More Motor Mods: Black Dog/Pigs, Banshee'd Modulus

More motor related mods and things! This is the datasheet I use for almost all the motor specs I quote.

First up are Black Dog/Pigs. I wanted to try these as I was dissatisfied with all the other 2S 130s on the market (Banshees and MTB Honey Badgers). I found them to be excessively loud and annoying and felt that they didn't spin up to full speed fast enough. I got into serious flywheel after Black Dog/Pigs became scarce, so never got the chance to acquire some for myself. After some searching, I was finally able to find them on Taobao. They cost me a ridiculous amount, far more than I would normally pay for motors, but I was absolutely set on getting some.

I've put two of my four into my Elite Rayven, as with Banshees it was ridiculously loud, had pretty serious vibrations and didn't perform very well. I also put my second set of Worker wheels in it as I wanted it to perform as well as possible. One of my main intentions was noise reduction. While Banshees spin at ~38kRPM at 7.4V, Black Dog/Pigs spin at around 33kRPM - about the same as Falcons/MTB Rhinos at 11.1V. This speed is still easily high enough to achieve "glass ceiling" velocities, but low enough to minimise excess noise. Black Dog/Pigs also generate around the same amount of torque as Falcons/Rhinos, though naturally have to draw around 50% more current (~12.5A at 7.4V).
The results are excellent. Compared to previously, it's far, far quieter and the noise is much more harmonious. Furthermore, Black Dog/Pigs seem to spin up to full speed faster than the other motors I've tried. Performance seems to be roughly on par with my Bullpup RS, perhaps a little lower. I hope to verify the muzzle velocity at the upcoming MHvZ or MLF. Accuracy is not great, but usable. I might end up constructing another brass guide for improved accuracy if it becomes a problem.
If Black Dog/Pigs weren't so expensive to acquire (mine cost me upwards of 10AUD each, when I could get MTB Rhinos/Honey Badgers for 5AUD each, or Hellcats for 8AUD each), I would highly recommend them. As is, I'd say a set of Banshees and a decent pair of flywheels would perform pretty much the same (and be far, far cheaper) if you can deal with the greater noise. Nevertheless, I love my Black Dog/Pigs and do intend to keep them in use assuming my Elite Rayven performs acceptably in combat.

I acquired a stock Modulus some time ago for a reasonable price, intending to overhaul it. I overhauled it using the Banshees I'd taken out of my Elite Rayven. Due to the awkward handle design, I was forced to use a submini microswitch instead of my preferred full size microswitch, but I don't think it'll pose any issues with Banshees. Besides that, it was all pretty standard stuff.

The Modulus uses the 2S LiPo that I bought for my Rifle RS. With a bit of grinding and sanding, it fits nicely in the old battery tray slot. The Modulus is pretty nice for fitting in a big LiPo thanks to this space.

The Modulus flywheels built up foam residue very quickly, it was nice and thick within just 2 mags worth of darts. I was rather surprised and quite pleased with it. Overall the Modulus build was actually very good. Everything went really smoothly, the Modulus was pretty easy to work with and space was generally not an issue. Performance was surprisingly good. The flywheels seem pretty well balanced so while the noise is still fairly loud and high pitched, it's not particularly jarring. Muzzle velocity seems about normal, pending chrony verification. Accuracy however is pretty good, even without Worker flywheels it seems nearly as good as my Bullpup RS. This just goes to show how important a good flywheel set and cage are for accuracy - RS cages (and RS parts in general) as well as Rayven cages are notorious for poor tolerances and shape.
I'm pretty happy with how the Modulus turned out. It wasn't particularly time consuming or difficult, yet yielded excellent results. The Modulus trigger pull is also really nice. All this simply makes it even more of a shame that the Modulus' handle is awful, and that it is only available in an overpriced pack with mostly unnecessary accessories. If not for those, it would be a very solid semi auto flywheeler, and certainly a much more viable alternative to the Stryfe than it is currently.

Because the Modulus' battery tray pops out nicely and fits AAs, my Modulus overhaul also allowed me to finally fashion an AA testing pack. This is ideal for testing new circuits, as alkalines are far less dangerous to short than LiPo packs.

Finally, I decided to try another pusher motor for my RS rifle. The MTB Reaper that was in it seems to have toasted itself from too much 3S use and didn't seem to work quite right. I bought this generic 180 motor off eBay. The only specs I know of it are that it's rated for 48kRPM (no load) at 9V, translating to around 40kRPM at 7.4V. This puts it at a similar ROF to the -3050 on 3S - around 11dps at full charge. As I've said before, I personally find 9-10dps a bit slow (typical Blade 180/3240 or Falcon/Rhino pusher would achieve around this). This was the fastest 180 motor that I could easily find, cheaply acquire and would trust at 2S voltage. I would have liked to use a Honey Badger, however as I mentioned in my Reaper post, it had a tendency to pop out of place, due to the pusher box being set up for 180s. I wouldn't mind getting another Reaper to put in either, but that will have to wait until they get produced (if they do ever get produced).

Something to note with this motor is that I specifically ordered one that appeared to have a longer axle. Upon opening the package, I was surprised at just how long the axle was, beating the MTB Reaper for shaft length. A quick test at ~7.5V gave a ROF of around 9.4dps, not quite what I was hoping for, but fast enough for general use and slightly faster than what a Blade 180/-3240 would give. It seems to have pretty good braking torque, so for now I'll leave it as is, I don't have any real reason to change it for anything else I have on hand.