My Tiger 1 diary.

[Ed Groenenberg]

After getting my Tiger 1 from Steen Voler mid July, I taught it would be kinda usefull to make some sort of diary to record what I have been doing to it.

Done so far over the weeks until now :
- partial rewiring to redress the cabling
- replaced one lead/acid battery as it did drain quite quickly
- made a rod with a bright LED at the top to generate a flash while playing the gun sound

Today's work was to drill and re-tap the hole of round cover of the engine air intake. It had a M3 thread, while the
hole in the cover plate was 4mm, so I re-drilled and re-tapped it with an M4 tap, and also made the depth of it a bit more.

A side project is to animate the tank commander. The face is off a body I also got from Steen, but I'm goin to promote
him to be the tank commander. For that I got a kit from Churchill Creations. It came with the option to place a
servo in the upper arm, so the lower arm can move individually.
I ordered (and got) 6 miniature servo's and 2 nano servo's and placed them in the body.
Now, these nano servo's are really tiny! and it was a bit of fiddling to get them in pace and to make the little
rods which connects the lower arm to the servo.

The little PCB is from Pololu, a little device to control the movement of the servo's using a programmed script.
I had to opt for the 18 channel one, as the nano servo's are digital, while the others are analog, and the 6 and 12 channel
versions do not have digital servo control capabilities. Doesn't matter, as the other output's could be used for scripted effects.

[Ed Groenenberg]

Today I did a little improvment.
The back half of the deck was supported by a strip of 'U' shaped aluminium. and was glued to the back.
It came loose and was also placed a little to high so the back plate was slighly lifted.
I made a new strip out of a piece of scrap office furniture desk, and also made the top slightly angled so it would
be level for the deckplate.
Drilled 3 holes in the backplate (not through) and threaded them with a M4 tap.

[Ed Groenenberg]

What to do with some popsicle sticks, a piece of 1.5mm plywood and some time on a rainy afternoon?

[Ed Groenenberg]

Last week the new power-pack arrived from a reputable Chinese maker, a LiFePo power pack fo 24V/30Ah.
It was recommended to me by other owners of 1/6th scale models, so I ordered one.
Being about 50% less in total weight compared to the 2 Lead/Acid batteries, it saves weight, as well as being
less voluminous.

LiFePo powerpack

Originally the tank came with 2 steel bulkheads to support the top deck sections. At one time, one of them was replaced
with an aluminum bar, apparently to create usable space below it.
I noticed that the weight of the turret actually did bend the bar a little, causing the very front of the top deck to be lifted a few mils.
So I decided to remove it by cutting it out and filling the holes on the sides of the tank.

Tank after emptying.

Interior after removing all the innards

As the original support bulkheads came with the tank, I taught it could be useful to make some fixation for it so the
bulkhead would not move. Having still a large piece of former office desk (made of HPL), a strip was cut from it and
4 smaller parts were cut from that strip.

Strip of former desk HPL

The blocks

Fixing the support frame with the HPL block.

Fixing block

This also led to the decision on making a new base plate for use in the tank to hold everything in place.
The base plate will be removable, and will have a frame which holds the power pack in place. It also will
have a sub-frame for 2 build-in speakers which will be placed under the left and right air vent area's.

The (new) HPL for the base plate and some additional other pieces.

New HPL (8 & 12 mm)

The slotted strip (one on each side) will be under the base plate, so the whole is covered from left till right.

Slotted strip

[Ed Groenenberg]

Today I did some more work on the HPL base plate.
2 extra pieces were cut out for the 2 motors, the base plate would not fit under them, as there is barely space for it.
Using some Loctite I glued the slotted strips on the base plate, the bond is pretty strong. The 3 little blocks are
glued there to support the centre against bending.

Underside of the base plate, with the slotted strips.

Next step was to cut a few more strips from the former office desk, these are be used to make a boxframe for the powerpack
so it doesn't move around in the tank.

Powerpack box

Due to the slots, the base plate locks itself in place, while also acting as a sort of dust cover / protection for the torsion bars.

Fitted in tank

Current situation.

Powerpack in box

Next to do is to make a carrier plate for the speakers and the fuse box.

[Ed Groenenberg]

Today's job included 2 pipes for the smoker and making the sub-frame for holding the main switch, speakers and fuse box.
It will also hold the receiver, ESC's for the turret, gun elevation, main track motors and the sound card with amplifier.

