I went to Home Depot and purchased a Black and Decker wheeled tote (Billy Hell thread). Went to the LHS and they wanted about the same for a wood box for flight stuff. I am thinking on skipping the power panel thing?????? I have a rechargeable glow stick, and will get a spare. I am thinking about a Sullivan starter with the battery pack. I was also thinking....... could be dangerous! I do residential building and have a Mikita 14.4 volt rechargeable drill waiting for a job. Anybody try using a portable drill for the starter????? The thing has lots of torque and two batteries, with charger. It is about beat to death from construction, but still has plenty of life for starting RC motors if it will work I figure the cash saved on batteries and a power panel will get me a nice battery charger/conditioner. If anybody has tried the drill/starter thing please let me know.

Haven't tried it, but would be interested in how it works out for you.

I have one and they do have a lot of torque, I'm not sure about the rpm's though. My starter seems to spin up quite a bit more than my Makita.

Dennis-

Portable electric drills can work OK abut the downside is because of the pistol grip handle they are very ackward to use with your hand at the wrong angle. I have witnessed folks break wood props just because of the difficulty in keeping one lined up.

John

I have used one, but I scavanged an old starter for the cup and rubber insert. If you can find one of those, go for it, but if you need to buy a starter just for the cup, it's kind of a moot point.

I would like to suggest this. Purchase the regular started with alligator clips, no attachable battery pack. Build you a small wooden box, then purchase the closed Gel Cell battery, these battery's last forever, at the price of around $12 you can't go wrong. I have also seen others use a motor cycle batteries to power these starters.

What I did was purchase just the wooden field box kit and built it. I used copper gurney's the ones that electricians use, drilled holes through the wood and then secured the gurneys with copper nuts that came with the gurney clamp. I then also mounted banana plugs on the lower portion of the box for anything that I had with banana plugs. The cost of the field battery and charger is around $24 give or take.


Edit in

Forgot to mention that I used I believe 10 gage wire from the batter post to the gurney's and then from the gurney ran another jumper down to the banana plugs.

Blackie

I got a little tiny TT starter that is about half the size of the sullivan starter. I use a power pannel, but it comes with alligator clips so you don't have to have the panel. I use it to start all my engines up the the 180 saito. It works well on all of them and is a lot lighter in the flight box. Check it out.

I found the Spinner along with the insert(s) at Tower for about $8.00 and $3.00. Never thought about the side torque with the pistol grip of the drill. Did you find that as a problem MinnFlyer? I just thought it would serve several purposes, starter, and drill, attach a fan blade to it........... Maybe make enough of a breeze to keep these nasty biting black flies away????? I also been bitten by the RC bug real bad, but it doesn't seem to itch as much. Well maybe when I am dreaming about the next plane a little. Thanks for your posts


Graham

The power panel is not needed. I have a tower 12V battery $12 and some banana female plugs from radio shack mounted where the power panel would sit. Works great.

The side torque was never really a problem for me.

Actually, that earlier comment about breaking a prop confused me. I mean, we use these to drive screws straight in don't we?
Dennis-

Some folks do, I suppose, but the guys that built my plane sure didn't get the memo.

The point Dennis is in fact when you drive screws you are standing with the pistol grip driver in front of you and generally using two hands.

In the real world many pilots start with one hand on the airplane and the other operating the starter even when they are being helped by a holder, human or mechanical stooge. A pistol grip in this position is quite difficult to use as well as a very ackward trigger action.

If you don,t beleve me Dennis just try holding your drill motor up in line to a prop in that position. Now before I get roasted for suggesting an unsafe practice consider that the whole point of my original post is that using a drill motor is unsafe unless every start is with the person operating the drill is completely in front of the aircraft and using two hands. How many can honestly say they start and use two hands everytime?

It looks as though I,ve stated an unpopular position but stand by it. Using a drill motor can be unsafe and not a good idea.

John

I've heard form some old timers at the field that the cordless drill may interfere with some transmitter frequencies...

Take it for what its worth.

And if they don't like the sandwich you are eating, they will tell you that will interfere too. Can they back it with anything?

Modern duel conversion FM receivers are amazingly good at rejecting noise. An AM receiver, on the other hand, I could easily see getting messed with by a drill, if it was close enough to the receiver. I gotta agree with Flyboy though.

My fear with using the drill is not breaking a prop but breaking my wrist! If the motor kicks back and your are holding a drill in that awkward position you have little control. The starter motors are easier and safer to hold. Take the battery from the drill and mount it to the proper starter.

I also recommend this because I don't like carrying a big, heavy box of unneeded crap to the starting line. I take out my plane and come back and get my transmitter and starter. The starter has a small hose clamp attached which holds the glow heater.

I have another problem with the boxes. Some people think it is OK to leave it and their plane out on the starting line between flights. This means the next person has to find a clear place to start their plane. It is also leaving their plane at risk of someone accidentally damaging the plane while it is sitting there. Take it back to the pits and put it out of the way and someplace safe.

Good luck,
Rick