Because everybody needs a pump The sharper among you will note that the pump is round. Indeed, this is by design. The square-bottomed pumps are convenient for sticking in square spaces, but are inconvenient it you want to rotate the pump a few degrees for clearance on the outlet or some other reason. Outside diameter is 55mm, height is 24mm not counting motor nor height of the allen screw heads. Impeller diameter is 35mm. Another view of the DC pump. The motor mount plate on this pump is designed for a brushed 550-size motor. More significantly, look at the mount plate. You can rotate the top to any facing that you wish, allowing you to point the motor wires in different directions if this helps fit the pump in the boat better. The pump will go together with 4-40 allen-head screws, and will also fit M3 screws if desired. I like M3 better, but upon further reflection, most of my older gear is 4-40 compatible, and my friend Brian's QE, a very near sister ship, will be running 4-40 hardware. Below, you can see the pump disassembled. On the left, the motor mount plate (upside-down), and on the right, the pump body. Note that they have a circumferential lip for proper alignment and a better seal. The other neat part about this design is that you get quick access to the impeller. Removing the 4 main screws, you separate the mount plate fromt he pump body,a nd the impeller is instantly visible for troubleshooting, if necessary. No having to fiddle with a setscrew through a tiny weep hole in the pump body to pull the impeller out of the pump body! (If having to do that hasn't annoyed you in the past, sorry. It has bugged the crap out of me). Previous iterations of my home made pumps have had larger-than-usual pump outlets, which are great for more flow, but not very standard. So this one has a standard sized pump outlet, same size as BC and Swampy (I haven't played with a Strike pump yet; if they're the same as Swampy's were, then mine is same as theirs) pumps. Below, you can see the impeller, a fairly typical 4-blade impeller, also printed in ABS, with a brass 1/8" collar chemically welded into the center to give positive lock on the motor shaft. The impeller also gets a gentle acetone bath to strengthen and smooth the blade surfaces. The little dingus hanging off the motor mount plate (top edge) is flash from printing. I will be posting more next weekend as Brian K and I do flowrate testing Haven't made any for selling (yet) but they'll likely go for $20 each, with a piece of hose and a 1-unit restrictor. I will be making a different motor mount plate to fit the 28mm-class brushless motors, and also a smaller 1/2-unit DC pump. **DC is Damage Control, not the motor type Navy talk, eh, wot?!
They take a lot of fiddling to get right, but they're great fun and very satisfying once you're there. Heck, they're fun and very satisfying while you're working to get there!
Brian K came over today, and among other things, we tested the pump! With the proviso that it was leaking between the motor mount plat and the pump body*, it moved water, which was nice since it was running backwards and we were in a hurry at that point (Mrs. Tugboat had dinner ready)... Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I will be testing it with a restrictor on, with it spinning the right way, and testing the flow rate. * the pump was held together loosely with tape, because I didn't have screws long enough to bolt it together. They are getting here before Thanksgiving.
More joyous pics and data coming when I'm off on Friday, and it's fully sealed and running forwards lol. The cool thing is with the 3D printer, I can tell it 'Make me 4 of these,' and then I got to bed and they're done in the morning when I wake up. Which is going on right now with 4 MAG throttles I'll do 4 more tomorrow night, then do a run of pumps for a few nights, and by then, I'll have the 550-size gearbox ready to go so I can do a few runs of those
With the recent heart trouble, she doesn't want me 'pushing myself too hard' I have Christopher Koehler and Stefan coming over in 2 weeks to clean the pool. They need money for their boat projects
Oh, but it is... Brian and I had a number of complaints from our Axis friends* about our ships with two stringers (fully compliant with the MWCI rules, checked by current and former board members), so we're rebelling and going full Luddite. MAG throttles, brushed motors, and Pb-SO4 batteries. I'm going even further by using poppet valves and driving to battles in a horse-drawn wagon. But I do it with LOVE I'm in the hobby to sink and be sunk, and hang out with people as crazy as I am, not to be Most Feared. I pick my boats based on 1) I think they're cool/pretty and 2) How many I've seen on the water. More unique = better. Malaya was stretching it as I've seen 3 or 4, but right after I got mine, Brian got one, then Lou and John in Hot-lanta, and someone else I forget who. Pete is continuing to drive his KGV, so Valiant doesn't count. I'd switch ships to get out of the crowd, but I promised my wife that I would drive Malaya for 4 years as my main ship. So there I am. On the plus side, a bunch of people like to do the casement-equipped version so mine will be a little different. The forthcoming printed predread will be set up such that one can run brushed or brushless.
If you want to REALLY blow some minds, use your 3D printer to print out ribs, keels, subdecks, etc & assemble an "old skool" hull using plastic instead of wood.
Fellow nuke-man... I'm already on the printed hull project... the first 3D printed hull will be USS Connecticut BB-18, and I've got from the bow back to the first set of casements done (in the CAD file), not counting the deck. The entire hull and deck will be 3D printed, along with the SS. Could do separate ribs, keels, etc, and slot them together, but a complete printed hull would be more impressive Anachronous has generously volunteered to be one of my test dummies with the printed hulls. If Connecticut comes out well, SMS Deutschland is the next one to get done. Got to maintain order and balance in the printed warship universe The ability to print a warship in one or two print runs is the main driving force behind my construction of Rostock (see that thread for info)
New impeller on the pump, some minor changes in the flowpath, yields a very manly stream! from one end of the pool to the other, about 15 feet in the air! With a plain 550 motor They're $20 with that motor on them, capacitors installed A closer view after the testing: Available in gray right now, more colors coming soon.
One day, yes Right now, I'm working the Mendel a LOT making parts. The last parts for the Rostock are coming as Christmas presents, so it'll be done and printing in January, which is also my goal for finalizing the files for my first printed ship. About to debut ruder servo mounts and some other fun stuff. One day soon, I'll have a website In the meantime, Mendel is cranking out parts
Heh. I do not have that capability YET. Might by next winter depending on work load. I saw that a professor up north made a crude metal-printing 3D printer using a Rostock gantry and a welding rod. Pretty crude and it didn't do stainless. BUT. I have a wire-feed welder capable of using stainless wire, and with a gas tank to supply the gas to exclude oxygen, it's a possibility Brian wants a 3D printer, but can't quite swing the $600 to make one, so I started working on a new design that uses a section of large-diameter PVC sewer pipe as the frame, and some other money-saving measures. Without letting the cat out of the bag design-wise, the big compromise I had to make to go cheaper without losing precision is a slower print speed, and giving up the printed bed (although that's an easy add-on later). No printed bed means no ABS, BUT... you can print in nylon without a heated bed, and nylon has very good tensile strength relative to ABS, and it's also more heat-resistant. But I think we can come in price-wise between $200 and $250. Then we have to work on the software (which is Brian and his son's area of expertise) to make the software user-friendly for people who aren't 3D printing geeks. So stainless printing will wait a bit but it's in the pipeline, I guess. So all the gearboxes and pumps and other parts sold serve the greater good by funding my 3D printing R&D How does this help the greater good? I am a part of the RepRap movement and once the design is good, it gets released under a permissive license online for anyone that wants to download the files and make one. Yeah, yeah, I know, for a conservative guy, I have a deep power-to-the-people streak
