Newbie fundamental questions (motors, etc...)

[Cat966c]

Hey all! I'm sorry for the stupid VERY beginner questions I'm about to ask but please, bear with me. I have decided for the time being that I'm going to electrically power my loader rather than hydraulically.
Now, this pains me to say but I dont know where to begin on what motors to use or where to buy them. I guess I could technically buy some cheap rc models and cannibalize them by using their motors for the four functions (steering,fwd/rev,lifting,dumping) but that seems like a lot to go through to just get the motors out of them.
Then I thought maybe I could buy a cheap drill, take the motor out of it (because it has variable speed,fwd/rev and the maisto rock crawlers do not) and wire it to my new bright loader, but then I dont know how to get the forward/reverse functions to work if I was even successful in that. Any advice would be appreciated.

[RobotArms24]

Check out http://www.pololu.com for motors, they have a bunch of metal gear motors of all sizes and RPM's. They also sell the TRex motor controller to control two motors, in a tank style setup.

Another common controller is the Sabertooth motor controller from https://www.dimensionengineering.com/

A good site for parts is http://www.robotshop.com. They also have a Canadian website.

Robot shop has Firgelli actuators to control the buckets and lift arms, a bunch of servo's, and tons of other electronics.

If you are on a budget and have no time deadline, http://www.hobbyking.com has lots of R/C components for cheap.

[Cat966c]

Thanks!
However, I don't know how to hook up the stuff and connect it or make the receiver recognize just the ones I want it to. A how to fundamental basic video would be nice, and I will look for them on the tube. But could I hook the drill motor (since it is variable speed) to an rc car? Could I replace the stock motor with that? And if I did, how would I get the fwd/rev to work?
Sorry, I don't mean to sound ungrateful, I'm so thankful for the help you all have given me so far. I'm just really wanting to go out and drive the thing around, it's hard to be patient lol

[RobotArms24]

Yes you could use drill motors, but they are quite bulky and probably awkward to mount. The stock motor is probably small and running at 6 volts(or less), which might be too low for the drill motor. You would probably be better off with a 6 volt micro metal gear motor. You can buy mounts for them as well. Another option would be the Tamiya gear box: https://www.pololu.com/category/34/t...-and-gearboxes. They are another popular option for converting toys into R/C. As for forward and reverse, if the setup you have now has forward and reverse, then the new motors should be the same. You may run into issues though when the new motors draw too much power, and burn up the electronics in the toy.

[Cat966c]

Thanks for that stuff robotarms, it's invaluable. However, now I'm looking at remote controls and recievers, and I don't know what to do about them. Specifically; most of the 6 channel remotes and recievers are for airplanes and I don't think that matters but I'm not sure. And also; most of those remotes have the throttle going only one way (forward) and I don't know if that would be a problem and how to deal with it if it is. I'm so in over my head ��

[Cat966c]

Would this gearbox work? https://www.pololu.com/product/73
I mean it is brushed, so could I just plug it in to the reciever like the normal ones?

[RobotArms24]

You could use that gearbox, but it would still need a speed controller, the receiver cannot control the motor. The stock electronics may have it all built together though, so if that is the case then you would just swap it with whatever is there. It is a "high torque" motor that can draw almost 3 amps, which may or may not be too much for the stock electronics.

As for the transmitter and receiver, it is normal to use an aircraft type setup, with two sticks. One stick will control forward/reverse/left/right, and the other stick would control the bucket and lift movements.

I set my skid steer loader up with the throttle on the left and bucket control on the right. This setup requires the airplane throttle on the right(mode 1), because you want the throttle for the loader to be self centering(like the elevator/aileron on a plane). For the bucket controls I removed the spring on the right stick so wherever I let go of the stick, it stayed in place.