DaGameFace

My intro (skip it if you want):

Hello, this is my first post here though I have skimmed through the forum a bit. While I am by no means an avid RC enthusiast, I do have an above average amount of experience with RC. Between me, my dad and my brothers we have 3 T-max's and one E-max, as well as several RC boats, I have also built and designed parts for a couple Quad-copters.

Where I need help:

I am in the process of building an RC tracked vehicle, I have designed and 3d printed most of the suspension and track elements so I will soon be moving on to the hull. This is where my knowledge base fails me as I am pretty lost as to what to buy. The tank itself will use about two and a half feet of track per side making the hull just about a foot long give or take a couple inches. As for performance, I am hoping for it to go toe to toe with my T-max that has an OS (1.5? I forget) engine.
I need:

• Remote (dual thumb sticks, nothing fancy)
• Receiver
• Motors, one per side (DC or Brushless?)
  • If DC, then sabertooth ESC (but which one?)
  • If brushless, raspberry pi to control the two ESCs'? (probably a better way)
• Battery (I have been toying with the idea of a wet cell and padding in the hull)
• Gearbox? ( i guess this depends entirely on the motors rpm/torque, If need be I can design and print my own)

While I would like to save some money where I can (no sense in a $500 remote) I am willing to spend good money on motors and battery to get the performance I am after. Oh, I'll post some pics in a couple days when my bearings and hardware arrive

EDIT: Thinking about the gearbox, and if I am designing my own I think the best way would be to use a worm gear, but then I was unsure if letting go of the throttle while at speed would strip the gearbox. I guess setting a maximum deceleration would handle that, I could easily program that in a pi but don't know how you would do it with normal RC stuff

Gouldian

While I'm new to rc, I've built a few tracked vehicles about atv sized. I have the following information to offer. Worm gears won't strip, but they also won't coast. As soon as you stop putting power to the worm, they self brake.they also provide a massive amount of gear reduction. So unless your motors are turning some serious rpms, you probably won't be winning many races. This is my knowledge, your mileage may vary.