Seaview

[greenman407]

Thank you sir! We are going to give it the old college try.

[greenman407]

I got the sorbothane sheet ordered. Does that count for anything? Ill have the new "greased" gearboxes in tomorrow and be ready for a "Kiddie pool test" on Sunday. Im going to have to make a new rudder tiller arm as the old white metal one wont hold anymore. Ill make it out of a small Dubro locking collar and add two set screws and solder on a brass arm for pushrod attachment. Thatll fix er. The rudder axle is 1/16" brass wire.

[greenman407]

The gearbox/motor seals work is done, just need to test it. Last time I had a large amount of water in the rear dry space of the subdriver. No good. Ill put the subdriver in the bathtub to make sure that, that potentially devastating situation has been eliminated before I move on.
.

[greenman407]

I got the Sorbathane installed and the APC to that. Now for testing.

[greenman407]

Heres where we are at(me, myself, and I). The gearbox grease injection will work fine except that the hole that I purposely left open to get air out around the 1/8" shaft, lets air out just fine, as you pump in grease. Only problem is that it also lets grease out as the shaft rotates and water in. So I have two 3/16" shaft seals that Ill put on the bigger ones and the smaller 1/8" ones Ill need to order some for that.
As far as the Sorbothane goes, the results are promising. A big reduction in unwanted stern plane movement from vibration has been realized by using one layer of it.. I think I will try another layer of Sorbothane and see what happens. One thing that was causing extra vibration was the Dumas brass couplers. I had some 1/8" ones and I drilled them out to go on the 3/16" shafts. Well its hard to drill them perfectly . So you end up with some wobble on the shaft. Thats got to get picked up by your APC. So I put on some factory fresh, store bought(Caswell) ones and all wobble is gone.

[trout]

Mark,
That is excellent sleuthing!
I wonder what the long term life of the Sorbothane? Great news anyways!
Peace,
tom

[greenman407]

Thanks Tom, but afterall.....it was your idea. The second layer of Sorbothane brought no noticeable improvement. I believe it was redboat that suggested some felt in between. So, the search goes on for some felt.

[greenman407]

Dave, Kaliegh only has one of the two 1/8" shaft seals that I need. Can you send her some ASAP please? Thanks

[greenman407]

Today I tested three sheets of Sorbathane in a stack. Still no visible improvement over one sheet thickness. I tried using a thickness of 4mm felt in the mix, but didnt see a difference. Im thinking about trying 1 sheet of Sorbothane, then a thin sheet of aluminum, then another sheet of Sorbothane.

[greenman407]

Dave.....how bout dem 1/8" prop shaft seals......Sir?

[trout]

Today I tested three sheets of Sorbathane in a stack. Still no visible improvement over one sheet thickness. I tried using a thickness of 4mm felt in the mix, but didnt see a difference. Im thinking about trying 1 sheet of Sorbothane, then a thin sheet of aluminum, then another sheet of Sorbothane.

How are you bundling it all together?
In other fields like sound rooms for recording, I learned that when placing the sound proofing material to the walls, they had to be careful how it was affixed to the wall. If you use staples or nails, the sound or vibrations would travel through the metal and into the room. They used layers, but made sure that sound/vibrations did not have a direct path. Glue was used on the final layers. So, that was my reason for asking. Are there paths for the vibration to travel, circumventing your layers? in our small world, I am not sure how effective vibration can be reduced.

[greenman407]

Yes, well I made sure that nothing was touching the Sorbothane layers and that the wires to the APC were themselves resting on there own sheet of Sorbothane to help them not transmit vibrations to the APC. Trouble is that I have been so busy of late that I havent had much time to chase these various projects. I just quit one job so that I could get hired at another. Maybe it will all come together.

[trout]

Best wishes on the new job, the subs can wait!

[greenman407]

Yeah, this new job is taking some getting used to. By the time I get home, Im too tired to do anything. Well, today I did get a few things done. I installed the seals on the drive shafts and the motor shafts. The seals on the motor shafts I put on backwards because the shafts were too short to extend all the way thru the seal body. It doesnt matter though, all I want it on there for is to keep the grease inside the gearbox proper. I also installed the new home made rudder bellcrank. Also a positive block in front of the WTC to keep it from moving forward.
Im making up another rudder extension to give me greater maneuverability. Im still not happy with the APC/dive plane jitters. Next time out Ill see if its any better. If not, Ill disconnect the APC and drive it that way. If Im not happy with that Ill proceed with my plans to install the APC up front in the battery WTC. In the pictures youll notice how much weight I have installed in the bottom of the hull. Its there to keep it stable. Anything less and the sub trys to turn on its side under any kind of throttle. Keep in mind this thing doesnt have counter-rotation.

[greenman407]

Well, tonight I started on moving the APC to the battery WTC. Im jumping the gun a little in that I havent tested it in this condition, and I havent run it with the APC disconnected. Im just doing what experience tells me is most likely to work. Ill need two three wire cables. One going to the APC and one coming from it. Pictures and details later.