Open Panzer
Open Panzer Help & Info => Show and Tell => Topic started by: JPS99 on August 25, 2020, 10:47:31 AM
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I'm well into printing my copy of Dean Rauch's very cool T-35a.
I first came across it on Youtube where his superbly edited and 'aged' video really grabbed me! I was working on my 1/10 scale 3D printed IS-1 at the time, but now that it is complete (except for the TCB) I am relieving the Covid Lockdown woes by starting on this project.
At this point I have completed 265 hours of printing on my two Ender 5 printers. Still lots to do, although most of the rest of the parts will be smaller pieces.
I have all the tracks, road wheels, skirts, deck lids and the main superstructure printed. Printing the Main Turret tonight.
I have about 5 feet of track assembled so far (there's a fun job!) and have refined the assembly process to about 90 seconds per track link.
I'm also working on Kim (Heclo)'s TCB Hat project. I've had the PCB's build and have ordered the parts to complete. At age 68 it's a great time to learn how to solder surface mount components!
I have attached a few photos of my progress and will try to update here from time to time.
Cheers,
Joe/JPS99
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I will be watching your progress with interest, and I hope Dean stumbles across this as well! I'm sure it will be flattering to see someone else follow in his footsteps.
The possibilities with 3D printing are really tremendous, but I have always been put off by the rough surface texture that seems like it would take an eternity to sand smooth especially on a scale model tank with lots of small parts and difficult to reach corners. However the printing quality seems to always be improving and the parts you are printing are looking worlds better than what people were doing several years ago. It's great that this method could allow us to realize some of the less-popular models the manufacturers are never going to produce but that we might always have wanted.
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Thanks LukeZ. I didn't sand anything on my IS-1 aside from a couple of joints.. the mating surface on the two turret halves were quite large, but mated quite nicely after just a little work. Also, a lot of the surface detail like rivets and panel lines is printed on so you really can't sand in most cases. Clever choices of cuts in the model can make a big difference. Lubos did a really nice job in his design I must say.
I am beginning to get excited about the T-35 build after seeing some of the nice deck and turret pieces. It really is a beautiful beast!
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Glad you liked the video! It pays to have friends in film school.
Interesting that you just completed a 1/10 project, as my next one will be in 1/10 scale also.
Be warned my T-35 is more of a show tank than a driver! It hates grass and mine now has so much wear on the sprockets and tracks that I cant drive it anymore.
I may fix this and update the files in the future, but making all those track links a second time is much less appealing to me than starting the new project.
good luck and I cant wait to see the end result, as of right now I have only seen one other T-35 completed.
Dean
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Glad you liked the video! It pays to have friends in film school.
Interesting that you just completed a 1/10 project, as my next one will be in 1/10 scale also.
Be warned my T-35 is more of a show tank than a driver! It hates grass and mine now has so much wear on the sprockets and tracks that I cant drive it anymore.
I may fix this and update the files in the future, but making all those track links a second time is much less appealing to me than starting the new project.
good luck and I cant wait to see the end result, as of right now I have only seen one other T-35 completed.
Dean
Hi Dean, yes, the video is great as is the tank. Yes, tanks printed from plastic will wear out. At my age I probably won't wear it out. ;-)
I can understand how completely rebuilding the tracks would be a daunting task. The tracks on my IS-1 are printed in place in sections about 20 cm long, then the sections are glued together with the final joint being a 1.5mm pin. Much easier to replace indeed.
I will be using Krasi50's transmission unit, any idea what size motors would be appropriate?
Also, as I'm working on the road wheels now I'm wondering what type of metal did you use on the bogeys as the 'return spring'? I've tried a couple of things, but they were too soft and had insufficient spring to them.
I lived many years in Canada, spent about 50 years in Ottawa. I have retired to Erie, PA (after some years in Phoenix AZ and Ann Arbor MI.
Erie is great but a little isolated. Can't seem to find any Tank activity in this part of the state.
Anyway, thanks for responding. I appreciate your help with my questions. You built a fine model and I look forward to completing it. You did a great job with the details and extra goodies for the tank. I'm hoping I will be successful in building Kim's TCB hat and employing it to bring the T-35 to life!
