About boats:

I know Lego made some boats with "real" hulls. Current Artict Icebreaker seems to be one of those.

So thinking of proper buoyancy for possibly a speed boat or airboat what part numbers do I need to look for in bricklink? The bigger the hull the better.

Do those come weighted or do I need to search for some ballasts?

Suggested part numbers for water or air propellers that may work?

About RC:

Best way to couple a proper RC motor to some Lego (structure and axle)?

By now thinking on screwing a couple beams to the motor face and epoxy a 12 double bevel to the motor axle.

Anyone into real RC knows if those motors have standard dimensions or mounting points?

I wonder if it is possible to design a custom 3D part that would take a typical RC car motor and allow easy integration in a MOC.

Sorry about my ignorance I hope I explain myself...

That controller thingy with the radiators -and even fans- that drives current from the LiPos to the motor... ¿Speed controller?

Does it work by measuring voltage input from the RC receiver and allowing proportional current from the battery to the motor?

Is so could a Lego IR receiver be connected to it? If Its only a couple cables I'm guessing the only requirement is to deliver proper voltage range and not much real power.

If so what is the typical input voltage range, 0 - 4.8? 7.2? volts or something like that?

To sum it up: could I fit a Lego PF cable with some resistor to the "speed controller" and use proper RC motors / batteries for the real work while still being controlled with typical PF remotes/receivers?

You can find the boathulls here: Click

While some people have built remote controlled boats with Lego only (Sariel for example) I don't think anyone built something with proper RC components yet. If someone did, you'll probably find something about that on YouTube. Also, I am not a big fan of "mounting" proper RC stuff to Lego. It's just unnecessary complicated. And the available boat hulls are definately NOT suited for speedboats

Good luck and let us know what you built

The Chima one should be good enough and fairly cheap :)!

http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?colorID=155&itemID=85992

Nice, thank you for the link, I think a couple of this is what I was looking for

Complicated and not suited for the task are part of the fun

Those boat hulls are all not very expensive. This Police boathull could probably be a little more speedy than the one with side bulges:

http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?colorID=11&itemID=107615

The hulls you're showing are very cheap and seem to have very low drag, but you'll need at least two for stability, and probably much more because they have low displacement. I don't think a couple will do, I needed four for very lightweight equipment. Also, it's rather easy to separate the top part from the bottom one, and you can only attach other LEGO pieces to the top one, so this is potentially disastrous. But I suppose you could glue them together.

I'm not aware of any LEGO hulls that come weighted, but there are separate weighted bricks. Most hulls are so stable they won't likely need it, though. In my experience, this is the most stable LEGO hull, you could have a dancing party on it in a storm and it wouldn't capsize: http://www.bricklink....asp?P=57789c01

Edited September 18, 201410 yr by Sariel

I'm not quite sure what you are going for with this project. "Proper" R/C motors and batteries will instantly destroy all your LEGO gears and axles. Even if you used R/C for the entire drivetrain, you wouldn't want to use a LEGO PF remote. The IR signal will be out of range outside almost immediately.

R/C receivers typically use a +/- 5V signal to communicate with servos and the speed controller, but they need to be made to work together. The LEGO I/R receiver already has the speed controller built in and is already sending out modulated power (PWM), not reducted voltage, so I don't think you could make them talk to each other.

  On 9/18/2014 at 6:16 PM, Blakbird said:

I'm not quite sure what you are going for with this project. "Proper" R/C motors and batteries will instantly destroy all your LEGO gears and axles. Even if you used R/C for the entire drivetrain, you wouldn't want to use a LEGO PF remote. The IR signal will be out of range outside almost immediately.

My experience with my only RC motor is that with some grease the ABS will hold fine as long as load isn't really high, that is where the airboat idea came from, as it can be as simple as a direct drive propeller.

The "out of range" problem is welcome, as soon as IR signal is lost power is cut, so for developing purposes is ok. Once SBRick comes out well I'll need to figure how to recover a hopefully fast rogue boat.

  On 9/18/2014 at 6:16 PM, Blakbird said:

R/C receivers typically use a +/- 5V signal to communicate with servos and the speed controller, but they need to be made to work together. The LEGO I/R receiver already has the speed controller built in and is already sending out modulated power (PWM), not reducted voltage, so I don't think you could make them talk to each other.

I don't mind a few ms delay in response, so I could use a resistor and capacitor to convert the PWM to a proportional DC. However reverse will be a problem

Personally, I would use Lego hull with all the RC parts on the inside.

It would be relatively easy to set it all inside the hull.

Friend off my ripped apart cheap toy RC boat and used its parts on a plastic model destroyer kit...

worked great...

Hello,

as for the PF -> RC converter:

PF = PWM, 1.17kHz

RC = Pulse Width: 1.5ms = stop (servo middle pos), 1ms = max. backward, 2ms = max. forward (you can invert forward/backward).

The Frequence ranges from 50Hz to 200Hz. Everything above 100Hz are mostly Digital Servos, most receivers can be toggled (analog/digital output).

You would definitely need a micro-controller for the conversion (which could be easily powered by the 9V supply on side of the cable.

But as others have said, IR isn't suited for "fast" things. Immediately out of range.

Cookie

Edited September 23, 201410 yr by _Cookie_

i'd say that this is the best lego boat i've ever seen and the best performing as well...

what hull is that?

Edited September 23, 201410 yr by piterx

When a few years ago I saw in motion that walking AT-AT Lego made my first reaction was "Kill it already, put an end to its suffering"

Since then my concerns about PF performance have been growing to a level that the purist in me is dying out of despair.

I already got a jar of silicon grease and some LiFePo batteries, it just feels natural to start blowing out Lego bits here and there by trying some RC stuff. It's for the science

  On 9/23/2014 at 6:21 PM, piterx said:

i'd say that this is the best lego boat i've ever seen and the best performing as well...what hull is that?

This

Is this thread still open? Still interested in some ideas aol000xw?