Gwen's Nautilus design as described by Jules Verne - Discussion- Everyone welcome.

[GwenB]

Remove the heat-shrink from all devices that use it to cover the PCB; pull the wet servos, open them up to expose the PCB, motor, and potentiometer; If the ESC is potted, your good; yank the motor. Dump everything into a bucket of fresh water and vigorously scrub the conductor side of all PCB's with a non-metallic, stiff brush (a glass fiber brush is ideal).





Dunk again into the fresh water then blow down with medium-pressure air.



Place everything on a cookie sheet and bake at 150-degrees for 24 hours. It's vital that you place a non-conductive barrier between the PCB's and cookie sheet or you'll slick all the IC's. Do not bake the servo cases, gears, and the like or they'll melt!





Install fresh heat-shrink on the PCB's; reassemble the servos; remount the motor. Test for correct operation.

Fix the foundation of that seal body. And sin no more.

David

Thanks for the instructions David. Looks like I have some work to do.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Thanks for the instructions David. Looks like I have some work to do.

... the sooner, the better.

David

[GwenB]

David, What do you mean about the ESC being potted? I have the one that Bob included with my SubDriver 300 V2. Also is it really essential to bake the components? I'm a little nervous about putting them in my gas oven whose temperature control may or may not be accurate.

I have pulled everything apart and am deciding what to do next.

OK - just checked and the oven only goes down to 175 F. I think I'll let them air dry or use my hair dryer and try to blow water out of crevises with canned air unless you have a better suggestion. I could pack them in a container full of rice or dessicant packs to dry I suppose.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

David, What do you mean about the ESC being potted? I have the one that Bob included with my SubDriver 300 V2. Also is it really essential to bake the components? I'm a little nervous about putting them in my gas oven whose temperature control may or may not be accurate.

I have pulled everything apart and am deciding what to do next.

OK - just checked and the oven only goes down to 175 F. I think I'll let them air dry or use my hair dryer and try to blow water out of crevises with canned air unless you have a better suggestion. I could pack them in a container full of rice or dessicant packs to dry I suppose.

Potting is the practice of encapsulating the PCB in a solid brick of resin (usually epoxy). I'm not familiar with the ESC's Bob provides with his SubDrivers.

Is it essential to bake the wet components? I believe so. But that's just me... what the hell do I know, I barely got out of high-school.

Preheat your oven to the minimum 175-degrees, place a thermometer inside and wait for the temperature to drop to the safe range, then quickly place the cookie-sheet supported PCB's in there and let everything sit till the oven returns to ambient temperature. Or make a plenum out of a small cardboard box and discharge your hairdryer into it for a day -- place a thermometer in the plenum to insure you don't exceed the safe minimum temperature.

You have to get ALL the water off the chips quickly, before it dries and deposits minerals onto the IC chips many, tightly packed solder pads -- that's how a PCB is killed: the minerals short out the device by providing a conductive path between adjacent pads. The blow-down and heating have to be done IMMEDIATELY after the fresh-water dunking and scrubbing.

Canned air is not air. The gas is likely a hydrocarbon and comes out of the container cold. You want heat or at least ambient temperature air to blow out and/or evaporate any small amounts of water that get under the IC's, into the motors, chokes, mechanical switches, and potentiometers.

I recommend, if you're serious about this hobby, to invest in a proper air-compressor.

David

[Bob Gato]

Gwen if the ESC is a modern style Mtroniks Viper...It is waterproof (as per the company) and I actually have used one in the wet for about 6 mos so far.
My two cents: when you bake the components, think like water or I should say water vapor- set the PC boards such that the rising water vapor doesn't just condense on something above where its rising up from.. Like with the board and its components facing up or better yet to the side. If the oven has a convection option use that-the fan will dry things out like the Santa Ana Winds in SoCal.

[GwenB]

I carefully disassembled, cleaned, and dried all the components with a blow-dryer last night. I left everything to air out over night and this morning I reconnected everything and am pleased to report that every single component is working properly. No problems at all. Thanks guys!

Now - Who can tell me what is the best way to keep the servo bushings nice and tight in the bulkheads without risk of what just happened to me happening again? I'm thinking either silicone glue or CA glue.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

I carefully disassembled, cleaned, and dried all the components with a blow-dryer last night. I left everything to air out over night and this morning I reconnected everything and am pleased to report that every single component is working properly. No problems at all. Thanks guys!

Now - Who can tell me what is the best way to keep the servo bushings nice and tight in the bulkheads without risk of what just happened to me happening again? I'm thinking either silicone glue or CA glue.

Report back on the operation of these devices this time, next year.

[rwtdiver]

I carefully disassembled, cleaned, and dried all the components with a blow-dryer last night. I left everything to air out over night and this morning I reconnected everything and am pleased to report that every single component is working properly. No problems at all. Thanks guys!

Now - Who can tell me what is the best way to keep the servo bushings nice and tight in the bulkheads without risk of what just happened to me happening again? I'm thinking either silicone glue or CA glue.