Best regards,
Joe/JPS99
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I made some progress on the T-35 lately and wanted to share it.
I'd been really stalled on the suspension as Dean's design used a leaf spring on the road wheel bogies and I was unable to find a suitably springy metal. I'd seen another build on another website where the builder went with a coil spring design for the suspension. I'm not sure if he used coils on all the wheels or just one on each side, the photos weren't clear on that, however it looked like an easier way to address the problem. I started my search on Amazon.com and eBay and finally located a 1/4" x 2-1/2" spring that looked promising.
I ordered them and once they arrived I fired up Tinkercad to design a way to mount them.
I use Tinkercad because it works with my brain.. I'm a visualizer/hacker not a designer. I've tried Fusion360 and was blown away by its power, but the learning curve was too steep for my old brain. I guess if I actually had to design a large project, Fusion360 would be the way to go, but my needs are more for hacking out a part or two based on a picture in my head and Tinkercad, which is shape based cad, works for me.
I designed an upper spring holder with a swivel end and modified the lower suspension mount to handle the swivel. I then modified the bogey crosspiece to incorporate a lower spring holder/guide that would hold the spring and align it with the upper spring holder.
I printed out a test mount and spring holder assembly and found that with a couple of extra millimeters extension on each part, they would work well. I assembled one set and mounted it on the tank hull to see how it looked. To see how this works please check out my Youtube video:
Breakthrough #2 - I have most of my track assembled, but wondered how durable and repairable it would be in the long term and wondered if it would be possible to print lengths of assembled track on my 3D printer with the joints built in. I fired up good old Tinkercad, imported a track segment, duplicated it, then aligned the two sections together and then created a joiner pin.
When I had a two segment section that looked good, I printed it for a test, and it worked and hinged quite well. I adjusted the pin size a couple of times to have the largest, strongest pin, yet still have a working hinge. Once I had that nailed, I printed up a section of 19 segment, about all that would fit on my print bed, and did a test print. Luckily, it worked great! I was able to flex all 19 segments and after a couple of pivots, it freed up nicely.
With those two problems solved, assembling the T-35 will progress much better. I will try to update the forum on my progress.
Cheers,
JPS99/Joe
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Now that I have the suspension components figures out, I've begun the assembly of the lower hull. I've attached some photos for your perusal.
I'm waiting on some 5mm brass shafts to start building the transmission with. I'm using the "Krasi50" gearbox that was added to Dean Rauch's files on Thingiverse. It looks like an interesting design but I only have a single photo to work from for the assembly. Things will probably start to make sense once I begin fitting the gears in. I'll upload the photo for those interested.
I recently made a 'reflow oven' from a toaster oven and did a small board in it today. It worked out pretty well, but I need to be more sparing with the solder paste it seems. I had to fix a few solder bridges, but the process appears doable. I'm not ready to attempt Kim Anderson's TCB Hat yet, but I'll have to eventually if I want to get this tank moving! :P
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Hey Joe, it's looking good. It must be cool to see an actual "thing" start to materialize in front of your eyes from what were just spools of filament to begin with!
It's definitely true that less is more when it comes to solder paste, I seem to have to learn that lesson over and over. This is especially the case on ICs with small pins located close together, or on chips with multiple pads underneath (too much paste and the pads will bridge, and there is no way to fix it after the fact). Using a stencil greatly helps with placing an appropriate amount of paste, though it is possible to overdo it even then. I would suggest getting one for Kim's design. Occasionally for some packages it ends up being easier to just hand-solder, I found this to be the case with the ATmega processor on the original TCB, but I reflowed everything else.
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Hey Joe, it's looking good. It must be cool to see an actual "thing" start to materialize in front of your eyes from what were just spools of filament to begin with!
....... Using a stencil greatly helps with placing an appropriate amount of paste, though it is possible to overdo it even then. I would suggest getting one for Kim's design. Occasionally for some packages it ends up being easier to just hand-solder, I found this to be the case with the ATmega processor on the original TCB, but I reflowed everything else.
Thanks Luke. Yes, getting all those wheels mounted and working well is a big step.
Next is figuring out the transmission.
