WTC wall thickness

[chuck chesney]

I have always built my own WTC, and used 1/8" (3mm) wall thickness polycarbonate tube for the pressure hull. I am building a Revell Gato for R/C, and would like to use 1/16" (1.5mm) poly tube for the WTC, and will pour my own endcaps to fit the thinner tube thickness. Does anyone have experience with this thickness for the WTC? I rarely run my boats deeper than about five or six feet.
Thanks for your input.

[Guest]

That thickness should be OK

That thickness should be OK for the depths you run at but be very carefull with any external blows and internal build up of pressure will distort the seal and a leak could occure.
Also should you unintentionaly go deeper the sub is in great perril.
Heat build up from the motor can easily increase internal pressure and cause a leak.
I would suggest a thicker material like clear PVC pipe available online ,a bit expensive but very strong,mostly used in food processing and comes in many common sizes and comon fittings and cristal clear.
PM me for more info and closure methods.

Dave

[Wheelerdealer]

Wouldn't increased pressure from heat

Wouldn't increased pressure from heat build up mention, be benficial for deeper diving as internal and external pressure differances will be reduced?

[Guest]

Depending on the sealling desighne

Depending on the sealling desighne and quality ,even the smallest amout of positive pressure from heat expantion via iether the motor or external thermal heat from the sun can cause the seals and wall to expand and leak.
The thermal expantion rates vary from material to material and should be noted when building a casing.

I have seen this happen with the slip in type single O ring end caps used on thin walled clear tubes.

Aplliying a thin coat of silicone grease helps alot in many cases,Mark Green had that problem.

Dave

[Guest]

Sounds interesting can we see

Sounds interesting can we see some of them?


Dave

[tommydeen]

Chuck poly carb is the

Chuck poly carb is the best stuff for WTC's I have ever used. good idea!! 1/16 wall thickness for the 1/72 Revell/Gato.

[junglelord]

Re: WTC Leak-proof

I engineer high pressure/temperature hydronic systems and can supply clear pvc tube in various sizes with a high-pressure o-ring caps and brass or copper outer bulkheads for soldering fittings.

I am interested....how much for a cylinder for a Revell Gato?

[Guest]

Yes the clear PVC is

Yes the clear PVC is great for the tube but to make an easily removable end caps is the fun part without resorting to the internal O ring desighne that is more prone to leaking.

Before I found the casings I developed and are usuing today, I had also developed an easy way to open and close comon slip on PVC end caps that dont employ O rings.That was a problem as for watertight sealing an O ring was manditory to be integrated into the casings desighne.

Nothing was out there that would work,so I had to develop something that would.

Here is what I came up with.
available in all the comon pipe sizes and lengths one could want.

PM me if you would like one taylord to your needs.
Drawbacks are the parts cost more in the larger sizes and there is no random acsses as is in the casing I use now.
I love the bayonet system that employs a special seal and easily expandable with random acsses. Unfortunatly it wont fit small subs.4 inch diamiter.







Dave