Nautilus Drydocks - Yesterday's work

[Subculture]

If it's just for programming and light loads then no problem, I thought you were going to be using it for testing props etc. If you use a arduino uno or nano to program the escs, you can program several at once , which saves a lot of faffing about.

[RCSubGuy]

Andy,

The rig is plastic. Bear in mind that there is no heat buildup during programming, and testing takes about 3 seconds, so no appreciable heat will be generated. All that said, I can also simply flip the ESC over if it's determined to be an issue.

I hear you concerning the SC leadership. Both Ed and I have both decided this is our last "kick at the can" in terms of pushing for change. If this doesn't work, then the ideas and energy will be re-allocated and focused here with the same initiatives and ideas, but a different platform.

[Subculture]

Is that motor/esc rig mounted on a sheet of metal or plastic? If it's the latter then you might want to flip the esc over the other way, as I think the mosfets may be face down at the moment, and that won't help them keep cool.

Good luck with the SC nomination, but you'll be up against it in my opinion. Although membership get a chance to vote in for a new president, vice president and treasurer every three years or so, the executive committee remains the same, and any shift in leadership will need their support or the ability to successfully persuade them to a shift in strategy. The recent untimely passing of Jeff Larue may concentrate minds a little.

[RCSubGuy]

Taking inspiration from His Majesty's thread, I want to see if I can scrounge up the discipline to post up daily (ish) updates as to what goes on in the shop here at the Drydocks.

Here's a point-form update of things that don't have accompanying photos:

1. COVID-19 is messing with my supply chain. Deliveries from some of my overseas vendors are hugely delayed and, in some cases, ceased altogether. Even domestic orders that would typically take a couple of days to get to me are now taking over a week. If I have to order it in, be prepared for a delay in getting your order fulfilled.
2. I have been nominated for the role of President of the SubCommittee. I, in conjunction with my running-mate, Ed Tordahl (Quartermaster here on the forums) have high hopes that enough of that membership will realize the inevitable path to inconsequence that the organization is currently on and vote to put new, fresh leadership in place. If you aren't already, I'd urge you to become a member (it's $10!) and vote for us when the time comes!
3. FedEx did me the huge favor of losing my last stocking order of cylinders from David. That would be no less than NINE of the new MSD SubDrivers and a batch of gas backups. They say they delivered it on Saturday. Of course, with the virus, there is no signatures, so the proof of delivery just reads "CV-19". I've got a call in and they're trying to trace now. I've got outstanding customer orders that I was counting on these for. Stupid virus. Stupid FedEx.
4. Two quick builds over the next couple of weeks. Both are based off of subs that I took in trade or outright purchased. One is the very unique Japanese Kairyu midget sub, and the other is a DK Models 48th scale Type VII. Both have the hulls 90% done. I just need to drop in a cylinder, test and trim, and do final cosmetics.

Okay... a few pictures of stuff n' things from yesterday's work:

My daily workout regime is slaughtered. I usually take CrossFit-inspired classes at my local gym. Of course, now we're forced to do it all via online workouts. I've got no weights, so I make do with what is laying around. Logan and I are trying to do daily exercise. This was part of yesterday's workout with me using our little backup generator for weight:



I just got a new workbench for my 3D printing station. Got it put together and set up in the morning while the rest of the clan slept. Much better than my abomination of plastic shelves and collapsing tables I had previously!:



Work continues on the big German Type VII for Marcel up in Quebec. Inspired by Ed's writeup on his Skipjack, and proven with my MSS experiment (click here for the write up on that one if you haven't already seen it) I am working on the rear control compartment. This one houses the twin drive motors, ESC, rudder and rear plane servos, Depth Controller, Battery and Link Monitor, Pitch Controller, ballast air pump, equalization valve, emergency blow switch and HP15 electronic switch for ballast.

Yes, it looks like not much more than a container of multicolored spaghetti with metal meatballs, but trust me, it works (or it should... I really HOPE it does....)

The forward control module will house bow thruster controls, servos for bow planes, bow plane retracts, torpedo doors and torpedoes, along with the periscope pump.



This is the new programming and test rig that I built for the superb little BLHeli32 ESC's that Andy put me on to for the new MSD cylinders. The ESC's are literally the size of a postage stamp and offer TONS of programmable features. This rig allows me to program each ESC and test for functionality before bundling with the cylinders for shipping.