Next big hurdle is the TCB. My drag soldering is not bad and fixing solder bridges is no problem either. The motor driver package is something rather intimidating. They will almost certainly need to be done in the reflow oven. I should look into getting a stencil.
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I just did the first test of my 1/16 scale 3D printed T35a tank drive and suspension, (STL files by Dean Rauch https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3064387 )
I've incorporated a few mods in the form of the coil springs for the road wheels and (for the most part) print in place tank track vs individually linked segments. In the video the suspension is working fairly well, but is still stiff and needs a lot of running in to free up the bogies and coil springs. I now have the considerable job of making it look like a tank. There are a multitude of parts yet to assemble - the tank has 5 turrets and a crew of 11, so is quite a beast! I will keep updating my channel as work progresses.
Warning, this thing sounds like a rock crusher!
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Joe- That is a very impressive build that you're doing. It's an interesting choice by Dean to model a fairly complicated tank. If I were even to attempt to create the models for an RC tank I think I'd opt to make something like a Stridsvagn 103 (turretless!).
Are you using ABS or PLA filament?
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Good progress Joe. But I have been quite stumped about your "print in place tracks" and have tried to figure it out for myself, to no avail, so now I will ask. Are you not using a metal pin to join each track segment? I saw the picture you posted earlier of a series of track segments being printed at once, but that was early in the process, after only a few layers, and as yet there is no hinge-pin visible.
It is beyond my ability to imagine how you could print a "pin" inside a floating hole to link the segments. Can you explain your wizardry further? It might help some others who are printing tracks!
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Joe- That is a very impressive build that you're doing. It's an interesting choice by Dean to model a fairly complicated tank. If I were even to attempt to create the models for an RC tank I think I'd opt to make something like a Stridsvagn 103 (turretless!).
Are you using ABS or PLA filament?
Sorry to take so long to reply. I guess I need to turn on notifications.
I do most of my printing in PLA. I've had good success with ABS in printing track segments, but was never drawn to it beyond that.
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Good progress Joe. But I have been quite stumped about your "print in place tracks" and have tried to figure it out for myself, to no avail, so now I will ask. Are you not using a metal pin to join each track segment? I saw the picture you posted earlier of a series of track segments being printed at once, but that was early in the process, after only a few layers, and as yet there is no hinge-pin visible.
It is beyond my ability to imagine how you could print a "pin" inside a floating hole to link the segments. Can you explain your wizardry further? It might help some others who are printing tracks!
I have had good success with 'print in place' objects. I have a printed motor, 3 cylinder with pistons rods and crankshaft that all rotate as you would expect, all printed in one piece in PLA.
I first learned of Print in Place tank tracks on IS-1 project. Lubos Hort had created them for his rendering and they worked perfectly.
After laboriously assembling the individual segments for the T-35 Dean created, I started thinking life would be simpler if entire sections could be printed.
I just imported a segment into Tinkercad, duplicated it, then aligned them so the pin holes lined up and created a pin and put it in place, allowing for a few tenths of a mil clearance, then exported and printed it. Takes about 30 minutes to print a two segment track which i then evaluate for swivel motion. If too tight, I just shrink the pin another couple of tenths and keep trying until it works well. in places the pin will bind to the segments, but if the clearance is reasonable, it will break loose and allow movement.
I will try to attach a sample file in case anybody is interested. Also a link to a Youtube video showing some interesting 'print in place' items I've printed.
Cheers,
Joe
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Forgot to add an update to my T-35 project!
This is a paste from the description on my Youtube video. Sorry, I'm Laaaaaazzzy!
This is the second test of my 1/16 scale 3D printed T35a Russian Tank.
I now have 2 ESCs so I can test the turning ability of the tank.
I am controlling the tank with the open-source 2.4ghz micro transmitter designed by TheDIYGuy999 as well as his own design micro receiver. Both of these designs and more are available, please check his Youtube channel for more information at https://www.youtube.com/user/TheDIYGuy999
The tank itself can be found on Thingiverse https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3064387
My testing today revealed a weak point in the tread design. The tread on the right side of the tank was printed as individual segments joined by 1.5mm wire pieces while the tread on the left was my hack - I imported one track segment into Tinkercad then duplicated it and joined it together with a 1.5 mm rod and duplicated into sections that would fit onto my 3D printer bed. I created different lengths of segments to assist with the final total tread count and to have on hand for replacement. My goal was to have as few metal pins as possible.
