Proper tank break-in

So the postman just knocked on your door and delivered your tank. You are eager to open it up immediately, put in freshly charged batteries and start driving it at full speed? We all are, aren't we :) But if you are serious about your tank and want it to live happily for many years to come resist the temptation and spend an hour for a proper "break-in".

You've probably heard this term before. If you buy a new car, your dealer (good dealer) would advise you to take it easy first few kilometers so that your engine and other parts are broken-in properly to fit together. Your tank also has moving parts but because they are mostly made of plastic there isn't really an issue there. With the exception of electric motors. Motors have carbon brushes that press against rotor and transfer electricity there. In brand new motors brushes have flat sides but the rotor is curved. Therefore the contact area between them is pretty small. And the smaller the contact area - the more resistance it will have to current flow. This will also result in tiny sparks. And sparks are the worst enemy. Have you ever observed sparks and what they do to the metal? You'd notice that they produce a very small "pit" of burned metal where they hit. If you get too much sparking on the rotor it will "pit" it so that the surface becomes abrasive. And abrasive surface will eat your brush a lot faster.

The solution? Proper break-in. Professional RC enthusiasts have complex procedures where they submerge motors in water, use special liquids etc. In my opinion for our tanks we don't have to be so diligent. All we need is for motor with no load to spin long enough that brushes wear out (without sparking) to take the form of the rotor.

Here's how I do that with my tanks. I unpack the tank, put the batteries in, remove threads so there is no load on the driving wheels and then press the lowest speed on the controller. I let the tank run like that for 15 minutes and then run it in reverse. Then forward again, and so on until my batteries are dead. You do not have to sit there with the controller, I put it on the floor and put some heavy object against button on the controller. Once this process is done - that's it, the tank is good to go for your normal driving.

Because overall VsTank components usually last a lot longer than your racing-style RC cars and trucks this little trick will make sure your motor will last a long time as well.