Q: High resolution servo operation

Venom8 21 years ago

I have taken a childs ride'em "big Foot" truck, (the ones that you would get at Toys 'r' us and so forth) and converted it to remote control using cheap transmitter -receivers from another toy. Very successful. Now I wish to remove the electric motor and replace it with a gas engine. I was wondering how (rather inexpensively again) would I control the throttle on the engine with a servo, where I can micro adjust it's rotation of the servo to increase or decrease the throttle action as needed.

TIA

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jim dorey 21 years ago

run the servo bellcrank to the throttle with a cable, it's easier than trying to connect directly to the throttle.

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Andy Baker 21 years ago

I bet if you're looking for speed, you don't even need a gas engine. Those things are geared to haul the weight of a small kid. If you simply geared it up more you could use the existing powertrain and get a hell of a lot more speed out of it since you wouldn't have to worry about a 5 year old's weight in it.

I can tell you right now that if you're having issues throttling an engine with a servo, you're going to REALLY have problems beefing up the drivetrain. I'd guess that even a weedwhacker engine would strip the gears out in about 5 minutes if that. Also is the problem that those things don't have a differential gear. They have two independent motors and two gear reductions. I don't know how well you want it to drive - maybe a locked shaft would be OK for you.

I say abandon the KiddeRidem' idea (unless you're using it to drive in front if yuppies in their SUV's speeding down your street) and just build a kick-ass giant scale R/C car out of go-kart components.

Andy

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Earl Bollinger 21 years ago

What is better, is to go with the Quarter Scale RC Racing Cars and Trucks. Now your talking about some fast RC car speeds. Here is a good starting point

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the plastic Kiddie cars weren't really meant to last for very long. The plastic gears and stuff will be quickly destroyed with a gas engine.

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