Gwen,

Happy to hear that everything seems to have gone well! :-))

Could you post up a photo of servo bushing and the bulkhead? Might help so you get some good suggestions!?

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat."

[GwenB]

Gwen,

Happy to hear that everything seems to have gone well! :-))

Could you post up a photo of servo bushing and the bulkhead? Might help so you get some good suggestions!?

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat."

Thanks Rob, Sure I'll post a photo shortly.

[GwenB]

Report back on the operation of these devices this time, next year.

Will do, and if I forget you can feel free to remind me.

[rwtdiver]

Will do, and if I forget you can feel free to remind me.

Gwen,

It sounds like you have done it all correct! Getting everything out of the cylinder to start drying out. When this happened to me i also used my airbrush compressor on LOW pressure to blow around the connections and all the nooks and crannies to help dry things out. Using a hair dryer will help to dry out the moisture that may have condensed on the inside of some of the electrical component's cases, then used electrical spray to help in cleaning up and dry the electrical circuits. This method has always worked for me, and I am not saying it is right or wrong! I know how (speaking from experience) disappointing a flooded WTC can be!


Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat."

I am at a loss for the right words at this point. As I stated above on my situation with a WTC that leaked, and the entire cylinder was full of water. I followed the procedures that I listed above as to how I APPROCHED the situation. It worked for me! The WTC (Subdriver) I am references is now three years old and has been in 4 other submarines since and I have not had one problem in 3 years. I am very sure that circumstances with leakage of WTC (Subdriver) are not in any way exactly the same. And as stated: I am not saying that the procedures I used is the right way or the wrong way!

I in no way approached the solution to my water leak issue as extensively as what David suggested. All I know is what I did worked for me! Not one way of doing something is a do all for everything or everyone.

The above is what I did to solve my issue with the water leak, and it worked for me!! Did not mean to step on Davids toes!!

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat."

[GwenB]

OK Rob, here are a couple photos of the bulkhead and servo pushrod bushings.

[Bob Gato]

Those look like cup seals in a brass housing with a bushing behind...Remove the cup seal and clean-Clean- CLEAN the seating area (q-tip and Iso)...polish the brass rod shiny ..Clean the new cupseals of parting agent with alcohol and glue in new seals using good grade 100% silicone RTV. lube the brass rod and seals with any of the magic greases that everyone swears by on this forum...Did they come apart? I like to leave the curl from the tube cutter to prevent the seal from coming out with out anything but a strong pull and a twist-if its not there think about gluing (CA or epoxy) in the next size down of brass tube to act as a retainer for the seal.

Update: I can see the curl on the bushing side but don't see any thing to retain the cupseal on the other side-that is a lot to ask of the RTV. I would def think about gluing in a 3/32-1/8" sliver of brass tube over the seal-

[GwenB]

Those look like cup seals in a brass housing with a bushing behind...Remove the cup seal and clean-Clean- CLEAN the seating area (q-tip and Iso)...polish the brass rod shiny ..Clean the new cupseals of parting agent with alcohol and glue in new seals using good grade 100% silicone RTV. lube the brass rod and seals with any of the magic greases that everyone swears by on this forum...Did they come apart? I like to leave the curl from the tube cutter to prevent the seal from coming out with out anything but a strong pull and a twist-if its not there think about gluing (CA or epoxy) in the next size down of brass tube to act as a retainer for the seal.

The entire outer bushing (the brass tube you can see on the outside) pushed out of the bulkhead so the water went right around the whole thing and through the hole in the bulkhead. The cup seal assembly seems ok but the outer tube is not sealed well enough in the bulkhead. And I plan to refit all my servo openings on the WTC to make sure this doesn't happen again. I'm thinking that I should use CA on the outer surface of the tube where it passes through the bulkhead so it's held in place. And then use silicone glue around the tube on the outside of the bulkhead to help seal any possible leaks around the tube. What do you think?

[rwtdiver]

The entire outer bushing (the brass tube you can see on the outside) pushed out of the bulkhead so the water went right around the whole thing and through the hole in the bulkhead. The cup seal assembly seems ok but the outer tube is not sealed well enough in the bulkhead. And I plan to refit all my servo openings on the WTC to make sure this doesn't happen again. I'm thinking that I should use CA on the outer surface of the tube where it passes through the bulkhead so it's held in place. And then use silicone glue around the tube on the outside of the bulkhead to help seal any possible leaks around the tube. What do you think?

I see what you are saying about the cup seal housing not secured to the bulkhead. I have always used thin CA to secure the housing to the inside of my PLA 3D printed bulkheads, I then applied silicone around the EXSTERIOR portion of the brass housing coming out of the bulkhead. Not sure what material your bulkhead is made of, so you would need to see if CA would apply here or not!? It works great on PLA. If it will work just make sure you scuff up the outside of the bushing before installing.

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat."