stinger, strut, drive alignment.

[Slotrc]

setting the drive system on my Mono and was curious if there was any kind of protractor or special measuring tool available to measure the angles of the stinger in degrees? seems that would be handy to have for tuning. Any info, links would be appreciated. thank you.

 

[K F Wheeler]

Digital angle finder. Not that expensive. One of those tool you won't use much but well worth the money when you need it!
TickTock Tools made one I have, smaller of the two. Think it was less than $30. Scott Meyers/M5 Performance talks about it in one of his utube video's. Well worth watching for all the tips and tricks you can learn!

Ken

 

[Wasted wages]

Digital angle finders work great,
I also keep a couple of aluminum arrow shafts around when building boats, and bring with me to races. They are helpful for quick reference if something gets tweeked and your just wanting to eyeball to make sure it's close.

Clamping or taping them to a strut, sponsons,rudder blade etc., can really show just how far something is out of whack...

A good steel square and a good steel machinist ruler, will usually get you pretty close on most setups..

 

[john v]

take a piece of copper tubing that fits snug on the drive cable that is about 12'' long and this on the end of the cable will help you get angle and depth readings while on a setup board

 

[Mark Anderson]

I bush all of the pivot points so that there is no slop. 1/8 turn of the adjustment screw either way makes a noticable and repeatable change to the boat ride. No need to measure.

 

[Daniel's Racing]

I bush all of the pivot points so that there is no slop. 1/8 turn of the adjustment screw either way makes a noticable and repeatable change to the boat ride. No need to measure.

....and a strut.. ??

That's when the tricks come out. Loosen the pinch bolt and lose your setting having a way to go back precisely is good to have.

 

[Mark Anderson]

For struts I use a set up board and shims,calipers, snap gauges, Depending on the boat type. Also keep notes.

 

[Wasted wages]

Sharp scratch awl and steel rule....

Once you get the boat dialed in, scribe the strut even with the top of the brackets.

Then you have a basic point of reference to go back to... ( height and angle )

you can then pull the strut and scribe more lines at different intervals as a guide if you like.

 

[Slotrc]

All great stuff fellas! sounds like any of those will work..

Now to get a bit deeper. are yall using the transom angle to "square" everything? i might be wrong but im thinking its not quite that simple?

 

[Slotrc]

i was a bit spoiled when racing rc cars.. HUDY

 

[Daniel's Racing]

All great stuff fellas! sounds like any of those will work..

Now to get a bit deeper. are yall using the transom angle to "square" everything? i might be wrong but im thinking its not quite that simple?

The keel or running surface unless you verify that the transom is actually 90° to the bottom.

 

[Mark Anderson]

As long as you always reference off the same surface it doesn't matter. I use the bottom

 

[Slotrc]

The keel or running surface unless you verify that the transom is actually 90° to the bottom.

Yes! this is what im trying to figure out.. the bottom of the hull is a long curve so figuring out where square is a bit more difficult proposition (arithmetically speaking). maybe im splitting hairs here but im just interested in grasping this so i can better understand the tuning of the boat.

 

[Slotrc]

I found Scott Meyer's videos. good stuff although these are Hydros and are a little different proposition. The electronic level is a good tip (although be careful, not always super accurate I've found from experience setting up race car suspensions) The burr tip to finish holes is !

Squaring fin alignment

Turn Fin/Level

 

[Mark Anderson]

It would be very odd for any type of boat not to have a flat section at the rear of the running surface

 

[Slotrc]

It would be very odd for any type of boat not to have a flat section at the rear of the running surface

You are correct Mark! Thank you! Ive been told by the manufacture that there is a small flat surface on the back of the keel (3-4 inches from the keel) so i will reference from that.

 

[K F Wheeler]

Advanced R/C Boat Modeling by John Finch has some pretty good info on Mono's. Well worth the price. A lot of other good info in there as well.
By the way, I was thinking that digital angle finder was around $30... I saw one the other day priced at about $40 so it cost a little more than I thought.
One other thing I want to mention... I do know that at least one manufacturer deliberately put a hook in the bottom of their hull. May want to ask these guys on IW how to deal with that as far as how that affects strut alignment if at all...

Ken

 

[Slotrc]

ended up getting a digital Angle finder.. i made a video about it. Thanks again Scott Meyers for the great video on angle finders for setting up RC Boats! Also thanks to Charles Dandy for all the RC Boat info. WARNING: I'm going to be making more videos and promise to get better so feel free to hit that subscribe button and click on the bell.. also feel free to burn me down in the comment section so i can learn what NOT to do! Thank You.