Building my first 3D printed sub - WTC sizing question

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  • frozenottsel
    Lieutenant, Junior Grade
    • Jun 2020
    • 11

    Building my first 3D printed sub - WTC sizing question

    Hello all, I am currently working on my own 3D designed/printed sub and I have a question about how large/long the WTC should be.

    To start, the sub is modeled after the Virginia Class submarine; at the current scale that I'm modeling the sub at, it'll come out to be 1.46 m (4 feet 9 in) long with a general outer hull diameter of 130 mm (5 in) (and an inner hull diameter of 128 mm (4.8 in)). The general design of the body is almost done and I'm trying to design in as many of the internal features as possible, including the bulkheads and WTC cradles. (I've included a couple photos of the sub in soldiworks for visualization.)

    I would like the try my hand at making my own WTC, however this will be my first personally built WTC and I'm not sure about the sizing. For note, I'm not currently planning anything too special for this sub, for now the goal is to just have working control surfaces and basic ballast control. With all this in mind, is there a general rule of thumb to follow when it comes to sizing WTC's to models?

    Thanks for the time and consideration, as well as any advice you may have to offer :D
  • frozenottsel
    Lieutenant, Junior Grade
    • Jun 2020
    • 11

    #2
    Floodable volume and total above waterline displacement; I'll keep that in mind going forward, thanks for the advice :D

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    • frozenottsel
      Lieutenant, Junior Grade
      • Jun 2020
      • 11

      #3
      Okay, so I've got some hardware and parts coming in the mail soon (along with a couple new spools of filament to start printing) and I'm now looking at electronics in the meanwhile. My main concern right now is setting up my failsafe for the system.

      As far as I can tell the Nautilus BLM seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. I've watched a few of Bob Martin's videos of WTC setup and wiring and it appears that his builds tend to use the BLM to actuate a gas valve to blow out the ballast tanks during emergencies (be it low battery or signal loss). However, in the case with my sub, the ballast will be a piston system on a peristaltic pump, so I won't be able to empty it by blowing water from tanks. Does anyone know if I would be able to set a BLM to run the pump to empty the piston?

      Maybe I could run a y connection into the pump's speed controller with one line coming from the receiver and the other coming from the BLM?

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      • frozenottsel
        Lieutenant, Junior Grade
        • Jun 2020
        • 11

        #4
        Ahh, okay. That's perfect then :D

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        • RCSubGuy
          Welcome to my underwater realm!
          • Aug 2009
          • 1768

          #5
          Yep, yep! The BLM isn't a gas-blow failsafe, it's just a trigger. Loss of signal or low battery trigger it to output a signal, which you could hook up to almost anything from a light to a horn to a valve to a motor relay!

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