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500 sized Seaking converted to direct drive
I have been working on my 500 ESP based SeaKing for the last few weeks or so, and have finally sorted out the conversion from belt drive to direct drive which may be of assistance to anyone thinking of doing the same.
She started out as a Grey/White US Navy Seaking, but had to be RAF Yellow, so the spray cans came out and she ended up like this
Capture 1.jpg
Capture 2.jpg
I then had to sort out the drive from the front to the back! Using the drive shaft ends from a 500 torque tube and a flexible drive used by model boat enthusiasts (Teflon lined brass tube with a flexible 'spring' drive shaft), I made up some converters which fitted the torque tube drive shaft ends and also the flexi drive spring.
In addition, I also bored out some 15mm aluminium rod (which slides snuggly in the tail boom) so that the brass tube could slide up through the ali rod and be held in place by a couple of grub screws - countersunk so that the rod can slide up the tail boom sections. The ali rod lengths were adjusted so that they terminate at the end of the various tail boom sections and are held in place by bolts going through the tail boom into the ali rod.
The completed drive ended up looking like this:
DSC_0747.jpg
Here is how the tail section looks, with the bolt holding the ali rod in place within the tail boom visible.
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And a close up of one of the drive ends to give you an idea of what I mean! You can see the countersunk grub screws which hold the brass tubing in place within the ali rod, and the design of the drive adaptors.
Drive end.JPG
It all seems to turn quite easily, and has been 'drill driven' tested, so just looking forward to getting the electrics fitted and spin it up for real
Hope this will be of assistance to anyone thinking about converting from belt to direct drive.
Andy
She started out as a Grey/White US Navy Seaking, but had to be RAF Yellow, so the spray cans came out and she ended up like this
Capture 1.jpg
Capture 2.jpg
I then had to sort out the drive from the front to the back! Using the drive shaft ends from a 500 torque tube and a flexible drive used by model boat enthusiasts (Teflon lined brass tube with a flexible 'spring' drive shaft), I made up some converters which fitted the torque tube drive shaft ends and also the flexi drive spring.
In addition, I also bored out some 15mm aluminium rod (which slides snuggly in the tail boom) so that the brass tube could slide up through the ali rod and be held in place by a couple of grub screws - countersunk so that the rod can slide up the tail boom sections. The ali rod lengths were adjusted so that they terminate at the end of the various tail boom sections and are held in place by bolts going through the tail boom into the ali rod.
The completed drive ended up looking like this:
DSC_0747.jpg
Here is how the tail section looks, with the bolt holding the ali rod in place within the tail boom visible.
Capture 3.jpg
And a close up of one of the drive ends to give you an idea of what I mean! You can see the countersunk grub screws which hold the brass tubing in place within the ali rod, and the design of the drive adaptors.
Drive end.JPG
It all seems to turn quite easily, and has been 'drill driven' tested, so just looking forward to getting the electrics fitted and spin it up for real
Hope this will be of assistance to anyone thinking about converting from belt to direct drive.
Andy
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