Chopper's Foot Drive

Electrical Parts Preparation

Note: Normally electrical work would be left to the final stages of the assembly process. However  you have to change the motor shaft so that it mates with the Pinion Gear in the P60 Gearbox. I find that it's reassuring to know first, that the motor works before you take it apart, and then that it still works after you are done. To do that you have to be able to connect it up. The electrical parts for Chopper's Foot Drive are not ready to use "out of the box". Every Builder has his own methods and preferences. Here's what I did using the Car ESC as an example.


The batteries I'm using are fitted with XT60 Connectors. While the BLDC motor uses bullet connectors. It's handy to have a supply of the mating connectors on hand.

I've used a marker to highlight the molded in markings on the XT60's

You need 3 hands for soldering. :-) note the shrink tubing slipped over the ESC's power wires. You don't want any high power connections exposed!

Left: Yes, it's possible to melt the plastic used in the XT60 Connectors, so work quickly.

Above: once the connections are made let them cool. Then slide the heat shrink so that it covers the exposed connections and use a hot air gun to shrink the tubing. [If you don't wait for the connection to cool, the shrink tube will shrink on contact, before you have a chance to get into position!]

The motor uses male bullet connectors. I've slipped a mating female connector onto the leftmost motor connection just to check fit.

Solder three female connectors onto the ESC leads.
Left: When the bullet connectors have cooled, slip heat shrink over them and then shrink it into position.

Not shown: Now that everything is connectorized, you can plug the parts together. Use a servo tester (or you R/C controller and it's reciever) to verify that everything works as expected!

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