Not massive progress to report due to Christmas, the New Year and what not, but I have still got a few bits done.

First up, the tips for the crusher arm, and the front wedge plates have been picked up from the water jet cutters. This means that for the first time I have been able to put together the chassis sides, the ram, the crushing arm with tip, and the wedge. It was good to have some assembled components in front of me for the first time.

Next, I fixed the hydraulic pump to the mock-up with a g-clamp and took the whole lot to the local hydraulic shop where the very nice people made a set of hoses for it with integral test point. I have to give them thanks for being very patient with a hydraulics newbie on what turned out to be a pretty fiddly job for a couple of hours. I don't know if I am allowed to give out names on here but if anyone wants the name of the company for the North Notts area, feel free to PM me.

One thing I wasn't aware of was just how much the hoses and fittings weighed, I underestimated that by a good 300g so the weight budget has just become a fair bit tighter. Unfortunately there isn't a lot I can do about the weight here so it will have to be saved elsewhere if it goes over. I have also got the shaft made that connects the new motor to the hydraulic pump. Once I get some more bolts delivered which hold this bit together, I shouldn't be too far off a first test of the weapon system.

I have also had a couple of questions pop up which I hope you may be able to help me with:

1) While reading the forums I came across some comments in a thread about a workaround in order to get full throw in all controller directions for the re-programmed Tz85A ESCs with the Spektrum Dx6i handset. Does anyone know if you still need to do this with the Dx6?

2) I'm looking at getting the fuse I have to fit inline with the batteries and the rules say it is determined by the pack capacity and the burst 'C' rating of the pack. Are there any rules or good practices that people would recommend regarding the types of fuses and blow time? For example the pack I am using has a 35C constant discharge rate and a 65C burst rate for 10 seconds. It seems to me if a slow blow fuse was fitted at a rating somewhere around the 65C rate, then there might be a possibility of battery damage before the fuse blows? Or am I over thinking this and its not a problem that tends to crop up? (As it happens I'm fairly certain I'll be a long way from the burst rate discharge of the pack and probably under the constant rate at nearly all times, but I thought it was worth checking.)

In the mean time, here is a picture of the latest progress. I must have taken it from a funny angle, it looks much taller in the picture than it actually is. Also as you can see, I'm still on the dining room table, the shed/workshop is taking longer to get sorted then I hoped.

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