monkeyboy383

hey, i'm not too new to rc... but i don't have much experience past my 4 channel avastar trainer. i'm going to be building a mini battlebot (also known as sozbots for those of you who've been reading rc car action for long enough), and i need a radio. first of all i'm looking for something with 3-6 channels. i'm hoping to find a tank style controller (with a left and right stick that only goes forward and reverse, i want to stay away from any left or right rudder or ailereon type movement so that the each stick is only 1 channel), each controlling 1 servo. i plan to mount a miniature sprocket in place of the servo horn and mod the servo to rotate continously. in the chain and sprocket combo i would gear the servo up for more rpm's. but in adition to that i'm going to need to run a miniature linear actuator or 2 off of another channel (i'll be using a reciever voltage converter i'll get from an anamatronics store). i need one, 3 way toggle switch that will be positive voltage/off/negative voltage (which i would prefer), or something that would work to give me the same action through either 1 or 2 channels and 1 or 2 switches. i also need at least one of the 2 sticks to have servo reversing. i'm only 17, so i'm looking to keep it under $150. i'm looking for just the tx and rx in a set... i want to get some high speed servos instead of standards (if anyone knows what high speed servos similar to a futaba S3401 could be modified for to rotate continuosly... since i know not all servos can be). i'm hoping to stay away from computer radios... but if i can find one for under $200 with reciever i'd definatly be interested. it doesn't matter if it's AM, FM, or PCM. if anyone wants more details on the robot itself they can email me at [email protected] . i know that's alot of criteria... but any help is much appreciated, thanks.

3DFanatic

My Feedback: (5)

If you pull the servo apart, take the little nylon dealie off the pot and clip the rotation stopper off of the gears. I use to dabble in robotics. Check out www.robotstore.com They've got some good stuff. If they're still in business that is..

strato911

Just a quick reminder...

72Mhz radios for ground use is strictly forbidden by the FCC. For ground based RC, you must use either 75Mhz or 27Mhz radio equipment (unless you have a Ham license).

3DFanatic

My Feedback: (5)

Ya. Futaba makes a land version of their SkySport 4 (The Attack4) and the 9C.

FHHuber

You can order just about any current TX on ground frequency. That's not a problem.

Getting the main gimbals to just operate 1 channel each instead of 2... might be a problem. You can simply not plug anything into the channels that moving the sticks to the side would operate. I don't believe the 2 channel 2 stick transmitters would allow you to rotate the steering stick for your purpose. (and then you'd be short channels from your requirement...)

You CAN dismount the potentiometers that are operated by the side movement of the sticks, and drll the case to mount them as dial operated channels... And its possible to add "detents" for making it easier to repeatedly hit the same position on those dial operated channels. You would need to purchase (or scavenge from a bad TX) other potentiometers to put in the gimbals to hold them together. (doing it this way... no soldering)

**********

There have been lots of articles on making a servo so it can operate as a geared drive motor. You have to be sure to disengage the centering pot from the output gear or yuo will have done nothing by removing the travel stops. The stops are only there to protect the centering pot from overtravel. If the servo hits the stops... it generally means the centering pot has failed anyway... (so the stops are kind of pointless[&:])

monkeyboy383

thanks for the responses. i've done the full rotation mod on several standard futaba servos (grinding down the potentiometer with my dremel), but i need to know if this mod isn't possible on any high speed servos (i read in an article that some cannot be moddified). but thanks for your replies, jordan