My tanks won't drive straight - is a fix practical/possible?

[Marc780]

I had an idea I want to run past the experten, since all i know about electronics you could fit on a playing card with room to spare....my Panther G and T-34 pull to the right or left when i want them to go straight. It's an annoyance I wish i could fix. I'm guessing maybe it's due to slight variations between motors?

Is it possible or practical to splice in some kind of manual trim adjustment or voltage control, to the power wire to the motors? So you could decrease the voltage to one motor until your tank runs straight?

If not that: is there a practical way to say measure the RPM capacity of several motors before installing them, so as to match two of them as closely as possible? I just bought 5 Mabuchi RS380 motors from Ebay for $12 - as you can maybe tell I'm not a fan of scale speed, if i want that i just run the battery down to 7 volts (ha ha),.

[ALPHA]

Marc...have you tried this...take the strong motor from your Panther...and switch it with your weak motor on the T34....and take the weak motor and pair it with the weak motor on the Panther...you might be surprised at the result

There are speed controllers sold on EBAY.... more designed for Cars...but should work for the tank if worse comes to worse

ALPHA

[wibblywobbly]

To be honest I have never had a tank that wouldn't run straight due to the motors, it has always been due to other reasons.

Firstly take the tracks off and place a steel ruler along the road wheels and return rollers. Check that the idler and drive sprockets are in perfect alignment.

Check that the gearboxes spin freely. Remove the motors and spin them, there should not be any resistance.

Check that the drive shafts are not rubbing anywhere.

Check that the track links are not sticking.

Check that all road wheels, return rollers and the idler are all able to rotate freely, they should all spin.

Check that the tracks are not touching anything, and that they are not too tight, you should be able to compress two or three road wheels without stressing the tracks.

Hope this helps.

Rob

[brizo58]

Hi Marc,
I had that problem with my MATO Sherman. It turned out to be the transmitter I had to put the trim right over to the left i tried another trany and all was ok. Don't know if you have tried this!!. Brian...

[wibblywobbly]

Brizo has hit on something, I had the same problem with an HL tx.

I took it apart and shoved the gimbal round while the tank was running, until I could centre the trim and it still ran in a straight line.

A few drops of superglue to hold it in its new position and all was fine. Just make sure you don't glue up the pivot.

[Marc780]

Well you fellows have never failed me yet, I see a whole bunch of very good ideas i need to try. The Tx gimbal being out seems right on the money - the idea makes perfect sense - since the tank still veers left even after motor, Rx, and gearbox changes. i have 2 other transmitters so that's the next thing to check! Thanks very much for your feedback guys, you are an invaluable source of info. Without this forum and others like it i'd have quit the hobby in frustration long ago.

[ALPHA]

Well you fellows have never failed me yet, I see a whole bunch of very good ideas i need to try. The Tx gimbal being out seems right on the money - the idea makes perfect sense - since the tank still veers left even after motor, Rx, and gearbox changes. i have 2 other transmitters so that's the next thing to check! Thanks very much for your feedback guys, you are an invaluable source of info. Without this forum and others like it i'd have quit the hobby in frustration long ago.

Pretty sure it's the motors....those things aren't perfect....

ALPHA

[Marc780]

In that case Alpha i have another brainstorm, which might be either a thing that may work or the dumbest idea ever: Suppose you took a volume control wire, the one for the speaker, and spliced and wired that in the hot line, or the negative wire? with a motor? Could you then be able to adjust the voltage/speed to the motors by turning the screw?

I have looked at ESC's but they are all for model cars or even worse, R/c aircraft. Not designed to work with a heng long radio system exactly and I doubt they'd work.

[ALPHA]

In that case Alpha i have another brainstorm, which might be either a thing that may work or the dumbest idea ever: Suppose you took a volume control wire, the one for the speaker, and spliced and wired that in the hot line, or the negative wire? with a motor? Could you then be able to adjust the voltage/speed to the motors by turning the screw?

I have looked at ESC's but they are all for model cars or even worse, R/c aircraft. Not designed to work with a heng long radio system exactly and I doubt they'd work.

I gave that some serious thought today...I think a rheostat would work...that or a diode or resistor ...something to alter the amperage ..and yes to the one polarity hook up ...just as if you were installing an on off switch

ALPHA