Cheaper Alternative to Dumas/Pittman
 

Anybody have a recommendation on a less expensive motor? I'm building a 44' USCG MLB Dumas Kit. Real boat only had top speed of about 15kts. I'm not set on gear or direct drive. Mack Running gear seems like it would push her a little fast. I'm just having heart palpitations on dropping $120 in motors. I plan on independent control so thats 2 ESCs also. The PROBOAT unit sure looks like it would do the trick. 7.2 NiMH is the planned battery source. One for each motor. I do have the dumas running gear already and with the exception of the struts and props I'm underwhelmed.

RE: Cheaper Alternative to Dumas/Pittman
 

Ozzy,
How about some good old Mabuchi 550 6 volt motors? My local surplus store
sell them for $2.50 each. If you can build a Dumas 44 footer, you can figure
out some way to mount them to work with the Dumas gear rack. (I do use the
Dumas UJ's with the nylon "dogbones" for low-power stuff, and their inexpensive nylon props.)
The old Pittmans ARE awfully nice, but are they worth 50-60 bucks? Your call!
Dave

RE: Cheaper Alternative to Dumas/Pittman
 

Alternative motorsources:

Scrapyard: the motors for the cooling fan are real torque monsters, maybe two is a bit heavy for a 44' boat but they can be slimmed.
Also windshield wiper motors will do.

All these motors have low current drain, so the runtime will go up.

Replacement mabuchi motors for electric drills a.o., find a five or seven pole 6-12V motor in the 700 size and you're in business.

Regards, Jan.

(I'll add some pics tonight)

RE: Cheaper Alternative to Dumas/Pittman
 

I like pittman motors, but we usually find them surplus.
My last purchase was about eleven motors for $3.50 US.
They came from Cascade Electronics, a surplus store.

Check places like All electronics online, and other surplus stores, and ebay.
Pittman motors turn up in a lot of equipment, and since the motors can be easily
replaced, the old motors often end up at the surplus houses.

[8D]

RE: Cheaper Alternative to Dumas/Pittman
 

Cordless drill motors are great except that they pull a fair amount of current, shortening your run time. Call me cheap if you want but I scrounge the DC motors out of copy machines. They are usually 24 volt motors but they are 7 pole ball bearing motors, nice stuff. Now for the kicker, I unwind the armatures and rewind them with a larger size magnet wire for use at a lower voltage. The other nice thing about copy machines are that they are full of toothed belts and pulleys.

motor- free
wire- 50 cents

RE: Cheaper Alternative to Dumas/Pittman
 

There are some great gearboxes out there, don't cost a lot, can use with inexpensive motors. See my article this month (March) in "Ships in Scale", I review about a dozen choices.

Pat Matthews

RE: Cheaper Alternative to Dumas/Pittman
 

Roger That!!
If I did'nt have experience with my planes I'd be fumbling around with this kit. Dumas really needs to modernize their kits. Even the newer Chris-Craft Kits are not what they could be. I'd love a Pittman but wow! Are
the armatures wired with gold instead of copper? :D
Drop the price about 20 bucks and they'd sell alot more I'm sure.

RE: Cheaper Alternative to Dumas/Pittman
 

This guy has [link=http://cgi.ebay.com/Pittman-19-1-VDC-19-5-1-Gear-Ratio-Electric-Motor_W0QQitemZ7593035961QQcategoryZ71400QQrdZ1QQc mdZViewItem]10 pittman 19v motors that might work. And at $5 bucks a piece.[/link] They might work.
I don't know about the "reserve" price though.

This auction has two for 5 bucks, no reserve, but you will be battling one other bidder.
[link=http://cgi.ebay.com/TWO-PITTMAN-DC-ELECTRIC-MOTORS-19-1-VDC-MOTOR_W0QQitemZ7593259252QQcategoryZ71400QQrdZ1QQc mdZViewItem]Two pittman 19v motors bids starting at $5[/link]

I use a pair 14 volt pittmans on a 12v battery, and the boat is way over scale speed.
Just take the gear head off of these 19v and see how they run direct drive.

RE: Cheaper Alternative to Dumas/Pittman
 

I think I found one: http://www.vac-u-boat.com/Motor545.htm

RE: Cheaper Alternative to Dumas/Pittman
 

This is 'off topic' but I still wonder. I've tried to get to 'Vac-U-Boat' several time and get a "can't find it" error. Anyone have any ideas why?
- 'Doc