I anticipate problems with the pin joining method so I will endeavor to increase the size of the joining surfaces to make them stronger. I will also attempt to add the segment alignment tooth that sticks up from the track and is what guides the track between the wheels. Currently these are glued on individually and are a real PITA!
The track segments were designed to print upside down so I will have to see if it is possible to print them successfully right side up so I can print the alignment tooth along with the tread. The T-35 is such a long tank that the treads are incredibly long and because of the large surface area invite problems. It does not help that they are somewhat spindly as well, compared to the IS-1 and T-34 tank.
This has been a fun project and once I can get my chassis rolling along reliably I will complete the superstructure and turret detail.
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Good progress Joe. But I have been quite stumped about your "print in place tracks" and have tried to figure it out for myself, to no avail, so now I will ask. Are you not using a metal pin to join each track segment? I saw the picture you posted earlier of a series of track segments being printed at once, but that was early in the process, after only a few layers, and as yet there is no hinge-pin visible.
It is beyond my ability to imagine how you could print a "pin" inside a floating hole to link the segments. Can you explain your wizardry further? It might help some others who are printing tracks!
Luke, the 3D printer will print where there is a pin and nothing where there is a gap. Of course filament doesn't hang in mid air but the areas where the pin plastic sags and contacts the track segment below do not bond well and are broken loose after printing. It's somewhat magical, but you'd be amazed at what can be printed in place!
I've attached a few photos from Tinkercad of the track as I modified it and there is another photo of a 20 segment track that I just printed. I turned Dean's segments right-side up, aligned them together via the pin holes, added an undersized pin as well as the segment tooth ( what I call it) that guides the track through the wheels.
This one comes up a bit stiff, but with a little 'working' it frees up nicely!
I've concluded that the reason the track segments are breaking (as you saw in my video) is that i am drilling them slightly in order to fit the 1.5 mm wire I am using as pins. I have now ordered some 1.3 mm stainless rod that I will use for the pins, hoping that I won't have to drill out the segments and thus weakening them.
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Ok, I understand now. There is of course no way to print the pin in free air, but I gather that it is "attached" to the tread segments only at a very small point which can be broken after printing such that the tread segments then move freely. I can see there is some trial and error involved in getting it all to work but you are making good progress!
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I've been questioned on the 'print-in-place' tank tracks I have on my tanks so I thought I would bring a few details into the picture.
I'm on version 7 of my T35 tracks. Originally Dean Rauch made them as individual segments, but I had problems with my tracks breaking, probably because I had to drill them out slightly to insert the 1.5mm pins I was using (actually soft steel wire cut into ~32 mm lengths. It was also a LOT of work assembling the 132 segments per side, so, being a lazy cuss I instead fiddled with them in Tinkercad and came up with a printable version of 20 segments. I join the sections of track using a 1.3mm stainless steel pin now, and hopefully that will be more robust, since I don't have to drill the segments to fit the steel pin. I've also printed up 12 segment lengths as well as a few 1 and 2 segment pieces for repairs. I have also modified the track so that the road wheel guide pins are printed as part of each segment, instead of having to glue them together.
I made a short video of the tracks and a test I did yesterday. They are slowly becoming more robust. Right now I have a mix of probably 4 or more versions on the T35 and have become quite proficient at replacing broken segments!
Here's a comparison video
and here is a video of the outside testing.
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Codewarrior expressed an interest in seeing a time lapse video of a track being printed.
I don't think this shows too much as it's pretty small, but here it is!
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Joe- Thank you for posting the video showing the tracks being printed in place and your other updates. It's clear that it takes a bit of time to print even just two track shoes. I'd like to understand the track assembly process a bit better. Can you clarify the process of inserting the pins? I'm assuming that you remove the tracks from the printer plate, drill out the holes for the pins and then insert the pins?
I'd like to ask a few questions about the track/pin design if you don't mind indulging my curiosity for a bit:
- What is the actual failure mode of the tracks? I'm assuming the plastic fractures at the hinge joints (or knuckles as I believe they're called), is that correct?
