This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Messages - JPS99
31
« on: September 24, 2020, 10:41:43 AM »
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.
32
« on: September 23, 2020, 06:15:46 PM »
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! 
33
« on: September 17, 2020, 06:55:51 PM »
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
34
« on: September 09, 2020, 10:04:26 AM »
Joe,
I should clarify, I dont mean the metal used in the actual numbered tape to use a spring, I mean the coil spring inside the tape measure used to retract the tape.
Thats the closest thing i can think of to what I used, any type of metal that isnt actual spring steel wont work. I know because I tried the metal strapping too
Ah, that makes more sense! I didn't think of using the tape return spring. I'll have to look into that possibility. I also have some compression springs ordered that could be 'plan b'. I see Ilgar Ismailov, the fellow building the T-35 from your files (and casting the parts??!!) had at least one bogey on each side of his T-35 using coil springs. I'm not sure why he only did one per side, but I'll have to get the springs in my hand before I can determine their usability. Anyway, thanks for the clarification. Cheers, Joe
35
« on: September 08, 2020, 02:03:40 PM »
Hello Joe!
Glad to see you are making progress, I am always surprised when I see someone who decides to take on this project despite the number of parts!
All of my parts were made FDM on my makergear M2, with the exception of the tracks, done on a pair of Flashforge Dreamers.
As for the metal in the springs, I had some engineering samples of coiled spring steel at work that fit into the gap. I wouldn't want to use anything else here, it may not retain its shape. I think you could use any spring steel that will fit in there that you can get your hands on. ( maybe inside an old tape measure?)
I had to double up the springs at the rear to get the tank to balance properly so keep that in mind.
Good luck with the build!
Dean
Thanks Dean, I've asked that question about the metal for the springs several times, so please disregard it in my other posts. I will see what I can find.. I wonder if the old strapping steel that I remember seeing on heavy packages and crates would work? I also had the idea of measuring tape steel, but it didn't really seem sturdy enough, but maybe it was too cheap a measuring tape. I'll look at some better quality ones. Thanks for herding me in the right direction. Regards, Joe Thanks f
36
« on: September 08, 2020, 01:56:45 PM »
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
37
« on: September 07, 2020, 04:53:29 PM »
Wow, that's thinking outside the box! They would have to be fairly large, as what I've tried so far has been about 110mm X 12mm.
I'll check the local Dollar Stores to see if they have anything like that.
Thanks for the tip! (as well as the soldering guidance!)
Joe
38
« on: September 07, 2020, 04:06:53 PM »
Kim and Luke, thanks for the soldering tips and workflow. I am doing a lot of research about SMD soldering on Youtube. I am working on making a toaster oven I have into a reflow oven, which I think will give me the best chance for success with Kim's TCB Hat board. I see some folks do double-sided boards in reflow ovens by using a temperature sensitive expoxy under the chips when reflowing the first side. That may be the way to go, or am I overthinking it?
I just watched a couple of Kim's videos on Youtube, wow, great sounding tank and the stabilization feature is very cool!
I've begun assembling the road wheels on the T-35a that I'm building from Dean Rauch's files. I've been trying to get an answer from him on what metal he is using as a leaf-style return spring on his bogeys, but so far no answer. I've tried contacting another fellow on Thingiverse who also built from Dean's files, but so far no response.
I've attached a photo of what I'm talking about. I tried some galvanized steel sheet I had, but it was too soft. Perhaps stainless steel around 0.35mm?
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Cheers - Joe/JPS99
39
« on: September 04, 2020, 02:57:36 PM »
Wow, Luke, you've been busy! I have the bill of materials and will post it here. I have sourced Digikey Electronics here in the US for the components and have included their part numbers and links to the parts on their site. I hope it is helpful! I've not made any progress in building my boards. I recently started building "THEDIYGuy999" micro receiver board and am having problems getting it working. It is all SMD components and until I conquer it I'm not going to attempt Kim's much busier board. Learning to work with SMD's at the tender age of 68 is a bit of a trial. I think I can solder them pretty well now, but when things don't work it is very hard to troubleshoot. Continuity testing is fun when you are switching between 5x magnifier and reading glasses between the board and the schematic. Likewise, it is difficult to get a scope probe on a tiny Mega328P pin! Oh well, what else are we to do during the Covid shutdown??  UPDATE: Fixed an incorrect item I found on the BOM (6 pin screw terminal for motors out) and added links and pricing for an ATMega 2560 shield as well as a link to the preferred and much more efficient Voltage converter module (in place of the LM7805, same pinout) you can find from various sources, link is to AliExpress.
40
« on: August 28, 2020, 08:01:03 AM »
Hi Dean, I'm beginning the assembly of the road wheels on the T-35 and wondering what type and gauge of metal you used for the 'springs' for the road wheels? Does anyone know or have a suggestion? Otherwise I'll measure the slit built into the road wheel and used that for the thickness dimension, then attempt to find something with an appropriate amount of 'spring' to it.
Thanks,
Joe
41
« on: August 25, 2020, 02:51:04 PM »
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!
42
« on: August 25, 2020, 10:47:31 AM »
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
43
« on: August 25, 2020, 09:33:26 AM »
No, they won't smoke much on 5 volts. I run a 2S Lipo in my IS-1 so my max voltage is only going to be somewhere between 7 or 8 volts with the tank moving.
I'm not looking for huge clouds of smoke, but I definitely want to see realistic exhaust smoke when idling and driving.
The Baby Oil works well and smells nice. When I see smoke coming out of the filler tube I know it is time to add another 3ml of oil.
44
« on: August 24, 2020, 06:55:53 PM »
I received my TCB Hat boards thanks to Kim's files. Can't believe how quickly they came from JLCPCB!
I ordered them August 19 and they arrived here on the 24th!
Now I really have to get busy with my parts order as the bare boards sitting here will slowly drive me crazy.
Thanks again to Kim (HECLO) for his work in designing these boards.
Cheers,
Joe
45
« on: August 23, 2020, 06:06:37 PM »
Thanks, LukeZ. I mentioned Lubos because he designs very nice, well thought out RC tanks to 3D print, and his were the only designs that I came across during my search of one to print. His IS-1 was a good tank to start with as he has a pretty good build guide for it. I was thinking about building his T-34, but Dean's T-35A caught my eye and I went with it. There is no documentation for the build, but hopefully what I learned printing and assembling the IS-1 will get me through it.
Cheers,
Joe/JPS99
|
Show Posts