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[color=#000000]Hi all,
I'm building a 1/96 ThorDesign Permit and, though I still have to finish the control surfaces (I already primed the boat, drilled and filed the flood holes and installed the sail) I'm planning what WTC I'll use in my boat. Well, I find Greg Sharpe's WTC design to be great, and that is what I'll probably use(I'd also like to have to have some feedback on the WTC described by Matt Spade on a SCR).
However, I don't like the gas ballast system, mainly because I'm not very comfortable with copper soldering and I fear Propel pressure-related problems.
I'd like instead to use a sealed tank with a geared pump. In this setup a powerful pump forces water into a sealed tank, tha air can't escape and it's compressed in the tank. A mecanichal pinch built using a servo and a ball race seals the tank, because the air pressure wants to force the water out.
I found a good two-way geared pump at Conrad Electronic, and, if it's the same described in a old SCR article (the one in the samples on the SC website, written by Norbert Bruggen)it will be able to create a 3.5 bar pressure. This means that the tank will be filled at 2/3 of its volume.
I can order plenty of Lexan tubing with various thicknesses to make the Tank (and WTC) so this is not a problem.
The only real issue is space. I made some rough drawings and found that with such a ballast system the fit would be very tight.
So here are my questions]
I'm building a 1/96 ThorDesign Permit and, though I still have to finish the control surfaces (I already primed the boat, drilled and filed the flood holes and installed the sail) I'm planning what WTC I'll use in my boat. Well, I find Greg Sharpe's WTC design to be great, and that is what I'll probably use(I'd also like to have to have some feedback on the WTC described by Matt Spade on a SCR).
However, I don't like the gas ballast system, mainly because I'm not very comfortable with copper soldering and I fear Propel pressure-related problems.
I'd like instead to use a sealed tank with a geared pump. In this setup a powerful pump forces water into a sealed tank, tha air can't escape and it's compressed in the tank. A mecanichal pinch built using a servo and a ball race seals the tank, because the air pressure wants to force the water out.
I found a good two-way geared pump at Conrad Electronic, and, if it's the same described in a old SCR article (the one in the samples on the SC website, written by Norbert Bruggen)it will be able to create a 3.5 bar pressure. This means that the tank will be filled at 2/3 of its volume.
I can order plenty of Lexan tubing with various thicknesses to make the Tank (and WTC) so this is not a problem.
The only real issue is space. I made some rough drawings and found that with such a ballast system the fit would be very tight.
So here are my questions]
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