Futaba 6XAs Gimbals

| Does anyone know which other models of Futaba radios share the same gimbals | as used in a T6XAS? | | I am looking to modify some radios for marine use and buying new gimbals | from GreatPlanes is outrageously high ($70ea).

Do be aware that the 72 mHz band is reserved for airplanes and not OK for any sort of marine use. Unless you're flying sea planes -- that's ok :)

| I suspect there are other | radios that I could buy on eBay and scavenge the gimbals out of them, but | don't know which ones to go after. The tech at Great Planes was no help. | Said he was too busy to help look this up for me. | | Any help would be appreciated

Go into Ebay, look for a few radios that are so old that they can only be used for buddy boxes, because they're still wide-band. Write down the model numbers.

Call up GP, and ask what new gimbals for `your' radio would cost and what the part number is. If the part numbers match, you're good. If not, try another radio.

The cheapest place to find old radios is at a swap meet. I go to the Georgetown, Texas one every Janurary and I regularly see old radios for under $5 each. At that price, you could probably afford to buy a few just to see if they work or could be made to work.

| You didn't happen to go to Waco today did you Doug?

No. Should I have? Was something going on?

I did, however, play hookie from work and went out to Lake Travis and went slope flying in the 25 mph or so NW winds. Always a good time. Actually had a battery pack fail on me mid-flight -- a personal first! Turns out I forgot to charge it (and needed to do so), and the plane was flying too far away for me to hear the low battery alarm. Fortunately, no damage was done and it wasn't hard to find.

Uhh... is that the ascii "art" version of the makerena?!?

| Uhh... is that the ascii "art" version of the makerena?!? | | > Reason #173 to fear technology ... | > o o o o o o | > .|. \|. \|/ // X \ | \ /< >\ /< >\ /< "Mr. Stickman learns the Macarena"

(:

Ob R/C related: always remember to charge your batteries before you fly! :)

Thanks for Hi-Jacking my thread. I still haven't gotten any answers. Why don't you guys email each other?

Paul P

You asked a question and didn't listen to the answer then. Some good suggestions were given. Repremand denied. Maybe you shouldn't expect a free advice forum to be perfect or every conversation to go your way, even if you happened to start it? Every group of people experience tangents, deal with it and grow.

Steve.

OB: I recently grafted parts of two boxes together, turning an old 72 mhz wideband 4 channel box into a 3 channel 27 mhz box so I could get a 2d stick on the right. But I was bored at the time too. Since you are "modifying" then maybe this approach is up your alley. Stay off of 72mhz unless it is a seaplane.

You might try Radio South, but you do have to be aware all of our companies are in this to make a living, so we do concentrate our work on things that make us money. Good luck on your quest. Andy

We can make a box of wood.....FLY!!

Futaba doesn't list the gimbals in the parts listings they have online, probably because they do not consider them to be 'user serviceable items. Probably a lot of the older transmitters use the same parts, but the only way to know for sure is to break some open. If Hobby Services is 'too busy' to help, you're stuck with trial and error.

swap meet. I think I'd rather fly though. Sounds like a good day. mk

ok, where are you, I'll send you an old TX. mk Hamilton TX

When you post on usenet, you've done just that, posted. Think of it akin to nailing a note to a corner light pole. You may or may not get an answer. You can be certain it's impossible to hijack the thread, since you placed the original post in the public domain. Do not consider anyone bound to give only on-topic answers. If they did, the entertainment value and general randomness would be gone, and I expect you'd actually receive fewer answers, 'cause few would bother to read.

Pete Keillor

What kind of cheese would you like with this whine??

Where did you learn that 'language'? Don't you keep your birds on any sort of battery maintence system?

| Where did you learn that 'language'?

Better watch it -- Paul apparantly feels that this thread is `his', and has expressed his displeasure in having it `hijacked' without having gotten an answer (even though he had gotten several good suggestions by that time.) :)

As for the ASCII art, well, it's been around for a while. I cannot take credit (or blame) for the Macarena guy, however.

| Don't you keep your birds on any sort of battery maintence system?

I was referring to a previous post of mine ...

I don't do any `formal' battery maintenance system. I generally fast charge (0.5C - 1C) my planes right before I go fly, with the exact rate depending on how much warning I give myself. I generally only slow charge when a pack is brand new, or just once in a while to equalize all the cells.

After flying, if it's a plane I rarely fly (or if I don't plan on flying it for a month or two), I usually put a discharger on the battery (down to 1 volt/cell), otherwise I do nothing.

Periodically I will cycle my packs just to see what sort of capacity they have -- I'm not religious about it, but I usually do it every month or two in the case of the planes I fly regularly, or before I fly if it's one of the planes I fly only every few months. I also generally do a cycle whenever I notice something amiss -- like having the battery peter out earlier than expected.

Most of my planes have Hobbico Air Alerts on them -- they will warn me if the battery is low. Mostly it's there in case the plane is lost, but the battery warning is nice too.

And up until last saturday, I'd never had a battery fail mid-flight, which I chalked up to 1) luck and 2) my bigger planes having two packs and 3) being relatively careful with my batteries. (I don't do any giant scale planes, so *extreme* care isn't really justified.)

But last saturday, I'm slope soaring around, and suddely my glider spirals out of control with no warning. WTF? It wasn't damaged (it was a built up plane, but still pretty resiliant) but it turns out that the voltage was under 4 volts. I'd forgotten to charge it before I flew. Well, to be more precise, I was assuming that it still had enough charge from last time to fly again. (Which is normally a valid assumption in my case, but this time it failed me.)

The glow planes I always charge before flying, but with the small slope fliers sometimes I'll let that slide -- after all, they're small, the batteries are usually bigger than is needed (why use ballast when you can use a bigger battery?) and accidents are usually non-events (i.e. the worst that'll happen is you have to trek down the hill to get your plane.)

I think from now on, I'll make sure to throw every plane I fly on the charger before flying. Even if only on the way to the field. Even if it's only a sloping foamie.

Paul needs to learn how to read and how to beg for exact step by step instructions of how to get done what he wants. Or he could go hunting for a cheap box on eBay. Besides since he already had answeres I already ignored him and his whine.