Previously, the copper angled pipes were hold together with plastic tubes, and could be improved.
So I got 2 45 degree curved ones, measured the best position and soldered the 4 pieces together into 2 sets.
I did not solder them to the smoker, just for easier disassembly if needed. Plastic tubing is only used to connect
the exits from the smoker to the exhausts.

The 2 sets of pipes (tubes?)

Smoker box with the new pipeworks

Smoker box connected to the exhausts.

The sub-frame is made out of HPL again, and is kept in place by a slot on the base plate.
The 2 'arms' are used for the main power switch and charging port (on the left), on the right, the fuse box
battery level display will be placed.
Also a speaker will be mounted so it is positioned below the grilles left and right.

The subframe

The subfram placed in the tank

The 2 new speakers

[Ed Groenenberg]

A bit more work done on the sub frame.
It will hold all the electronics, including de ESC's for the main drive motors, as well as the smaller ones for the turret and the gun elevation.
The sound amplifier is mounted on another pieces of HPL, and a small box is made to hold the sound card.
Using a hole saw, 2 large holes were made where the magnet of the speakers will go through, and spacers are used to place
each speaker just below the grilles.
The main power switch is mounted, as well as a 6 fuse fuse-box and from the main power switch I used a 10mm2 piece of copper
wire I had laying around to connect both of them.

Painted sub frame

Sub frame with items mounted

Sub frame placed in tank

[Adrian Harris]

I like the idea but you'll get a much better bass output if you can enclose the speakers

Adrian.

[Ed Groenenberg]

I like the idea but you'll get a much better bass output if you can enclose the speakers

Adrian.

Yes, I have to figure out a way how to do it.
When I did a test run with the speakers as they are now, the sound is quite different compared to when it was using the speaker boxes.
Does anyone have a suggestion how I could enclose them in a sensible way?

Ed.

[Christoffer Ahlfors]

The usual way is to build a box of mdf board. However, around here, people have started to print boxes in their fdm printers with excellent results. The addition of bass membranes makes them impressive. It takes a bit of CAD and head scratching, but there is no sawdust and the parts will fit very nicely!

[Ed Groenenberg]

Okay, some alterations on the sub frame.
Initially I wanted to have all the electronics placed on the sub-frame. But a lot of wires from the receiver are quite close to
the cooling ribs of the large ESC's, so I decided to move them to the from, close to the drive motors.
Again, a piece of former offices desk was cut to size and glues on the base plate. This time I also drilled 3 holes for M4 bolts,
so the carrier plate is securely attached. Extra benefit is that I have a some free space on the sub frame for adding a few
more items in the future if the need arises.
The 'bride' over the power pack is to hold the plugs for the elevation motor, gun LED (later on hopefully also the recoil servo),
and power for the Pololu controller (near future) to perform the animation of the figure.

Another question, does anybody know the current (Amps) value for this model? the numbers on the labels for the Amp rating
(10Amp?, 15Amp? 1x?Amp) is gone unfortunately.

[Ed Groenenberg]

The usual way is to build a box of mdf board. However, around here, people have started to print boxes in their fdm printers with excellent results. The addition of bass membranes makes them impressive. It takes a bit of CAD and head scratching, but there is no sawdust and the parts will fit very nicely!

Hmm, I don't have a 3d printer myself, but I know someone who does. I certainly keep that in mind.
I'll also will do some tests with materials I have left over and see if I could encase it sufficiently.

Ed

[Adrian Harris]

I've not tried 3D printing speaker boxes, but I would think they would need quite thick walls to prevent resonance and vibrations.

Adrian.

[Adrian Harris]

I would say that motor label says 12A, which is about right from the telemetry current measurements I've made of some tanks.

I was getting 30-40A doing doughnuts with a Tiger 131 on tarmac

Adrian.

[florian rudolf]

Hi Ed,

I would prefer a higher Amp. Control. - The Navy control is for boats right because the telemetrie is for constant A from the motors for about 12V.
Your motors are for 24V, slow turns that need much more power range for the controler. Next thing is the inconstant power consumtion by driving tanks (turning, gras, rocks, ...).

Maybe you have a look to the following:
I take this controler for my Famo and StuG. the power range is with over 100A enough, and the controler does not switch off due to overheating.

https://sgs-electronic.de/webshop/products/tvc-b-100

Cheers
Florian