janssnet

Motors: Samguk Series Wu 2206 2400kv U-joint: Metal 5mm to 4mm. Cut the 5mm axle of the motor down to 5mm length (careful, put some paper around the axle to protect the motor otherwise the metal fragments get onto your magnets ) Then drilled the 4mm hole into a 4.8mm hole using this 'holder'. And then put an axle (59426) into the u-joint, fixed with a 3mm headless screw.

This thing runs super! Great torque, great speed, good cornering, no parts falling off I'm pleasantly surprised. Not only the performance is great, the costs are minimal: €20 ESC, 4 x €12 motors and a €13 battery. The combination of these light weight motors together with the planetary gear hub (46490) is doing the trick. Will do more footage soon. Here a first preview .... https://drive.google.com/file/d/10PWXrrdkgM4LEOsqPBHX2jvJd-DXuTh9/view?usp=sharing

I did, but haven't found the right product yet. Mostly they are too stiff for the LEGO wishbones, especially when you can only mount them on 1 side of the wishbone, the force gets unequally divided and things brake apart. Any suggestions regarding oil filled shocks for LEGO models, let me know! This is the latest status of the build. First outdoor tests were nice. However, as most of you might have noticed, the weakest part for faster LEGO cars is mostly the steering link and the 'pin with ball'-connector (6628). When it gets bumpy it disconnects. Took some non-LEGO measures and ready for a stress test now.

Yes and no ;) Yes, steer links on both front and rear, but no rear steering. Tried it long time ago, makes no sense. Cornering is too aggressive. Unless you build a forklift truck :) Turns out (after all the 'real' rc cars i've seen recently) most rc cars have the same construction for front and rear. Even though steering is not required on the rear, a steer link makes sense for suspension and ........ to adjust toe in/out. Have allowed myself 2 3D printed parts in this car: 1. motor mount and 2. wheel hub steer link connection. 1. Enables a very strong mount for 2 motors that is only 1 stud wide. 2. Enables the possibility to have different toe in/out for front and rear and is much stronger than a LEGO alternative (the past learned this is the weakest part when made from LEGO). PS Switched to custom springs. LEGO springs were too stiff and too little travel. Yes, this car is perfect to further experiment with torque vectoring (i.e. sw differential), but first things first.

Finished a first version of this concept car: 4x 2400kV BLDC - 3S lipo - 4in1 BLHeli-S ESC, with the motors centered and using LEGOs planetary wheel hubs (46490). Runs very promising. Great torque and yet good speed. Will try to turn it into a proper looking dune buggy ....

Not sure i can, can only speak for myself ... but it starts by adding a Buwizz or an SBrick to your models. Result is slightly underwhelming, you want more. More speed, more power. So you start adding your own motors, adding your own RX/TX go get away from Bluetooth. Adding bearings, home-made gearing, 3D prints. Your own tyres, since the LEGO ones start ballooning at your current speed. And it goes on and on, like an addiction . After building my LEGO in-wheel-drive buggy, i was so excited about the use of drone tech in a car, wanted to do an attempt to build an on-road rc car that was faster, quieter, less power consuming and cheaper than traditional rc cars. It took some effort and it took lots of time but with the help of others, it looks like we are on to something. Yes, an rc car based on tech for flying objects and it started with LEGO. Not sure were it's going to end ....... Please find the latest track test here, speed test coming up, car needs further tuning, but it looks very promising. We estimate 120+ km/h is doable! (using 4 drone motors €15 each and a 4in1 ESC €55). Has nothing to do with LEGO (anymore), sorry bout that. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Og2HeR4ggFpmgU-xFPQHCJT4zx4ERz0N/view?usp=sharing NB The sound you hear is another (combustion) car on the track ;)

Ok, to drive a (iWD) car using a drone ESC, you don't need a Flight Controller (FC). You 'just' need to connect the right wires. Take the throttle signal from your receiver (RX) and connect it to all (4) motor inputs on your ESC and connect GND from receiver to the ESC input. Make sure the ESC is configured for Servo input (= PWM input, not DShot) and you're ready to go! What i mostly do is create a small print, using header pins (see attached image). Solder the RX throttle signal (white wire in this picture) to the 4 motor input pins in one row and solder the GND (black wire) to one of the last pin. Solder the ESC motor inputs to the other row of pins (including GND). With the jumpers OFF, you can configure the ESC (connect your FC * to the ESC). With the jumpers ON the ESC is connected to your receiver, ready to drive. *) To drive the car you don't need the FC. However, to configure the ESC you do need the FC (so called 'pass through' mode). Connect your PC to the FC (USB), connect FC to ESC, start your configurator program, connect battery, and start configuring.