- If the failure mode described above is correct is it possible to make the hinges thicker at the hinge knuckles? Once again I'm assuming that is what your design iterations are working on.
- Can you use thinner wire to effectively increase the knuckle thickness? I suppose the limitation here might be the small diameter of the drill bit itself as too small a bit will break easily.
- Any idea why the original designer chose to print the guide horns separate from the track shoe itself?
- Is it possible to use an acetone vapor-bath to help fuse the individual printed plastic extrusions together? I used this on several of my ABS prints to help smooth out the rough surface texture inherent in 3D printed parts which I believe Luke once made reference to. Perhaps a full-on vapor bath wouldn't be required but maybe "painting" just the track hinge knuckles would strengthen the joints.
I likely got way ahead of myself or you've probably considered all of the possibilities I described above but my curiosity has gotten the better of me.
In the video of the T35 running outside its performance on the brick, and even the larger stones, was impressive. I found myself holding my breath a bit somewhat expecting the tracks to break or slip off the road wheels. I would think that, if you could run the tracks for a number of hours without breakage you would have a successful design.
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Joe- Thank you for posting the video showing the tracks being printed in place and your other updates. It's clear that it takes a bit of time to print even just two track shoes. I'd like to understand the track assembly process a bit better. Can you clarify the process of inserting the pins? I'm assuming that you remove the tracks from the printer plate, drill out the holes for the pins and then insert the pins?
Hi Eric, actually I print the segments (usually twenty at a time) and the first and last segments have open holes (no pin printed), so I don't have to drill out the holes. I had been drilling slightly to enlarge the hole because I was joining with 1.5 mm wire. Now that I'm using 1.3 mm I no longer have to drill and this results in a stronger track hinge.
I'd like to ask a few questions about the track/pin design if you don't mind indulging my curiosity for a bit:
- What is the actual failure mode of the tracks? I'm assuming the plastic fractures at the hinge joints (or knuckles as I believe they're called), is that correct?
Yes, the rest of the track is quite sturdy. The knuckles were a problem when I drilled them out. The print-in-place tracks now break when the pins give out.
- If the failure mode described above is correct is it possible to make the hinges thicker at the hinge knuckles? Once again I'm assuming that is what your design iterations are working on.
Yes, that's exactly what I was attempting to do, but I tried probably half a dozen mods and then tested by printing a few segments but they were not breaking loose at the hinge, so obviously I was doing something wrong. I may try again in the future.
- Can you use thinner wire to effectively increase the knuckle thickness? I suppose the limitation here might be the small diameter of the drill bit itself as too small a bit will break easily.
As mentioned above, that's what i did. I ordered some 1.3 mm stainless rod and it seems to be working better now. I tried to make a crude measurement jig by suspending a section of track from the ceiling on a hanging scale and then hanging a gallon jug from the bottom of the track. I filled the jug up and it still held together - 8.75 lbs! I added almost 4 pounds of stainless shot to the jug and repeated the process. The track ended up supporting 12.5 pounds without breaking. That's quite a weight!
- Any idea why the original designer chose to print the guide horns separate from the track shoe itself?
Yes, he wanted to print the track on its flattest surface, which is the top, where the guide pin goes. He also printed individual segments and joined each with a fine pin. He reports that his T35 is no longer in use because of track and sprocket problems. I can understand how the track is a pain, the way he did it. I am lazy and forsaw that I would grow tired of building tracks so I got brave and brought a segment and guide pin into TinkerCad, flipped the segments over, added the guide pin and a plastic hinge pin, then duplicated 19 more to get my 20 segment section, which is close to what I can fit on my Ender 5 build plate.
- Is it possible to use an acetone vapor-bath to help fuse the individual printed plastic extrusions together? I used this on several of my ABS prints to help smooth out the rough surface texture inherent in 3D printed parts which I believe Luke once made reference to. Perhaps a full-on vapor bath wouldn't be required but maybe "painting" just the track hinge knuckles would strengthen the joints.
