Metal gear box problem?
 

I installed the metal gear box upgrade in my HL M26 Pershing and it no longer operated smoothly. There seems to be a delay in the signal or something. There is instant reponse for initial movement but it does not stop instantly. It keep moving an extra 1-2 feet. When I do more than one thing at a time (ie. turret motion with tank movement), it locks up. I wanted to know if damaged somthing on the board while installing the new gear box so I reinstalled the plastic gear box. Everything works fine, just as before. I don't know why the metal gear box would affect the signal that way.

Any ideas?

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

Its not contacting anything else inside? that can screw the radio signal up [sm=confused.gif]

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

No. The metal unit fits exactly the same as the plastic unit. The sodering was nice and clean also. The only other thing I noticed was that the gears turned more easliy on one side. The other side seemed a little stiff. The two sides sounded different to. The gears on one side seemed to rev up real fast while the other side sound like it was grinding a bit. I don't know how that would affect the signal to cause a delayed response.

I checked the spin on the plastic gear box and both sides acted the same.

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

check the motors for smooth meshing and that none are bent out of line but like you said its affecting turrent movement too so could be the board im sure some of the longer members here will have a ideal to whats happening,sit tight for an answer incase it does more damage operating the tank[:o]

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

since the gear`s bushings are new and tight ,
you have to make a breaking (use it a little)so it loosens.

the other thing , since it is stiff to turn ,
you push longer on the controller to make it mouve 1 second, so , if you have pushed the stick 3 seconds ,it will try to go for 3 sec.
this is wy it continues after the comand.
do you understand ?

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

schutzstaffel:

That makes sense to explain the delayed response after I let off of the control. But, why does it lock up after too many commands? I had to reset it every few tries because it kept locking up. When I get some time, I will install the other gear box in my Tiger to see if it reacts the same way. I had order a set for my Pershing and Tiger. I did not try the Tiger because the Pershing too most of my free time trouble shooting.

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

maybe there is a wire or the conection (upper -lower)t hat shorts or grounds(with screw or ...) somewhere in the hull, usually it happens when rotating turret ,what i have reed somewhere .

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

Hi Riff Raff,

Being a metal gearbox and located very close to the electronics, you could be getting 'noise' interference from the gearbox which is unluckily for you, in tune with your PEC signal so that it interferes with your control............you did mention that the gearbox is stiff so you may find that by running the box in & applying lots of grease, the noise frequency will reduce enough to not give you a problem...............I hope this makes sense............Also, try changing the Xtal set to see if this makes any difference........if it does, then it would add more weight to what I am saying above...................

Cheers

CaptB

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

Captainbertie:

Great suggestion! I try some different crystals. But I will have to construct some type of barrier around the gear box to keep the greese from flying all over the place.

As far as the the metal interfering with the board...How does the guys with the Super version get by. With the metal gears, I essentially have a super version. I haven't heard of anyone having this problem.

I will have to wait until this weekend to reinstall the metal box again. I had taken it out when I couldn't figure it out. Everything is working fine without it.

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

Hi Riff Raff,

You can make a plastic barrier from a cola bottle very easily...........to answer your query about
super versions, it could be that you have just exceptionally noisy GB's that interfere with your
radio signal....mechanical noise from gear systems at the right frequency can cause radio problems...............different xtals might give you a better result........and bedding the gearbox in will help too........just connect the motor up to a battery pack or other power source and let it run
continuously for as long as you can........using rocol grease or other gear bedding medium on the gears will also give a better result...............

Good luck

CaptB

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

Do you use the motors that come with the plastic gear box on teh new metal gear box or does teh new metal gear box havve their own motors? If teh metal gear box came with their own motors, maybe the motor that came with one of teh gearbox is faulty thus cozing teh problems.

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

Happened to me a few times. It's almost always because the antenna wasn't on while the upper hull was off, the transmitters was too close to the tank and or the antenna wasn't deployed fully. Put the whole tank back together the way it should be, keep a proper distance away from tank and deploy your antenna, it should work fine. One time it was the transmitter itself causing me to think 2 tanks had gone bad at the same time, kept swapping crystals and two different tanks were acting up until I changed the transmitter and voila! Problem solved.


Now, as for your gears, you have to take the gearbox apart and file the gears individually to get them to mesh properly. Testing and filing 1 pair of gears at a time. I used a dremel tool.

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

I took the gear box apart and noticed that some of the gear shafts did not spin properly in the grommet caps. Either the the grommets aren't perfectly round or the shafts are lightly bent or not round. I found the perfect drill bit to fit the grommets snugly and cleaned it out smoothly. The shafts then fit perfectly and spun freely. This got rid of most of the stiffness I had in one gear box.

Secondly, I connected both gear boxes to a battery pack and let it run in one direction until the battery drained then crossed the wires to run the gears in the opposite direction on a fresh battery pack. I ran each direction twice on a total of 4 battery packs. Each running about 45 minutes continuously until dead.

I notice a big difference in the sound of the motor and gears after this break-in. I believe this help mess the gears much better.

I then installed the newly broken-in gear box and made sure that I did not have any metal or other wires making contact with the board.

Everything now runs perfectly. I ran the tank for about 30 minutes just to be sure.

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

Hi Planedev,

The metal gearboxes come with there own motors which are identical to the ones on the plastic gearboxes so use these......you can take them off and upgrade them to higher torque 480 types or others if you wish.......keep the ones on the plastic gearboxes for spares............

Cheers

CaptB

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

Thanks CaptB for clarifying that for me. Anyway seems like he got teh problem out of his GB which is good to here, now we know its teh bindingin the bushings n not the motors which i 1st suspected.

RE: Metal gear box problem?
 

ZERO issues here with my gearbox and I own a S&S version of the HL Tiger I.. love that tank..I think my wife is starting to warm up to it as well..

I will be ordering some spare boards soon , one for the Abrams I burned up a few weeks ago..then for my Academy Jagdpanther and Panther D...
that will be a whole new thread coming up soon...


Mark