RE: 3dp u-boat Brian and I will be putting in small pumps for local rules for combat subs. trick will be getting a check valve that seals well and flows well, at the appropriate times
RE: 3dp u-boat The toughest part for that VIIC (at least, I think it will be) will be setting up twin props in that small a space. You going w/ 1 motor twin output gearbox? Well, building the rudder servo linkage will be fun, too.
RE: 3dp u-boat I've always wondered why no fast gun subs used dynamic diving. With their greater speed over big gun boats (which have always been dynamic), they would have a much easier time diving. That said, dynamic diving subs do need control over at least stern planes, preferably both. That gives you control over depth and trim, allowing you to either cruise st periscope depth, or power your boat to the surface in case of flooding.
RE: 3dp u-boat Probably because dynamic diving sub's are a disadvantage because you can't just sit on the bottom or stay still while submerged.
RE: 3dp u-boat Brian and I are doing static diving because it looks cool And because one can sit still and laugh at the surface monkeys.
RE: 3dp u-boat I remember reading an article about someone who built a sub (I believe it was a British M-1?) that was armed with a cannon. The captain would surface, take some shots, and dive again before the enemy could respond.
RE: 3dp u-boat I feel super-awesome right now. My shiny new RepRap Ormerod is printing its first calibration test piece. I can't take my eyes off it for a moment, I'm just too fascinated watching the various parts move about. Perhaps the most fascinating part is the sound it makes. Like the buzz of high-voltage power lines or the hum of an ESC, I can hear the whine of the stepper motors. But instead of making one constant pitch, each one goes up and down as it changes speed. The coolest part is when it does circles, because the X, Y, and Z axes are all moving at constantly-changing rates. Hopefully I will have my printer fully armed and operational and ready to print my own submarine by tomorrow. edit: or not, it seems I have some settings wrong with my printer. It lays down material properly, but occasionally messes up and scrapes the previous layer up, wrecking the print. I don't know what is wrong, but I'll bring my printer with me tomorrow and hopefully the 3d printing guru will know.
RE: 3dp u-boat With 3 3D printers in one area (even if one hides in the back of the house while I figure out Arduino programming), this will be the highest-tech build session ever held at vonTugboat's shop!! Q'plah!
RE: 3dp u-boat I just switched my printer from PLA to ABS. My first test piece came out almost perfect. My next project was supposed to be a set of ABS replacement parts for my printer, because other users have reported long-term problems from using the stock PLA parts to print high-temp ABS. However, slic3r refuses to slice up the .stl files for the printer. I even tried Cura, with exactly the same results.I posted on the Reprap forums asking for help, but looks like it'll be a bit before I'm really up to speed with my printer. edit: never mind, I wasn't downloading the files correctly. The X carriage is now printing, and I feel very silly..
RE: 3dp u-boat Printing cannon magazines now (BB cannon type, coil mag). I have 3 failed attempts but I think this round of trying has got the settings right!!!
RE: 3dp u-boat Tugboat, how much did you scale down the U-boat to print it in 1:144 scale? A few mechanic buddies of mine are dubious about the difficulty of building one for combat...
RE: 3dp u-boat Tell the mechanics to do their own research I don't remember off the top of my head. I loaded the file into Cura, clicked on a part, then clicked 'scale', which pops up the dimensions. Work out scale with (I think 1.69" beam, it's further up in the thread in any case), then used a calculator to determine percentage to scale it. But with any luck, since I didn't see this until 8 hours after you asked, you already did that and it's printed, right?
RE: 3dp u-boat The scaling calculation wasn't hard. Getting an accurate measure of the original model's beam, then rotating it vertical for printing, that was hard. My printer doesn't like Cura at all, something about feedrate and XYZ coordinate input issues, and nobody bothering to add support for it. There's one old plugin, that doesn't work any more. End result is I'm stuck with Slic3r, which cannot rotate objects the way I need. Very frustrating. I guess I'll have to do something in Sketchup tomorrow.
RE: 3dp u-boat Use Cura to get the size right (i.e. just the numbers, not generating the G-code), then scale it in Slic3r and generate the G-code there..
RE: 3dp u-boat I was! Minor issues with some plastic droop in spots that cause it to obscure the path of the BBS, but I am tweaking the settings. It's almost there I did scale it a bit to make the diameter of the tube a little bigger (to minimize the effect of plastic droop), and I realized that I was printing at a slow speed (which was good for other shapes that did not have any bridging). Increasing the print speed from 40 to 60mm/s improved things dramatically, and I'm going to try 70. I've gone faster, but I'm going incrementally as there are tradeoffs that one makes when going faster. ABS doesn't normally respond to a print cooling fan, but I've printed a fan duct for the printhead and will try manually triggering the fan when doing the sections where it's overhanging. Worth a shot. What were the outside dimensions of your magazine as you printed it? Getting closer on my Rostock, which should do a very good job at these, as the print speed is MUCH greater than the Mendel's. I can also print in nylon with no drama on the Rostock; the PTFE in the Mendel's hot end is getting very close to its tolerances when printing at temperatures needed for nylon to flow, so I don't want to do nylon on the Mendel, in the name of keeping it running
RE: 3dp u-boat The cool part is that at a print speed of 60, it takes like 40 minutes tops to print one magazine, so I can tweak settings and see changes several times per night. I'm using my less-used colors for testing, so I have a bunch of gold ones, a green one, etc On a print like this, with critical internal tolerances, it's important to keep the filament very very dry, as it's quite hygroscopic (sp?) and the water absorbed turns into little steam pockets that cause bulges, etc in the print, which can jam BBS. For durability, I think that nylon is the way to go, as the ABS is tough but not very hard(relative to nylon or PLA), and will eventually get some dings inside that could cause a jam.
RE: 3dp u-boat Sounds like good progress. I'll measure my nylon sintered magazine and post the dimensions tonight. I think I'll also try and print one myself. I'm actually making good progress on getting my new printer together, a CoreXY. Tested the XY stage last night and was able to get a rapid move at a commanded 650 mm/s. I'm going to hook up switches and run some speed tests and see how close to that speed it is actually moving. Circles were good at 200mm/s, so that looks like tops for any actual printing.
RE: 3dp u-boat I've seen the CoreXY in a couple of incarnations... can you link to the one you're working from? And is this for a plotter/laser cutter, or are you going to add Z motors to move the print surface vertically?
