11:35 PM
Where can you buy the SPUD motor from? I am assuming it is only available online..

When you say an aluminum strap, do you mean like a motor mount?

mod_o_matic
07-26-2005, 12:49 AM
He made spud custom!

I was thinking if finding a place to get just regular motors. That would easily help the epoch world as then you could start winding your own motor. Problem i would think is the can only. Magnets are also hard to find but the most improvemnt i think is a new can with BB and a armature you can hind wind to get the most of it!

LBRC
07-26-2005, 01:54 AM
When you say an aluminum strap, do you mean like a motor mount?
Front piece of metal that holds the armature and connects to the endbell, used in place of a motor can.

I was thinking if finding a place to get just regular motors. That would easily help the epoch world as then you could start winding your own motor. Problem I would think is the can only. Magnets are also hard to find but the most improvement I think is a new can with BB and a armature you can hind wind to get the most of it!

Working on it.

mod_o_matic
07-26-2005, 04:05 AM
Working on it.

FOrgot to ask..have you tried any of the mini-z boat motors? There are hop-up ons but i am not sure if they are out yet. They *look* the same and should be a easy pop in upgrade.
Question: what "size" is this motor 090? 110?

epoch1-43
07-26-2005, 06:47 PM
Good question m_o_m, I haven't opened a boat up yet, but did notice that the motors look similar, and run off a 5-cell pack so more likely to work than slot car motors. :cool:

LBRC
07-26-2005, 08:47 PM
F1 boat motor, possibly, I went to Kyosho’s web page but the photo of the motor is too small to get a good look, since they plan upgrades a modified motor just might be the ticket or it could have the same high wind big magnet problems good enough for turning a propeller in water but not for propelling a 83 gram Epoch at speed. Have to find one and see.

epoch1-43
07-30-2005, 03:51 PM
Good point LBRC; we'll get some in as soon as they are available.

LBRC
07-30-2005, 08:18 PM
The good news is it looks like I have a boat on the way to play with.

One of the test motors I built for the Epoch has very high RPM with moderate power/torque but gets too hot under a heavy load making it woefully unsuitable for the slightly heavy epoch however it might just be perfect for a boat with it’s lighter torque requirement especially with a Mini-Z circuit board. If it works that will leave me the F1 boat motor to dissect.

My best guess though is that the F1 boat motor and the stock Epoch motor will be absolutely identical, when designing and purchasing parts for new items it is cheaper and easier for manufactures to use existing motors instead of reinventing the wheel, after all if the product takes off they can always offer an upgrade later.

Does anyone know what voltage the F1 boat operates at?

epoch1-43
07-30-2005, 08:44 PM
5-cell NiMH/6V. :)

arfin
07-31-2005, 03:23 AM
Hey LBRC, is there any type of pinion that would work on an epoch? Would this increase speed by much at all?

LBRC
07-31-2005, 04:19 AM
Arfin, funny you should ask. I’ve ordered a load of motor parts to continue my quest for viable upgraded Epoch motors, in that order is an 8 tooth pinion that just might work, and a few extras just in case it does. Do to the way the motor mounts there won’t be a whole lot that can be done with the gears but an 8 tooth to replace the 7 tooth pinion should be possible with a thicker spacer.

arfin
08-02-2005, 08:02 PM
Hey has the order made it yet? I'm interested if the pinion made a difference, do slot car motors carry different pinions that would work? Never had a Slot car.

LBRC
08-02-2005, 10:39 PM
No sign of the motor parts yet :(

HO scale slot cars are essentially motors with wheels that use magnets to keep them from flying off the track. With unlimited power and voltages up to 20 volts, they don’t do a lot of gear changing, the challenge is to balance the traction magnets with the motor speed for just the right amount of control. In other words their problem isn’t going faster it’s staying on the bloody track when you do.

mod_o_matic
08-03-2005, 12:18 AM
No sign of the motor parts yet :(

HO scale slot cars are essentially motors with wheels that use magnets to keep them from flying off the track. With unlimited power and voltages up to 20 volts, they don’t do a lot of gear changing, the challenge is to balance the traction magnets with the motor speed for just the right amount of control. In other words their problem isn’t going faster it’s staying on the bloody track when you do.

VERY true...there so fast and lite they FLY off the track...