My Tiger Tank Project

[Exhibitedbrute]

I like the crew movement idea and as someone who does shows it’s certainly something I could get behind. For example my Cromwell won’t have a battle system but a crew like that and a smoking gun would make quite an exhibit. Great work and a good idea

[Jimster]

Thank you! It’s certainly fun and easy to do. I tend to be a bit whimsical at times

[Exhibitedbrute]

But at least you don’t go cutting parts of you thumb off, it’s a good idea and really adds to the realism. You may notice from many of my totm entries though I have figures I don’t use them on my tanks as quite often they look better without

[Jimster]

Caution! The following is a rant and may contain offensive language and man crying. Not pretty.
Well son of a *=#+%! I bought a DKLM PDSG to have the best gearbox and it started slipping and now won’t even crawl over my shoe! I took the side plates off but see no obvious destruction. Maybe some worn gear teeth but this unit is practically new and now out of production (of course). So I bought a Heng Long dual current drive gearbox (looks like a DKLM knockoff). The turning motor works fine but the main drive motor doesn’t move until full throttle is held for a couple of seconds then it takes off like a scalded dog for a very brief moment and then quickly grinds to a stop. I’ll be damned. I try to get the best components to keep from having problems but then this crap happens.
I ended up ordering a pair of Taigen V2 4:1 gearboxes and a couple of 390 motors. Going to keep it simple but I hate the noise these gearboxes generate.

[jarndice]

For goodness sake Jimster, Are you trying to alter the Universe ? This is how the system works--- You send large sums of money to China and they send you Crapola,
So what is the reason for such distress old friend twas ever so,
What do you think drinking cabinets were invented for?
I just call it life and hope I get lucky one in five times of buying anything that works from the PRC.

[MITCH]

Hi Jimster, this can come from a slip of the motor pinion on the motor shaft. It would be interesting to take the motor apart to check this, it might allow you to keep the PDSGB block ...

[Will01Capri]

Never good when these things happen
However is there a way to reduce the NVH on these more simple gearboxes i wonder?
Maybe a rubber isolator pad under the gearbox sandwhiched between the metal casing and the tank hull would help slightly?
I just wonder if a cover could maybe be fashioned also over the top with a isolator material to reduce audible noise.
The noise from these units though does tend to be due to poor meshing of gears with not so great profile and they run loud.

As for the other gearboxes which slips or doesn't move till it has alot of throttle. One sounds like a spline maybe and the gear has slipped out of mesh or the spline has shredded and the gear spins sort of freely on the shaft. I don't know how well these gearboxes split apart, but if it already broke i would just go for it and try methodically to lay it out in order of removing the part and make sure you lay it out in the correct orientation so you can re-assemble.

As for the other one which jumps, that sounds like something is out of round or bent. Causing alot of restriction until the higher current allows a greater level of torque to overcome the restriction. Rather than being bent however, it maybe a simple thing like a bearing is worn so the gear mesh is out of alignment or a bush is not seated correctly.
Although i have also seen on cheap gears that they are machine so they have alot of runout and they do not run true. In which case you are forced to do drastic machining or replacement.

Unfortunately these things are made for mass production volume rather than good quality
Sorry if that hasn't helped

[Ludwig von wigbearer]

Jimster, I had a problem with one of my DKLM gearboxes, I removed the side plates and all I needed to do
was to tighten up a grubscrew on one of the gears.

[Jimster]

Shout out to Erik at Imex once again. I ordered new gearboxes and motors Sunday night and had them in my mailbox today! Holy cow! I’ll install them this evening and report on their performance later.

[Jimster]

Here’s my report: No offense to Taigen but these gearboxes are not staying in my tank. I’m sure they’re great for speedy IR battle maneuvers but for my style of driving they’re way too noisy and jerky. I’m going to have to figure out some way to correct my DKLM unit or figure out the problem with the Heng Long dual current unit’s main motor. I’ve got to step away from this and spend more time on my Kubelwagen and gunboat projects.
Having a reliable, quiet gearbox in my Tiger is becoming very expensive and frustrating. I wish there was a reputable place to have these units repaired. I’m afraid to tear into them too far past my skill level but at this point what do I have to lose?