@keepbrickingHaven't read all your posts, what are you working on? I'm using both 4in1 ESCs and individual ESCs running BLHeli-s, BlueJay and/or AM32. What can i help you with?

If you can post a screenshot of your settings, we might be able to find something. I recently noticed on my (Hobbywing) ESC that AM32 - 2.19, with Running Brake Level < 10 does not work well. Same issue, motor doesn't speed up.

Should spin very fast based on your specs. - You're sure your battery is loaded and giving the correct voltage (some esc have a low voltage protection)? - Can't find anything on Injora ESCs, can you configure them? Sure you are using it in the correct mode (FWD/REV or FWD/REV/BRK)? - Have you (re-) calibrated the ESC with your transmitter (neutral, full throttle, full reverse) or with the servo-tester? - Can you configure start-up speed? If so, give it a boost start - Are you sure this ESC can handle sensorless motors?

Not only the AM32 ESCs, counts for most drone ESCs. Yes, unplug the battery is best, since the amps can become far to high for small switches. You can put a switch in between your BEC supply and leave the batteries untouched, but not ideal to keep current on your esc while at rest.

Wow, great content on Substack and thanks for your kind comments. This was the 1/10 car back in March. Most of it 3D-printed. Ran pretty good. In fact ran so good that it attracted some attention, which then led to putting this 'In Wheel Drive' technology into an Infinity 1/8 chassis. That's the car in the previous picture. Results are encouraging but all these cars have one serious flaw: Drone ESCs have no proportional brake. You can work around it, to some degree (that's what the Arduino is for), but at higher speeds (we're aiming for 100+ km/h) you need more control. Having that said, today was a good day, received a custom AM32 firmware version with proportional brake that seems strong enough for direct drive. Will test it first in the 1/8 and, if successful, the next chassis is waiting: Schumacher 1/10 running 4s lipo and 4 x1300kV...... Will not bore the forum any further with this, since no LEGO involved, but, as said earlier, will return with (hopefully) an interesting LEGO project in spring 26.

It sure is a while ago! Tried to find the ESC in the archives, no luck. For these kind of projects 30A - 40A ESC will most likely be sufficient. HobbyWing's Quicrun ESCs work great and have a small footprint. In general, don't under-power your ESC. It will indeed overheat, especially when the battery and motor are capable of handling more AMPs then your ESC. Not snapping the joint was a surprise, absolutely! Proper gear ratio and proper alignment of the middle of the joint with the rotation point of the rear section helped. Regarding the use of drone ESCs. I'm very close getting AM32 ESCs ready for these kind of LEGO projects (BLHeli-s and BlueJay work great already). However, takes much longer than expected, but it's encouraging. Aiming for some speed records with this 1/8 In Wheel Drive first. Will get back to LEGO projects right after .......

This may help…

If you select 'car mode' it will override all other user settings, including sinusoidal startup. Please find a screenshot of the old configurator here. Therefore it is either a. Slow Crawler Drive mode or b. Car mode with coasting/freewheeling. To program the AM32 yourself you will have to fork the (open source) code in GitHub. Not something I feel very comfortabel with. As said earlier, the builders are accessible through their Patreon site (Alka Motors) and they/he is very responsive. I'm using an ESP32 (Arduino/IDE, C++) to control the BLHeli-s ESC's to overcome the problem you describe (make a drone ESC act like a car ESC). Not sure if this is the right content for this forum. Happy to explain in more detail, in summary, it is a throttle delay (or throttle mix) which reacts as shown in the graph attached. And the ESP32 communicates in DShot with the ESC, digital protocol, works great. Short demo here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TKuYVhSsZs5md0r51-DHAHPn-WSxRe_9/view?usp=sharing

Well ... not really. Wintertime, can't test drive. Therefore the boats. Will not bore you with the car developments, put them in a single picture. Current status, after all the LEGO prototyping, constructed a very competitive 1:10 on road race car, driven by 4x 1300kV in-wheel motors, controlled by an ESP32 and a 4in1 BLHeli-s ESC (not an AM32). Waiting for a test by world's #8 ranked RC-driver ;) If any interest happy to post about it. Regarding the AM32.... Please note, these (drone-) ESC's do not support coasting/freewheeling. At low speeds, no problem. At higher speeds car stops very abrupt. For this purpose, there is a 'car mode' option in the configurator, but not sure if this combines with the Sinusoidal Startup Mode for crawlers.

