Drive gifs

[Randal R Largent]

Hi PJ,
I looked at your .gifs on drives and was wondering if you could comment
on the pitmandrive. The illustration is clear enough but I am having
trouble understanding the reasoning behind having the pitmans and how
they function in this diagram. What am I missing here?
Also I have read the comments about motor manufacturers supplying same
with high rev/major draw characteristics.
Can you share said attributes regarding your Matsushita 13.2V motors and
the run time etc. you get with each use?
Randy Largent

[Paulrjordan]

Hi Randy:

Well...I must say I had the same reaction when I first saw this
diagram with "pitman arms", but I don't think they're the automotive
type "pitmans" we're used to but rather the connecting rods (arms)
between the engine and paddlewheel. I really should defer to the
author of the diagram, our Riverboat expert "Towboat Joe" Brown who
will explain it all to you if needs be. Joe designed this system for
his lovely sternwheeler "George M. Verity" and you can find photos of
the installation on his Website at:
http://www.dragg.net/jbrown/construc2.htm

We also have two nice pictures of "G.M.V" in our files at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paddleducks/files/
Files > "MODEL GALLERY" > "PADDLEDUCKS" MODEL GALLERY > Verity

> Also I have read the comments about motor manufacturers supplying
> same with high rev/major draw characteristics.
> Can you share said attributes regarding your Matsushita 13.2V motors
> and the run time etc. you get with each use?

Okay..you're gonna love this. At 6v these Matsushita motors draw 0.01
amps (no load) and stall current is 0.25a. Same no load draw at 12V
but with stall at 0.5A. Last summer I ran tests on these motors both
in and OUT of the water. My dual engine "Director" sidewheeler ran
for approx 2 hours constantly with both motors, receiver, speed
control and steering servo, and electric reversing relays all running
off a small Tyco 6v kids R/C battery (non turbo). Then I got given a
whole load of used cell phone and VCR batteries. I checked each cell
and discarded any bad ones. I made up fresh 6V packs (soldering up 5
'C' cells in series) and these things are absolutley incredible. I
havn't run the set up in the water, but I "air flew" both paddle
wheels straight from the batteries for a staggering 11 hours on one
pack. I did a test with ONE motor which ran off the pack for 21 hours!
I still want to power all the radio and peripherals from a separate 6V
power supply to reduce interference and to avoid a total system
shutdown if the main batteries get too low.(which happenned a couple
of times last year when I pushed the batteries too far).

I think these motors are absolutely perfect for dual engine side
paddle tugs up to 48" and THIS is why I want to track down a
regular source for them. At this point I have not heard back from
Matsushita or Panasonic.

I have also found motors in battery operated tape recorders and
portable CD players which look very promising...low current draw, low
revs and sufficient torque to turn the wheels in the water. Remember
the advantage with paddlers is we're not looking at high rotation
speeds here and it really takes surprisingly little to turn the
paddlewheels in the water.

I am currently having the little Matsushita motors photographed so you
can see what they look like. I'm hoping to post the images tomorrow.

Best regards

PJ