Friday, November 29, 2013

My first ever airbrush painting attempt

Got my airbrush kit for a while but haven't got a chance to try it with my new purchased car body.
Finally I got it done last night.
A bit messy and imperfect. Anyway, I just want to memorize this first ever attempt :)





Sunday, November 24, 2013

Where can you get a good setting board but real cheap?

Are you still looking for a good setting board but don't want to pay for those big brands with big price tag?
Here is a good one bounce to you:
Guess where have I found this?
Yeah you are right. IKEA!!!
Perfect flat glass top 48x40cm, with only $15. You get yourself a perfect setting board for either 1/10 or 1/8 RC car/truck!!!
Still have no idea what is it?
Come on man.
I pass you a link now:
http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/40202384/


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Sunday, November 17, 2013

How to Shorten lead for RC Servo and Fan

Today I gotta share with you my experience of How to Shorten lead for RC Servo and Fan.

Preparation:


  • JR/Futaba plugs for replacement.
  • Scissors.
  • Hobby/Carve Knife.
  • Crimping Tool or Pliers.
  • Solder Station.



Now I am going to shorten the lead of my Motor Fan. I have all stuff ready. Now let's begin.

Measurement and Cutting 

Place your fan on a flat surface. Identify the correct polarity and remember.

Measure the desire length, cut it with scissors, then split it to 2 leads in Y shape. (For servo lead, you have to split it into 3). Make each of single lead 25mm long.


Use Hobby knife to slightly round-cut the rubber insulators for 10cm from the top, then tear them out.
Use your finger to twist the lead for better shape.

Soldering 

Now, get your Solder Station pre-heat ready to about 250 Degree C.

Use Solder Iron Tip with a bit melt solder to gild the leads. Make a thin cover around them.

Then, after cool down, you have to cut them into the same length at  around 5mm.

Installation

Now, make a plug and tips ready. For fan, you need 2 tips. For servo, you need 3.

Measure the length as above. Re-cut if needed. Be careful do not make the lead too long and place it too deep. Just make it right as above picture shown.

Use your crimping tool to squeeze the tip-tails with soldered leads. If you do not have one, you can use pliers as well but you have to squeeze around the tip-tail. Make sure they are firm and tight.
Then, heat up your solder iron again, re-gild the tips. Make them soldered together for loosen free guarantee.




Now, insert leads to the new plug. Make sure you place them with the correct polarity.
 All done. Thanks for watching!

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Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Team Trinity Kill Shot 13.5T Motor Open-Box Review and Motor Shimming Tips

Open-Box Review

Finally, I got my new Team Trinity Kill Shot RPM 13.5T Motor yesterday.
Here is the box, it has been opened by Customs for inspection before delivery. Hope they haven't take apart the motor . LOL.

Now, here we go! As always, instruction docos, user manuals......

Sensor wire is a bonus but way to long for on road car. Just keep it as spare.

Some closer looks. As we can see, the front panel has been re-designed with less holes but in more precise location. The 13.5 number has been printed on stator indicated the class.

Look at the back, I am surprised that Factory pre-set timing bell to 50~52 degree. Pretty high!

Motor Shimming Tips

Overall, The rotor spin very smoothly, but I feel that the rotor has no tiny bit slop movement, which means it has been shimmed very firmly. I have to re-shimmed it for better performance.
Now, Let's take out those long set-screws. Take out the back cover. Guess how many shims on the back-side of rotor?

Take a closer look, then...

Olympic!!! LOL!

Pull out the front panel as well. Carefully collect all shims. This is what the whole thing looks like.
Be caution with handling those shims, if you accidentally drop them on floor, they may bounce to no where that you can never get them back.

Let's start to put some shims onto the back of Rotor. I suggest put 3 thick one (0.3mm) first.

Then, cover up the back panel. Check the space between Sensor Unit and Rotor. Make it as close as possible but not touching. It is suggested to leave 0.8-1mm free room.

If things going OK then we insert the rotor back to stator, put the number of shims base on your test result, then cove-up back panel again.
Please note: motor shimming may vary because of manufacture deviation. In my case, I have put three 0.3mm and one 0.1mm shims on the back.

Insert the front shim spacer.

Cover-up the front panel then line up set screw holes. Insert set screws and tighten them up. Done!

Spin your rotor to verify if it can rotate freely. You have to pull the rotor forward and push backward to justify if there is a little slop. Leave it about 1mm of free play. If there is too much slop, you have to open motor again to add shims in front.

Why we have to do this? Because your motor can gain a little bit more torque with correct spacing between rotor and sensor unit. leave a little free play can also help motor produce less heat.


