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[DJW]

Afternoon All


So back in the 70's my first build was a Sea Urchin, I recall it being smallest of the Keilcraft (?) range and so most affordable. Unfortunately that boat has been lost over the decades since, but I have thought about it from time to time...  So I plan to build one again, and try to keep it roughly of the 60's / 70's era when it was designed.


I see SLEC are making the kit available, so that's where the hull will be sourced.  I've also been looking into how to power it, and I like the idea of using a Taycol motor.  To that end I managed to pick up a pair of Taycol Comets on a well know auction site for just over £20.00, they are boxed but have been used and need some restoration as neither are running at the moment. They are the ungeared versions.

















I've done some initial reading up on the Taycol range, some references over past few years in Model Boats magazine, and the excellent resource for all things Taycol at http://taycol.tk/ ( [size=78%]http://taycol.tk/[/size][size=78%] )[/size]


The Comet uses a permanent magnet rather than being 'field wound' like most of the Taycol range so I think can be treated like a normal brushed motor, I'm sure the universe will make sure I regret my assumptions at a suitable point...


And in the spirit of winding back time.  The RC unit will be my old 4ch Fleet (Fleet Control Systems) Unit which dates to the early 80's, it will have a Corona 2.4Ghz module added (on it's way from China as I type...) to bring it up to date.  Also needed as the Taycols were I believe great at creating RF interference that should be handled better by 2.4Ghz systems.  Out of courtesy to everyone else on the lake I'll be adding suppression as part of the Taycol renovation..!


I did start out with a 2 channel Waltron RC on 27Mhz back in the day, but again it's been lost to time, so the Fleet is the oldest I have.





This is going to be a slow burn build with a few hurdles on the way I think.  I'd like to get at least one running Comet from the two units that I have, of course two would be better, depends if I need any donor parts.  Then get the RC updated and working before starting on the boat build.  That's current plan anyway.


Anyone who's worked on a Comet or can advise on refurbishing the Taycols in general, well input and advice would be gratefully received.  Same with the Fleet update, I've heard it's a good unit to take the upgrade, but would be good to hear from anyone who's actually done it.


We shall see...
David.

[Treble]

David , If you get stuck , please note that I have a number of working and tested Taycols for sale . Also note that previously published information that certain models cannot be reversed is incorrect . From memory the one I managed to reverse is a Target . No problem in digging out the circuit to do this , though it was some considerable time ago.. Again from memory it involved removing the supplied links and feeding via external cables , thus allowing for the motor to be reversed .

[dodgy geezer]

The Taycol site contains a fair bit of info on refurbishment (as well as several methods of reversing all the Taycol motors with current ESCs). Yours is a permanent magnet motor, so will have no problems with this anyway.


I would check several aspects of each motor, and maybe swap components to get the best result.


You want the best magnet.  Both are probably pretty poor by now. You need to pay attention to the commutator and brushes - the least worn commutator should be picked. The site contains instructions for making new brushes - you may find the old ones are workable. Try moving the shaft
up and down to see which end plate bearings are least worn.


Lubricate the brushes and run the motors with a bit of a load to see how much sparking you get. Sparks put a lot of interference out, both on the RF spectrum and down the power leads to the ESC. The site has advice on suppression. That will probably be your biggest problem. And remember metal-to-metal interference if you are using 27MHz. Interference down the power lines can cause problems even if you are using 2.4GHz, of course, and in line inductors can be useful here...


Good luck!

[Circlip]

"AeroKits" David.


  Regards  Ian.

[Martin (Admin)]

 
Sea Urchin: https://slecuk.com/product/sea-urchin-16ins-406mm/