Clodbuster motor upgrade question

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David - 08 Sep 2005 23:32 GMT

Hi,
I recently bought a Tamiya Clodbuster and I have to say I am quite
impressed with it - it bombs over the heath land and through the woods
by my house quite nicely bouncing up and down. A couple of my friends
however decided to get buggies and on road my clodbuster is left behind
in the dust. This is hardly surprising though considering the size and
weight of the clod compared to 1:10 buggies!

After getting sick of the stock MSC I upgraded to the Apex Twin Motor
Speed Controller which I orderd from RC Mart
(http://www.rcmart.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=421_36_51&products_id=11840).
This solved my problems of the speed controller getting dirty and
cutting out, plus all the other annoyances associated with an MSC, etc.

I have now started thinking I would also like to upgrade the motors so
my clod can run faster on road but still drive well over rough ground. I
know I should probably have looked at getting the ESC and motors
together, but unfortunatly it didn't happen that way.

The Apex ESC I've got says it can handle two 19 turn motors. Obviously
I'm going to want a bit of a gap so I dont run the controller as its
max. I found the Tamiya (#49247) Super Stock Motor Type-S which is
supposed to be tuned for high torque and i believe is 23 turns (compared
to the stock one which is 27). Unfortunatly the Tamiya site says the
motor is designed to turn counter-clockwise.

After a bit of googling i found some old forum postings where some
people were recommding motors with turns of about 16-18 for a clod
buster. Unfortunatly my current ESC wouldnt be able to drive these.

So my questions are these:

1) Would the Tamiya super stock motor provide a decent speed upgrade and
is it possible to reverse one of the motors? I am aware that if the
timing of the motor isn't 0 degrees then you cannot simply reverse the
power as the motor wont be as efficient, but is it still possible to
"reverse" this motor and if so how difficult is it?

2) If the Tamiya motor is unsuitable or wouldnt provide a reasonable
improvement in speed, what motors and ESC would you recommend? Obviously
I need a motor that has a reverse version available or that can be
easily made to run in reverse. Also can you recommend any web sites
where I could buy these parts from? I am not bothered about getting
stuff from abroad as everything so far has come from various companies
in Hong Kong!

I hope you can help me here.
Many thanks.

- David
http://www2.uk-dave.com/gallery/clodbuster

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Techpriest - 14 Sep 2005 16:01 GMT

Find a motor with adjustable timing and between 19 and 27 turns. Less
turns is faster but less run-time. Their are litteraly hundreds to
choose from, many of them will work with your current ESC. With
adjustable timing you can set timing for optimum performance, which is
even better then 0' on both. As you figured out, DO NOT run a fixed
timing motor backwards for long with full juice, it gets VERY hot.
Most ESCs with reverse send less juice in reverse then forward. I set
timing the wrong direction by accident once and ruined a motor very
quick.

Have not used this motor, but it meets all your requirements.
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXBGD4&P=7
It is a 19 turn with adjustable timing and ball bearings and sells for
$20 US so getting 2 won't break the bank. Found it in about 15 seconds
of looking so I am sure you can find lots more once you know what to
look for.

Here is a site that will answer lots of your questions.
www.clodparts.com

I am not from the UK so not sure where to tell you to buy from.

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Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Land Models / September 2005

Clodbuster motor upgrade question