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First, thanks to you who have shared your knowledge with myself and others. Without this forum, this project couldn't have happened, and I wouldn't have had so much fun with all these challenges.
The sub is working pretty good!
-To get it to fully surface I had to relieve as much weight from above the water line as possible. This included thinning the plastic in the deck and cutting out much more of the hull super structure. The photos show the results.
-The two bladder idea really helps this model in that it now surfaces and dives evenly, plus the flotation is kept just below the water line where it needs to be.
-The hull cutout is large but doesn't seem to mind at all.
-The RCABS-R did make a positive difference in flotation volume. The fact that the entire WTC is pressurized works just fine. The little pump only exerts 7 psi max and doesn't even come close to blowing the 1" diameter top switch hatch off. I came up with a very simple method of holding the WTC ends on using stainless safety wire.
-I haven't tried a torpedo in the pool yet but the trigger mechanism seems to work just fine at the bench. I installed clippard check valves in the torpedo charging line which greatly simplified the whole torpedo charging exercise. No clumsy shrader valves.
-I got frustrated with trying to neatly fit everything into the 2 1/4" WTC but solved the problem by buying a thin 1/16" lexan tube that just fits
inside the WTC tube. I machined the front cap to glue this tube to it, then proceeded to cut the top half of the tube off creating a tray that everything attaches to, or lays in. Now I am waiting for new servo wire ends to come in the mail in order to shorten or lengthen various wires to truly neaten it up. The lexan tray wants to shrink so I left two rings along its length to keep its shape.
-As for the deck trapping air and surface tension, pool tests revealed that some forward motion did wash away the trapped air and truly made it dive realistically. (To my eye anyway).
-To trim the model, first I balanced it to dive slightly nose down, Second I moved the bladders to bring it up slightly nose up, Third I juggled weight and flotation to get it to surface at about the correct attitude.
-There is more to solve but the test results make me a happy man.
Can't wait to try it up north, at night...
I am proud of my first sub and hope sharing my ideas doesn't seem arrogant.
Dave E
i
The sub is working pretty good!
-To get it to fully surface I had to relieve as much weight from above the water line as possible. This included thinning the plastic in the deck and cutting out much more of the hull super structure. The photos show the results.
-The two bladder idea really helps this model in that it now surfaces and dives evenly, plus the flotation is kept just below the water line where it needs to be.
-The hull cutout is large but doesn't seem to mind at all.
-The RCABS-R did make a positive difference in flotation volume. The fact that the entire WTC is pressurized works just fine. The little pump only exerts 7 psi max and doesn't even come close to blowing the 1" diameter top switch hatch off. I came up with a very simple method of holding the WTC ends on using stainless safety wire.
-I haven't tried a torpedo in the pool yet but the trigger mechanism seems to work just fine at the bench. I installed clippard check valves in the torpedo charging line which greatly simplified the whole torpedo charging exercise. No clumsy shrader valves.
-I got frustrated with trying to neatly fit everything into the 2 1/4" WTC but solved the problem by buying a thin 1/16" lexan tube that just fits
inside the WTC tube. I machined the front cap to glue this tube to it, then proceeded to cut the top half of the tube off creating a tray that everything attaches to, or lays in. Now I am waiting for new servo wire ends to come in the mail in order to shorten or lengthen various wires to truly neaten it up. The lexan tray wants to shrink so I left two rings along its length to keep its shape.
-As for the deck trapping air and surface tension, pool tests revealed that some forward motion did wash away the trapped air and truly made it dive realistically. (To my eye anyway).
-To trim the model, first I balanced it to dive slightly nose down, Second I moved the bladders to bring it up slightly nose up, Third I juggled weight and flotation to get it to surface at about the correct attitude.
-There is more to solve but the test results make me a happy man.
Can't wait to try it up north, at night...
I am proud of my first sub and hope sharing my ideas doesn't seem arrogant.
Dave E
i
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I still have the original back bulk head in place and made a water tight compartment using the bulk head with the motors and gear reduction from the original build up. My problem is that the propulsion shaft seal design from Engel failed and trashed my motors. I am now looking for some shaft seals in a 4mm size as everything is metric. Looking forward to sharing info with you!
Thanks in advance.
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That just proves the old saying of "read the instructions when all else fails""rite!!!!!!!!!
BD.
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