How to setup a Granite BLX for my 3yr granddaughter?

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Fam, thank you!

Grateful for the deal from @JSmalls87 and all the extras. So many on this thread to thank let me say thanks to all, so I don't miss a name. Finished the Lil 3yr grandbaby girl RC. I sent a pic to her Mom today, and she wore her down to come over (my daughter is lazy unless she needs something to come by). As you can imagine, with any toddler, we have miles to go, but she is a quick learner. She loves to sit with me working on RCs. I have a piece of wood that I make little through holes and give her a small drill and 2mm screws, and she loves drilling them into the holes...over and over and over. She will not back them out, LOL. She will be my Lil RC buddy :LOL:

It came with a 15T pinion, but I changed that to a 13T given to me free by JS as well as a 2400kv motor he gave me free as well to remove the 3150kv that was in the Vorteks. Wow, this removed the clogging I was getting in my earlier post. No clogging with the DX5C travel throttle set at 20, reverse 30. It moves nice and slow...but smoothly. This was on the ground on low patchy dirt it struggles. If I take her to grass or dirt in an open area, I'll up the throttle travel a small bit to help since she can't hit anything.

I still like the idea of a 11T pinion, but I do not see this current motor plate allowing it to get close enough for a good mesh or meshing at all. Old motor plate with the drilled holes listed 13T so was that the limit, but there was a post above referencing an 11T 🤷‍♂️

Day 1 - Was a good day for her. I just need to add some of her toon stickers on it.


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Fam, thank you!

Grateful for the deal from @JSmalls87 and all the extras.
Wow you cleaned it up nicely, it looks great! Glad to hear your granddaughter is enjoying it and that it will promote some great bonding time between you two for years to come!! Happy it's got a home that will put it to use more than I did :)

If you get a HR mount or one of the newer motor mounts from JennysRC they are adjustable all the way down to 11T. I think I swapped that mount out with the whole module from my Outcast 4S v1 to get the metal spur gear and that one comes with the old style mount with pre mounted holes for only a few pinion size options.
 
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Beautiful man just beautiful. Reminds me of the years I raised my granddaughter before my son finally manned up. Enjoy every minute of it! Being a grandparents is amazing because a lot of time our grandkids have more in common with us than our own children…it’s like some inherent qualities skip a generation. You also can cross that line and be a friend as well as a parent figure 😊
 
Does the Dumbo also do that for reverse? My SLT3 at 50% seems to still have full reverse power. Unless I am missing something?

50% on these 3S BLX rigs is still pretty nutty for beginners. Another thing I was thinking of was a TQI radio with the Bluetooth module?
The ESCs that came on my Mega and BLX models have a jumper to lock out reverse, if it comes to that.
 
Yes, gearing down has helped alot for my big rock that my son runs. The cogging at lower power levels is okay on pavement, but gets very noticeable if you ever take the truck off road.

My experience (amongst other threads i've seen) is that the stock blx system doesn't have alot of low end torque. Lowering the throttle travel just decreases max power, which means that at 10%, you're only getting 10% of power through the motor. Which means that at low RPMs, you'll get alot of cogging. Especially like when my son would run his granite or my big rock in taller grass or loose, deep dirt. If he ever let it stop, it was much harder to get it started (since it would be cogging so much). I would frequently have to turn it off an on again because the esc shuts off if it cogs too much.

Just recently i attempted to counteract the cogging by trying the 11t pinion. Lowering the pinion decreases top speed but increases torque. For example, if you could gear down to a 10t pinion and set the throttle travel (or power) to 75% on a 2s, you'll get about the same max speed as the stock setup on 50%, but more torque overall. Meaning less cogging. The motor will be "revving" higher, which will be closer to the motors optimum power band (at higher RPM). The results are pretty good. I didn't run it too much on 2s since i switched him to 3s (I'm using his 2s in a 2x2s configuration in my tekno MT410).

In your case, i think gearing down will fix the situation. I'm using traxxas part TRA5641 (11t). A 13t tooth would help, it's worth trying. In this case you'll get the best results by gearing down the most you can.

I ordered that 11T pinion and just getting it on to try. The 13T JSmalls87 gave me worked great over the stock 15T, and I was happy, and she did just fine. Adding the 11T really smooths it out, as you stated and I can do grass now with it even better when she is ready. I will need to turn the throttle travel up some more on the DX5C for grass but in doing so on this tooth still has enough power to move slow and steady and moves with ease. As you noted with this tooth, the power band is better since the RPMs are higher. Clogging was gone with the 13T but the 11T just made it feel somewhat sensorless with the smooth take-off.

She will be with the Vorteks for a long time so I still have the 13T and stock 15T but miles from those. Hell, at 100% throttle travel the Vorteks moves fast for its size :)

Thx again!
 
I ordered that 11T pinion and just getting it on to try. The 13T JSmalls87 gave me worked great over the stock 15T, and I was happy, and she did just fine. Adding the 11T really smooths it out, as you stated and I can do grass now with it even better when she is ready. I will need to turn the throttle travel up some more on the DX5C for grass but in doing so on this tooth still has enough power to move slow and steady and moves with ease. As you noted with this tooth, the power band is better since the RPMs are higher. Clogging was gone with the 13T but the 11T just made it feel somewhat sensorless with the smooth take-off.

She will be with the Vorteks for a long time so I still have the 13T and stock 15T but miles from those. Hell, at 100% throttle travel the Vorteks moves fast for its size :)

Thx again!
The best is later on when they have abilities to handle more power, throw in a 3s battery, and lower power down to like 50%. The higher voltage draws less amps and everything runs cooler. Then you can just bump up power as you need. On 3s, it still goes plenty fast for an adult on 100% power with the 11t. I think it's a good sweet spot.
 
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