I hear that works on ABS, but pretty much melts PLA, which I use. I think it would also glue the segments together hopelessly. I'm pretty happy with my track now. I think once I completely replace all the test sections with my V6 track it will be pretty reliable. I will have to avoid carpet though as the tracks are extremely 'grippy' because of the fine filament fragments that are on the bottom because I am printing them upside down without support. I've gotten rid of some of that by modifying the segment to leave less of a gap from the build plate. I think as long as I avoid carpeting which has loops I'l be okay as the segments work like velcro on it. I drove over a small mat on my shop floor and it picked it up and wrapped it up over the sprocket and had about 18" of it attached to the track before I got it stopped! It works great on cement floor, as I've done a lot of zooming around in my shop. It should be good on asphalt too. I need to avoid mulch and gravel as they will jam it, I'm pretty sure.
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I likely got way ahead of myself or you've probably considered all of the possibilities I described above but my curiosity has gotten the better of me.
In the video of the T35 running outside its performance on the brick, and even the larger stones, was impressive. I found myself holding my breath a bit somewhat expecting the tracks to break or slip off the road wheels. I would think that, if you could run the tracks for a number of hours without breakage you would have a successful design. Yes, that's my goal.
I'm getting to be comfortable with the track, so now I'm playing with sound!
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Joe-
Sorry it took so long to respond, it's not for lack of interest! This forum is the first one where I have been active at all, even to the small degree of that activity. Anyway, I was checking back daily expecting that a response to a post that I had made would be flagged. I know now that that only happens for PM's. Live and learn, I suppose.
It sounds like you have invested a lot of time, thought and effort into making a good track design. If the tracks can support over 12 pounds I would say that you have succeeded in coming up with a very good track design. It seems to me that it could make the T35 a viable tank for battle if that's the intent, and, at a minimum, worth the effort to print one up and tool around in. I must admit: The addition of sound really makes the tank come to life. Hopefully you're now on your way to finishing off the superstructure, turrets, etc...
Also- thanks for your detailed responses to my slew of questions. This helped to clarify some details about the tracks. Please keep us posted on your progress!
Eric
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Anyway, I was checking back daily expecting that a response to a post that I had made would be flagged.
Hi Eric, if you click the "Notify" button at the top of a thread the forum will send you an email when a new post is made, that way you don't have to keep manually coming back and checking. There are further user-specific Notification settings if you go to your Account Settings and under "Modify Profile" go to the "Notifications" section. :)
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I too am making the T35, 90% of the body and wheels printed but still have the fun part to do( track links) also printed part of the gearbox parts but struggling with assembly as I’ve no reference photos
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I too am making the T35, 90% of the body and wheels printed but still have the fun part to do( track links) also printed part of the gearbox parts but struggling with assembly as I’ve no reference photos
Yes, it sure would be nice if this thing came with instructions! Are you building the Krasi50 transmission that was posted in the comments on Thingiverse? If so I can give you some tips. Also, if you want, I can post my STL files for the print-in-place tracks I'm using.
Good luck!
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Hello, I just finished printing a few small parts and I know how interested some of you are who haven't yet committed to a 3D printer.
I'm attaching a couple of photos I took of a Hatch for the T35 as well as some little hinges for another hatch. I've photographed them beside a metric ruler so you can get an idea of how small these are.
For a NON-SLA printer I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out on my Creality Ender 5. I didn't even make special effort to accomplish this. I printed using a 0.20mm layer height ( I could have gone to 0.12, possibly 0.07 if I'd tried) so I'm pretty happy.
You might not be able to tell from these photos, but the hinge pin holes are clear and usable on all of the hinges.
I'll post some more shots of other detailed pieces in the future.
Cheers,
Joe
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...if you click the "Notify" button at the top of a thread the forum will send you an email when a new post is made, …. There are further user-specific Notification settings if you go to your Account Settings and under "Modify Profile" go to the "Notifications" section. :)
Thanks Luke, now being notified. There is a lot of flexibility that the forum settings offers, I appreciate your mentioning it.
Looks like Joe may now have a fellow “Brother in Arms”!
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I've had some time to work on the T35. I got the main turret rotation servo installed and working. It required cutting out some of the deck and hull to fit the servo, but not too difficult. My servo pinion which engages the turret ring kept getting snapped off. I ended up adding a 2mm section of turret as a spacer to allow more clearance. It's pretty simple in PrusaSlicer.. i just brought the main turret STL file into the slicer and dropped it until only 2mm was showing above the build plate, then printed it. It fit perfectly.
