387 - GForce Pit-Cube 300, A Compact Charger!

 

I’m going on with the idea to slim the equipment destinated to follow me on holidays saving weight and space and making it more practical to use.

The matchbox sized box and its contents 😎

 

From a while I’ve noticed that on the japanese market are available some compact chargers powered via USB-C and I've keept them in sight considering that for weight and dimensions they could help me.

In particular my attention was on the last released: the GForce Pit-Cube 300 saw on the IG of Masami Hirosaka, the legend, himself.

Weeks ago I’ve bought another USB-C powered device, a Miniware TS101 soldering iron that requires a powerful USB charger to properly works so, all was ready to try the jump.

I’ve found the Pit-Cube to buy in one of my fav online shop: Banzai Hobby in Japan so, without esitation, I’ve bought this charger even if it was in backorder and I received it in almost ten days.

Great service from Banzai, as usual.

The GForce Pit-Cube is surprisingly small, less than a cigarettes pack (I’m a former smoker), it carries toughness when in hand, it looks well builted.

Unlucky its default language is japanese and after some attempts to find on the manual the way to switch to english I was considering to bring it to Venice and ask to my wife to help me, until when…

… for pure chance I found the right menu and we started to understand each other. Great!

386 - The TT 60 ESC Sits In Its Place, Finally

The Tamiya BBX is a great model: I love how it looks and I like how it performs but arranging the Electronics isn't an easy task.

Recently I've decided to avoid the use of the cover for the ESC and to be safe I've decided to swap the freshly installed Robitronic Speedstar for he MTroniks TT60 ESC bought year ago and used only a pair of times.

I preferred the MTroniks for its solid construction and because it claims to be waterproof… a good feature for an exposed installation.

Unfortunately the TT's cables are stiffer than usual cables and placing it in the narrow spaces of my BBX have been quite difficult. I've decided to extend the motor cables with softer ones hiding the original blue and yellow under the ESC shelf in the attempt to make a clean and tidy work another cable extension for the battery was already in place.

I've been a bit in trouble to find a good place for the switch, it's bigger than usual also compared much older ESCs.

Found the place for every cable I've well secured them all to the BBX cage with some nylon bands; some other will be needed at a second glance and I will consider to do some more adjustement because I'm not full satisfied by the result.

385 - I Got A New (Smart) Soldering Iron

Two weeks ago my Dremel Versatip stopped to work before starting the soldering session to arrange my MTroniks TT ESC to fit my Tamiya BBX.

I was quite happy about that soldering iron mainly because of its portability that made it good when I pack my stuff for holidays.

As my usual I've started to surf the Web to look for a good alternative and I found out this Miniware TS101 usb powered smart soldering iron that with its marker-like size should be a good choice to my needs.

The TS101 stands on my laptop during its firmware update

It's not cheap a cheap tool and I hope that the money payed forces me to take good care of it to keep it properly working for a long time. 

My new soldering iron have been immediately put at work on my TT ESC to swap the old 3,5mm bullet connectors to 4mm ones, to extend the motor cables and to solder them to the motor tabs and all went good: it reaches the working temperature in a few of seconds, it is very handly and easy to clean. Finger crossed for next soldering works.