I just had an idea of possibly using servos as gearboxes. Together with these sprockets and chains at servocity, [link=http://www.servocity.com/html/hitec_servo_aluminum_sprockets.html]http://www.servocity.com/html/hitec_servo_aluminum_sprockets.html[/link], large metal geared servos with their electronics taken out might make good gearboxes specially for the T34. Gear sets are available should you strip any. What do you think? Has anybody tried this?

why go through all that trouble?....just replace the plastic gears with metal ones......here are some on ebay right now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/metal-PARTS-for-...item4839a97759

Those metal gears are not worth the money. The T34 gearboxes wear out because the shafts spin in makeshift plastic bushings. The metal gear make them wear even faster.

Servo hacking is great. You can disconnect the potentiometer and you have a proportional gearbox that works off a hobby radio. You can remove the stops, wire directly to the motor and have a standard gearbox, you can take the board out and use it as an ESC to run standard motors. I did this when I put a HL turret motor in my Tam KT. Lots of possibilities.

Perry

I agree, Perry. Those T34 gears are not worth it. A major flaw of the T34 (aside from the electronics) is the gearbox. It doesn't even have bushings .

Especially since you can put in HL gearboxes with a few mods

Perry

wow...thats a clean set-up...

That's a solid setup. However, I'm trying to avoid changing the look of the rear of the T34.

I dont think they will work for long as drive gears but i have used for rotation and elevation. U can use the final gear from the metal set and hl. gearboxes with out chainging the back of the hull. I just bolted in hl gears it is not to noticeable when the tank is on the ground.

You guys have done a great job with the T-34's. Can someone send me a few pics of the set up's. I have 1 T-34 converted to HL and one coming from Phil that is Tamiya / DBC upgraded and want to address the driveline reliability. Thanks.

servos as gear boxes sounds like it might work well but how long would they last? I would think most sevos are built for intermident operation not 100% duty.</p>

You can get some heavy duty high torque servos that should last quite awhile. The question would be how big of a servo could you fit. Now if you came up with some type of out drive unit you could use a pretty hefty servo.

Decided to have a go at changing the weak drivetrain of my T34. However, I decided against using servos and will just use Asiatam gearboxes. Ordered the chains from Servo City and made some parts out of leftover aluminum window material (that's why it's powder coated black )


Here's the chain sprocket connected to the axle that connects to the track sprocket. Only one nut and bolt is attached as it's only a test fit.


The main extender plate and "daughter" plate. Flanged ball bearings used on both plates for the main axle.


Main plate connected to the Asiatam gearbox.


Shaft assembly goes on. So far so good.


Smaller plate goes on. Still have to make shafts to connect the plates so just used nuts and bolts to test. I will also use a longer bar to connect left & right gearboxes for added rigidity.


Chain...


So far everything fits inside the hull. Just have to use bolts with countersunk heads to free up more space.


Looks like the rear setup of the tank will be maintained without the usual bulges or extensions.


Will post some more pics when I make more progress.

Now that is cool ! never seen that before. great job on the set up.

Be well,

david

Ilove the idea of using a servo board as an ESC, do you have an instructions on how to do this?

Iam going to need a cheap way to control my turret rotation, this would work.

Cheers!

very clean keep us posted. nice job

Here's a link where I show how I did mine.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_61...tm.htm#6146533

The gearbox mod in this thread is awesome Donut

Perry

Very Nice work. THis would be a great way of get power to the wheels on Sharman with the three piece transmission cover as well. Top notch work. Thanks for sharing

Made some more parts. Hollowed out the original drive shafts of the T34 and turned them into adapters to connect the tank track sprockets to the shafts I made.


Here's what it looks like put together.


Modified the drive shaft of the Asiatam gearbox to be able to attach the chain sprocket.


Here's what it looks like assembled without the smaller support plate.


With the smaller support plate.


Here's a video of the test run...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpe_cSsB4qM[/youtube]

Still have some fine tuning to do. Don't really have much free time these days but will do as much as I can when I do. Thanks for all the encouraging comments.

I think you are my new gearbox hero Donut. That's a really nice setup. I love the WSN T-34. I kinda like that it is not really an 'out of the box' runner as well. The people that have them usually have come up with some awesome mods just to keep them off the shelf and out in the dirt and mud.

Perry

Are you going to be kitting these for resale? I would love to get a couple of sets.

Just a WAG, but the time and materials involved in this would probably make it an EXTREMELY expensive commercial offering on a small scale.

Looks great, but there's a lot of work in there. Perhaps a company could use the plans to mass-produce though?

Great work!

Well how about just selling the plates as the gears and sprockets and chain can be had from other sources. The plates look like they were cut with a lazer or high pressure water jet so i know it was done from a computer program. you could blast those out in no time at all.

I made the plates and sprockets using a desktop CNC mill. I also used it to modify the shafts and axles and make the sprockets holders to connect to the shafts. I've had the mill about 2 months now and should have gotten one years ago!

Correct Panther G, everything else (axles, bearings, screws, chain, standoffs) can be bought from other sources. If somebody were to mass produce the plates, they could die cut them from the same sheet material that's used by the HL gearboxes. I'm guessing that would be cheaper than laser or water jet cutting. Not to mention faster, too. Like dyeager535 said though, are there enough T34s out their with owners willing to do the mod?

You think people would be willing to buy just the plates? You mean this mill can actually do something to help pay for itself!?

i am sure you could sell the plates alone or part of or a kit if you either include the parts or a source list. Can you provide a source list with part numbers? great work. Heck if you did not want to sell the plates just sell the drawings or the "G" code to run the parts.