RC Tugboat Modifications: Deck Winch Build, Bridge Camera Tuning, Reduction Gear Repair

It has been nearly three years since my last posting, but I'm not here to apologize.  Today is about starting anew and putting down fresh tracks.  So here goes:

This morning I woke up with a headache, a stuffed-up nose, and a bathtub full of cold water (and I couldn't be happier).

I'm stoked for a number of reasons:

1. I have a dedicated bath tub for my RC watercraft. Yes, our new home has TWO full bathrooms, which means I can keep one of them full of water for "sea trials."

2. Yesterday I finished up a lot of work on my 1/36th-scale RC tugboat.  The PMG (Port Main Gear) output shaft was slipping on the nylon input gear, causing the vessel to only produce about 50% thrust.  The FPV (First Person View) camera in the wheelhouse had a poorly-oriented linear-polarized VTx (video transmitter) antenna, causing the signal to fade at certain headings.  Lastly, the deck-winch did not exist, and I find that to be a problem for a tugboat.  So I removed the slipping gear, used an engraver to "machine" splines into the SS shaft, and applied a bit of epoxy to the splines and re-assembled the gearbox.  Then I  re-oriented the antenna (of which 1/2 is now protruding through the top of the wheelhouse, much like a radio whip antenna), and got to work designing the deck winch.  The "winch" is an old bait-casting reel I bought at 2nd Base in Seattle's University District for $10, specifically for it's "level-wind" mechanism (it evenly feeds line onto the the spool, moving the feed point from side-to-side).  I then modeled 3D parts in Sketchup, "sliced" (used a toolpath-generator/CAM software) them in Cura, and printed them on my Printrbot Simple Metal FDM 3D printer.  I used a continuous-rotation servo from an old kite-camera panning mechanism, and tied that into the main control Rx (radio receiver) to have wireless control of the tow line while underway (for transitioning from long-haul to short-tow conditions).



3. This morning I tested it all, and I can claim 100% success! Stall torque is acceptable, and I have two speed settings programmed for scale operation and stupid-fast.  See video here:

Next: Stainless Steel wire rope for winch, panning for bridge camera, and adding a second (selectable) aft-facing workdeck camera.  None of these are critical, so they may never happen, but I like having a list of to-do's just in case.  : )

I hope to make more short/small posts like this, and hopefully not every three years!

Cheers,

Danny