Happy to share my latest project: 3D printed LEGO boat (of course with BLDC motor ;) Hull is very compact and can be printed in one piece. Most interesting part is the drive train and prop shaft. The 2L Pin Connector fits nicely in the printed (8mm diameter) prop shaft. The 5.5L axle with end stop goes into the Pin Connector. Turns like a ball bearing and is waterproof.. Please notice: no rudder! Prop steering using the universal joint. Short video here (running a 2S Lipo): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mmEY6Vb6IYZa8Du-E9WFCwVLy3QTTjXD/view?usp=sharing

Did some tests recently with an AM32 ESC (4 in 1, AM60II, Skystars). If you want to use it for a crawler in 'Sinusoidal Startup' mode, it is great. Great torque at low speed. If however, you wish to use the 'Car type' mode (which includes 'reverse breaking') my experiments were less successful. Too little torque at startup, car didn't start, just stuttering. AM32 Configurator tool is great (https://am32.ca/configurator) and, if you support his Patreon site, you have access to creator: Alka Motors. He is very supportive. To configure the AM32 you need to have a drone (BetaFlight) Flight Controller.

Sorry bout that! You are absolutely right, inner diameter is 5mm.

Great method, works well, also under serious load. Adjustment ring with 3mm screw. Best dimensions: 5mm inner diameter, 8mm outer diameter. With a bit of luck the axle runs free between two LEGO motor mount links (might require some sanding of the ring to make it < 8mm). https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CFitfryYzmyNKNo-57e2chE14JZNydfd/view?usp=sharing

First thing that comes to mind is that the ESC is not 'armed' properly. Meaning that the ESC has not gone through the initialising process properly when being turned ON, and therefore doesn't know which PWM values are 'neutral'. Please have a look at the ESC's manual (if available) to learn about 'arming the ESC'. Sometimes these ESCs want to receive a max throttle signal at start.

Would be good to do a load test for this mount. Let's see if I can come up with something coming weeks. And yes agreed, when the load/weight increases, you would need a gear train, ideally with some planet gears to divide the torque properly. The motor is a very simple 1750kV outrunner. Mounting holes M3 - 16mm apart, of course :) Advantages of this motor: cheap, no cooling required (under normal conditions) and the motor shaft can be shifted, allowing you to mount the motor on the front or rear side. https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/4000121770043.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.13.57bd7392rPapJu&algo_pvid=4f7ea6c9-bad3-4525-9324-cb00b53439e6&algo_exp_id=4f7ea6c9-bad3-4525-9324-cb00b53439e6-6&pdp_npi=4%40dis!EUR!3.89!3.89!!!4.09!!%402103847817019402965684078e398d!10000014597782070!sea!NL!173983871!&curPageLogUid=JhLCITsdifaM Regarding the connector trick ... well spotted ;) If you use 3.5mm bullet connectors and isolate them with heat shrink tubes, most of the time, you end up with a connector that fits the 4.8mm LEGO hole perfectly. Depends on the thickness of the tube.

Sure, you could use 18651 (3L axle pin), but you would (indeed) have to drill a round 3mm hole in it first. There is however no real need to fix it at the other end. In fact it would only increase drag. Please note, the motor shaft goes all the way through the motor and the 2L axle pin is strong enough to give serious torque. Have a look here ...

Hi folks, Thanks for keeping this thread alive. Great content. In case you're looking for a solid way to mount your LEGO gear to a brushless motor with a 3mm or 3.17mm shaft, have a look here. https://youtube.com/shorts/jh-xOvj5AE4

Great subject folks! In case you're looking for (more) inspiration how to mount BLDC motors to LEGO, please find a few additional suggestions hereunder. ‎LEGO BLDC.‎001 ‎LEGO BLDC.‎002 ‎LEGO BLDC.‎003 ‎LEGO BLDC.‎004