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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

VBC Racing WildFire D06 Building Blog Step 33-The End

Step 33 Electrical Components 

Due to the location of motor mount has been re-designed and moved forward a bit compare to old version, Space for ESC and Receiver is limited. You may have to spend a bit more time to work out the perfect location plan. You may have to do some cable shorten and re-route jobs as well.
Build a clean and neat car kit is always a challenging mission. LOL.

After install the front bumper and rear body post. Don't forget to setup those battery stoppers. You can also adjust the battery placement a little outward by adding shims to achieve perfect weight balance left and right.

The End

You can also buy the optional part: Motor Fan Mount (D-05-VBC-0069) with 30mm motor fan for better motor cooling.

All done for now. Just put your favorite car body on and go racing!
Thanks For watching.

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VBC Racing WildFire D06 Building Blog Step 29-32

Step 29-30  Install Front & Rear Shocks.


These processes are very straight forward, just follow the instruction manual then you should not encounter any issue at all.
Just bear in mind that in order to eliminate tweak, Shock Tower setup need to be done on flat surface with pressure on left and right edges of chassis while you tightening up screws to Upper Bulkhead.
PASS...

Ahh, I am highly recommend you go buy the optional part: Motor Guard. It can help protect your motor from scratch, hit or crash. Nowadays Modern TC chassis are very narrow that you will be more than likely to get your expensive motor damaged. So, to me, this part is a must-have.

Step 31 Install Motor.

Not so much things need to be mention about but one: When you adjust the motor location, please do not set the pinion too close to the spur gear. You have to leave a small gap in between, otherwise, you may strip the plastic spur gear and burn your motor because it make the motor very difficult to spin.

Step 32 Install Steering Servo

Installation of Servo is pretty straight forward as well. You may need to replace the Direct Servo Arm with Servo Saver Arm to protect your expensive servo gear. Xray and Tamiya both make very good quality Servo Savers.

 I suggest you attach a servo tape underneath of servo before assemble.

To make the Servo Arm and Turnbuckle as in-line as possible, I suggest you pick a long Button-Heard screw with 4mm spacer to link them up.
Tips: After installation, you can try to tweak the chassis with a little pressure to justify if chassis is free for flex. Then place it on your setting board to see if it remains flat.

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VBC Racing WildFire D06 Building Blog Step 27-28

Step 27 Assemble Oil Shocks

Now, Let's head to one of the most important part of our Car kit building. The SHOCKS!

As you can see, those Shock bodies have been pre-assembled, unfortunately you have to take them apart.

After you insert the Sealer O-Ring into the Shock Height Adjuster groove, I suggest you apply a little bit of Grease inside of the O-Ring.(if you still got some ^_^) Doing this to prevent stripping the O-Ring when you install the Shock Height Adjuster onto Shock body.

Now, install Shock Piston onto the Shock Shaft. the Shock Piston will be fitted with 2 tiny M2 E-Clip by using pliers.
Tips: Those E-clips are so small and very easy to get lost, you can dip a bit of shock oil on your finger to stick it up. As mention before, a big towel or mat to put on your table is highly recommended.
Good thing is: VBC have prepare 2 more extra E-Clips for you in case you lost it. Sweet!

All 4 Shock Shafts with Pistons are ready. Justify if Pistons can rotate freely but with little up and down travel.

Before put the Shaft Guide in, drop a bit diff oil from bottom.

Insert the Shaft Guide, then apply a bit Green Slime before insert the Shaft Sealer O-Ring.

Then put the Shaft Cap onto the Sealer O-Ring, tighten up Shock Bottom Cap.

Now, drop a bit diff oil inside of the Shock body for pre-lubrication and sealed.

Insert the Shock Shaft from inside of the Shock body.

Use the Shock Shaft pliers to clamp the Shock Shaft firmly. Then Screw in Shock Bottom Connector.
Tips: If you don't have Shock Shaft pliers, you can use normal pliers as well but please use tape to protect the shaft before clamp in. Be very caution, do not scratch the shaft or bent it!!!

I will use caliper to measure the length of shaft between bottom cap and edge of ball connector.
Make sure all 4 shocks got the same length. I make each of them 9.7mm long then the overall shock length should reach 59mm.

Step 28 Assemble Oil Shocks 2

Fill in shock oil up to 80%, move the shaft up and down to release air bubbles. You have to make sure there is absolutely no air in the shock body, not a tiny bit! I use Tamiya Damper Oil Air Remover to suck the bubble out.

It works like a vacuum machine that can suck the air bubble out quickly and easily. If you don't have it, never mind, just repeat the shaft moving and waiting process, if there is no more bubble coming out then job done.

Then, you have to define the rebound distance before top-up diff oil and seal the upper Oil Sealer Cap.
This setting is very personalize, normally the rebound value can be 0%, 25%, 50% and full rebound. depends on the track condition and your personal preference, you can set it to different value to make your suspension system work as dual-rate. I will not talk too much about this right here.

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