Here's a link to video of the turret test:
I've also got the side skirts on and most of the superstructure now together and finalized along with working out mounting points for the superstructure sections. They need to be accessible for access to the battery and other electronics, certainly as long as I'm working out the details. I plan to use Kim's TCB hat for the final control of the tank, but currently I'm just using an 8 channel receiver and the ESS Sense One sound unit as it requires a lot of volume to overcome the super noisy drive train. I know that Kim's design has a powerful amplifier, so I'm sure it will work out, however there's not much room in the hull for a good speaker, especially the Krasi50 gearbox takes up much more room than a Heng Long gearbox.
I put together a video slideshow of construction photos which may help others who embark on this project. I'll add more photos and videos as progress wraps up.
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Okay, I gave it a good try, but after 7 or more variants of the print in place track with poor reliability, I'm throwing in the towel on that idea.
On the plus side, I did modify the track segment so it could be printed with the guide pin in place, so that was a win, but I am now assembling my segments with 19 gauge (1mm) steel wire and the wire pushes in quite nicely. Since I'm no longer drilling the segments to accommodate the larger size wire I first used (1.5mm) the segment hinges will be stronger and the track should be much stronger. Definitely is more flexible.
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I made a Youtube video showing how I modified my turrets to rotate and elevate the cannon.
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Since my 3D printed T35 Russian Heavy tank has 5 turrets I need some way of controlling the two Secondary Cannon turrets and the 2 Machine Gun turrets. The main cannon and Turret I will control directly from my Taranis QX7 radio, but for the others I will control them using a 6 channel Polulu Maestro controller.
Thanks to Dean Rauch for the awesomely detailed T35 STL files available on Thingiverse!
Check out the Maestro controllers at Pololu https://www.pololu.com/category/102/maestro-usb-servo-controllers (https://www.pololu.com/category/102/maestro-usb-servo-controllers)
Check out my video of turret control on Youtube
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Nice job Joe, thanks for posting. It's good to see that the work continues on the T35. It will look amazing on the battlefield. Nice find on the Maestro controller too.
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Nice job Joe, thanks for posting. It's good to see that the work continues on the T35. It will look amazing on the battlefield. Nice find on the Maestro controller too.
Thanks, the T35 is pretty much finished except for finalizing the electronics. I've been slowly working on Kim's HECLO TCB hat, but have found a troublesome adversary in the VHN5050A motor driver chips he uses on the board. I've managed to ruin a bunch of them so far without success, although I just soldered up two more boards that look promising.... the continuity tests will determine the outcome. Worse comes to worst I will build the boards without the drivers and use the Quicrun 1060 escs I have installed already for testing and use the board for the other functions it offers.
The weather has been crappy so I haven't had the opportunity to get some video of the T35 running outside all assembled and with the guns travelling thanks to the Maestro board. It really is a wizard bit of tech and reasonably priced! Because the tracks are so grippy I don't dare run it on carpet inside as the tracks grab and tear apart if I attempt any kind of a turn. The fine 1mm wires joining the segments snag the carpet with gusto.
The weather is improving, so I'm hoping to add to 'show and tell' soon.
Regards,
Joe
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The weather has improved here in Erie, PA and the snow has cleared from the driveway and walkways so it is time to do some outside testing on my T35.
It is running pretty well although I did have a track displace on the drive gear on the right side. I think it happened while I was driving over the snow at the start of the video. It appears the T35 is fussy about the road surface... much like the real one!
Anyway, please enjoy the video!
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Well, the T35 is now complete. I am currently printing a 1/10 scale King Tiger tank which I will probably start assembling in the fall, as I've returned to an old love of mine, RC aircraft flying. After being cooped up in the workshop all winter/spring I'm ready for some fresh air and sunshine!
Anyway, here's the latest on the T35
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Well done Joe. Thanks for posting the update on this huge project. I honestly thought that you may have run into one problem or another which had caused you to stop work on it. I'm glad to see it complete and running so well!