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New r/c submarine kits have been released, and more are in the works. And some of these (specifically those requiring a single propeller/rotor shaft) require more torque at the shaft than a single 500/sized motor can deliver.
So, time has come to add another SubDriver to the Caswell empire: a 3.5 SD that will apply two motors to the shaft through a higher ratio gear train.
Well over a year ago the need for this more powerful SD was identified by Bob Martin, when he announced the anticipated release of his big Disney NAUTILUS hull kit. At that time I promised to give the matter my attention, but other things kept getting in the way. Well, now that his kit (a masterful piece of engineering and execution) is on the market, I'm in the position of playing catch-up with the needed SD motor bulkhead this beast requires: a prime mover with the power to push the big NAUTILUS -- with its rivet infested, faceted surfaces fighting every water molecule it comes into contact with -- through the water at 'collision speed'.
The big NAUTILUS is one end-user of the new motor-bulkhead. Another will be the soon to be released, 1/72 SEAWOLF kit Joel is working on.
So, what I'll be presenting here is a quick look for you guys who want to see what goes on behind the curtain at D&E as I set about the task of designing, laying out, and fabrication of the masters, tools, and production parts of a new SubDriver's guts.
Enjoy the read and pretty pictures … bask in the warm glow of my magnificence as I perform feats of wonder and amazement with a skill and majesty you mouth-breathing commoners can only marvel at.
Designing (Engineering is another like term) a machine is determining what it is you want a machine/device to do and arranging the items that constitute the machine in such a way that the machine performs the desired task.
First, you sit down, and working with the dimensions of the items that will be integrated, you determine (on paper and physical mock-ups) a workable assembly that does the task intended; you figure out physical arrangement, means of holding the items together, and what will be the most efficient interaction of all the moving items involved.
It’s vital to come up with an arrangement that permits easy and quick maintenance or repair actions. In other words: will the proposed final assembly present unnecessary problems of disassembly/assembly in the course of repair or maintenance? If so, you gotta change the design. What does it take to alter the design to achieve a more user-friendly machine/device that still retains its utility? Often machine efficiency is sacrificed for machine maintainability -- such is the curse of working in the real world.
(Aquadeep: call your office!).
Design sometimes is a very fluid process; things change as you fine-tune the arrangement to suite design criteria.
Good design is embodied in a machine of simple arrangement, ease of access to its parts, and the efficient transport of energy from one part of the machine to the other. Rule of thumb: A quiet, cool machine in motion is a good machine.
(Water-cooling, in our game anyway, is an indicator of poor design).
Below you see a bit of the process of design, as well as the tools and practices of layout. Layout is the process of transferring a two-dimensional design graphic (working drawing) onto a three-dimensional item/part/master object. Here I’m preparing to work a RenShape (the ideal model making medium, available from Caswell Inc.) blank on the lath, drill press, and milling machine to achieve the shape, penetrations, and other features called out for in the working drawing. The best possible drawing is useless unless you transfer those dimensions and features accurately onto the work.
Layout is the God of accuracy.
So, time has come to add another SubDriver to the Caswell empire: a 3.5 SD that will apply two motors to the shaft through a higher ratio gear train.
Well over a year ago the need for this more powerful SD was identified by Bob Martin, when he announced the anticipated release of his big Disney NAUTILUS hull kit. At that time I promised to give the matter my attention, but other things kept getting in the way. Well, now that his kit (a masterful piece of engineering and execution) is on the market, I'm in the position of playing catch-up with the needed SD motor bulkhead this beast requires: a prime mover with the power to push the big NAUTILUS -- with its rivet infested, faceted surfaces fighting every water molecule it comes into contact with -- through the water at 'collision speed'.
The big NAUTILUS is one end-user of the new motor-bulkhead. Another will be the soon to be released, 1/72 SEAWOLF kit Joel is working on.
So, what I'll be presenting here is a quick look for you guys who want to see what goes on behind the curtain at D&E as I set about the task of designing, laying out, and fabrication of the masters, tools, and production parts of a new SubDriver's guts.
Enjoy the read and pretty pictures … bask in the warm glow of my magnificence as I perform feats of wonder and amazement with a skill and majesty you mouth-breathing commoners can only marvel at.
Designing (Engineering is another like term) a machine is determining what it is you want a machine/device to do and arranging the items that constitute the machine in such a way that the machine performs the desired task.
First, you sit down, and working with the dimensions of the items that will be integrated, you determine (on paper and physical mock-ups) a workable assembly that does the task intended; you figure out physical arrangement, means of holding the items together, and what will be the most efficient interaction of all the moving items involved.
It’s vital to come up with an arrangement that permits easy and quick maintenance or repair actions. In other words: will the proposed final assembly present unnecessary problems of disassembly/assembly in the course of repair or maintenance? If so, you gotta change the design. What does it take to alter the design to achieve a more user-friendly machine/device that still retains its utility? Often machine efficiency is sacrificed for machine maintainability -- such is the curse of working in the real world.
(Aquadeep: call your office!).
Design sometimes is a very fluid process; things change as you fine-tune the arrangement to suite design criteria.
Good design is embodied in a machine of simple arrangement, ease of access to its parts, and the efficient transport of energy from one part of the machine to the other. Rule of thumb: A quiet, cool machine in motion is a good machine.
(Water-cooling, in our game anyway, is an indicator of poor design).
Below you see a bit of the process of design, as well as the tools and practices of layout. Layout is the process of transferring a two-dimensional design graphic (working drawing) onto a three-dimensional item/part/master object. Here I’m preparing to work a RenShape (the ideal model making medium, available from Caswell Inc.) blank on the lath, drill press, and milling machine to achieve the shape, penetrations, and other features called out for in the working drawing. The best possible drawing is useless unless you transfer those dimensions and features accurately onto the work.
Layout is the God of accuracy.
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