[johnnyvd]

Hi,

For all that are interested, my current build of the Asiatam FAMO Sd.Kfz. 9.

I plan on using two Hobby ESC's and 1 servo for steering. I'm building this for someone else who asked me to assemble and paint it for him.
The following features will be added:

- Openpanzer TCB + 2x Hobby esc's
- Benedini mini or micro for sound
- 3D printed electronics box under bed
- 3D printed combined speakerbox/hood ventilation actuator
- ON/OFF switches, charger jack etc. etc. in the side toolboxes
- Airbrushing and weathering of the complete model

Attached a picture how the unit arrived!

[Dean Rauch]

Very cool, too bad you dont get to keep it!
I was thinking if I ever finish the T-35 I would like to get one of these, print the armored cab for it and make the version with the 88 on it.
Look forward to seeing it move!

[johnnyvd]

Hi Dean,

Yes, i wanted it really bad.. I even offered him a lot of money. But he didn't budge..
But as a reward for finishing it for him i got a really nice SU-152 project 

Ok, one of the things i ran into was the limited space i have to work in.. Between the frame i designed a 3D printed electronics "box".

And after 3,5 hours printing i discovered i got a dimension wrong  ... 3,5 hours later a new one.. Fits like a glove..

[Dean Rauch]

Yes, the limited space in that model is one of the reasons I would make the armored cabin, Gives some more wiggle room for placement of components.
That enclosure looks nice, what printer are you using?

[johnnyvd]

I'm using a Anycubic i3 Mega. Nice unit. Dirt-cheap and OK resolution for constructive parts..
Print size max is 200 x 200 x 210 mm..

Current material is 1.75mm Black PLA.. The i3 has a heated bed, so i will try ABS next time..

[Dean Rauch]

Nice, the whole T-35 is ABS actually.
If you want to use that material, I would recommend an enclosure depending on how cold the surrounding area is. I simply used 6 of the foam interlocking garage mats assembled into a cube around my Makergear M2. This keeps the temperatures around the part higher to reduce warping.

[johnnyvd]

I noticed that the surrounding temperature is of big influence on warping. I use a brim most of the time around my products to prevent it.
The "insulation" case is a good concept! I will keep that in mind when i start building my "Maker-tower" for my CNC mill and i3!

[LukeZ]

I'm happy to see someone putting a TCB in a halftrack! I actually have never owned one but I added several features for halftrack drivers which hopefully will be useful - you can be the first to report back and let us know.

I love that FAMO. It is no longer sold and I wish I had bought one years ago when they were available, but as I recall they were rather expensive. It looks like Asiatam still has the Opel LKW which is also a very fine model, but just a regular truck. A few years from now I will no doubt wish I had bought one of those too... 

[johnnyvd]

It would be great if somebody would make such a kit again like the FAMO, but i would prefer the SdKfz9 with the 88 and armoured cab like Dean said!
(i would be in trouble again with the dual ESC's but, hey! Nothing beats an 88 on board!)

And my advice: if you want an Opel now you should buy one.. They are gone before you know!

In the mean time my work on the Halftrack: Benedini Micro with SdKfz7 sound

The Micro pumps out quite some volume i must say! Visatone FR7 in, yes, an Apple Syrup can..

[Mccoy]

That's so nice of you to do, John. I'd love to see it when it's finished! Will you keep updating this thread?

[johnnyvd]

This weekend i had some time to work on the proportional smoker.
The Openpanzer has a real nice way of controlling the speed:

The smoker has a manifold on top 2 in 1 flexible hose to the back and the 1 to 2 for the exhaust pipes

Only thing i have to find out how much current the heater is drawing so that the TCB can control it TOGETHER with the fan..

[johnnyvd]

Its Alive!! 

Still a lot of work to do, alignment of tracks and wheels.. But that has nothing to do with the TCB..
Had to tone down the steering stroke of the front servo. Did it by adjusting it on the transmitter (Radiolink AT9 + R9D receiver) Probably possible on the TCB biut i will try it out later 

Driving and steering is a dream (apart from the tracks derailing due to misalignment) it has a very realistic turning radius.

Other stuff that i have to take care of is the proportional smoker.. Having both the heater and the fan proportional is not what i was looking for..
So, full power to the heater is the way to go. Now i only have to find a way to switch it on and off with the TCB... Relay? Onboard motor driver?

[LukeZ]

Other stuff that i have to take care of is the proportional smoker.. Having both the heater and the fan proportional is not what i was looking for..
So, full power to the heater is the way to go. Now i only have to find a way to switch it on and off with the TCB... Relay? Onboard motor driver?

You could use either approach - the onboard motor driver would require no extra equipment but the setup will be more complicated. In that case you really only want the motor driver to be all on or all off. To accomplish that you'd want to define an on/off switch on your transmitter as an "analog" channel in OP Config (yes, even though the channel on your transmitter is only on/off, still set OP Config to analog channel). Then you can map that aux channel to the "Motor A or B - Manual Control" function. Now when you flip the switch the motor driver will go from full on to full off, and this can drive your heating element. But of course you'd probably like to have it come on automatically with your smoker, and that will probably involve some mixing in your transmitter.

You can get cheap relays on eBay that will plug directly into one of the A or B Input/Output ports. Here is a module that works well and only costs a few bucks: Keyestudio 5V Single Channel Relay Module

Because turning the module on/off is a digital function it will be much easier to assign it to the same digital trigger that you use to turn your engine on/off (or the smoker on/off if you want to have manual control of it), so you could do all the "mixing" as it were in OP Config without needing to mix anything in your transmitter.

If you don't want the space of a relay board you can also have one of the I/O ports switch a MOSFET or transistor instead, a sample circuit is provided on this page of the Wiki. That's probably more work than is really necessary.

[johnnyvd]

Thank you for your tips. I bought the type in the attachment.
Now is just wonder how to switch it on. The three pins are marked VVC GND and IN.

5V on the VCC + GND show "power on" and i guess any positive signal will switch the relay?

So, +5V on VCC and IN will switch it?

[LukeZ]

Do you have a link to the product? That might be useful, I can't see the relay side.

To control it you will want to connect the VCC, GND and IN pins on the relay to the -, + and signal pins of one of the GP I/O ports on the TCB. Unfortunately the order is not the same so you won't just be able to plug and play directly with a standard servo lead as you would with the units previously recommended. You can still use a servo lead but you will have to swap the +/- pins so everything lines up, double-check your work! 

Then in OP Config on the Lights & IO tab set the general purpose I/O A or B (whichever one you're using) to Direction = Output and Type = probably Default Low but you might have to experiment, that's where the documentation for the device would be useful. Then assign some trigger to the appropriate function to control it.