Rudder re-design! I wanted to improve the rudder's performance. I remembered @Beaver 's recommendations, and since my original design did not really work well.... I figured I'd listen this time!!! Please give me recommendations or improvements! Since I'm re-printing the entire ship for next weekend's battle, this part should be in the printer by no later than tomorrow. Here is the side profile: - I made it taller as per @Beaver & I notched it into the hull as @Commodore recommended. - I'm still following big gun rudder size limitations, so it is not as large as fast gun. I also can't use some of the advanced water channelling because (as per Big Gun rules) it wasn't even close to the prototype shape. Bottom Profile: - I moved the rudder post back to 40/60 split of the rudder as per @Beaver's recommendation. Here is 45 degrees: Here is 90 degrees: Finally rear shots 45 degrees: 90 degrees: While I was at it, I upgraded the servo mount be sure it can actually take a full size servo; which I'll be using in the coming battle.
That’s the plan! I think I’ll have: - propulsion, rudder, and speed fixed. - Front 7/32” cannons with rotate. - Float The next priority is pump, which is at risk by Saturday. I have accepted the rear cannon will be too much by Saturday.
what power are you using? I have a few set ups for pumps I can get to you if you wanna slap together and drop them in drop them in. they are designed for 12v
Thanks! I might take you up on that. It’s a 12V system so that works. The only question would be if the output tube can make it out of the ship. Your ships will be ready?
Abruzzi was working yesterday, but we will see what breaks down when I get to the water on Saturday though
Update - I’ve been fighting the humidity to get quality prints out of the Taz. The ABS is saturating in just over a day, so I keep cycling between printing and drying the rolls. FRUSTRATING and really slowing me down. The last hull is in the printer, and hopefully will be in my hands at 9am tomorrow. Next I need to print a lot of small parts. Tonight, I’m trying to get everything fitted; so Amazon has time to get me anything I forgot before it’s too late. Lastly here is a much improved cannon rotate. It still needs to move more freely. The servo still struggles a bit which is causing it to be in accurate. https://youtube.com/shorts/lawA_oLJYJQ?feature=share
Not sure how humid it is down in Texas, but here in South Jersey I do nothing special with my ABS and store it in the worst possible way possible (exposed to the shop air, meaning dust + sawdust + chemicals + etc). I never have humidity issues. What are you seeing that makes you think its a moisture issue? Nylon will literally steam as it prints if it is too wet.
Steam pockets and zits are what I see primarily from moisture in my filament. Moisture in the filament creates a tiny void (less than 1mm) in the layer line or if it's in a line next to the surface layer, it can displace a little of the surface layer out. Not the prettiest but generally gets the job done for non-cosmetic parts. Would definitely cause me problems if I was printing cannons I think. In the house here in South Houston, with the AC and a dehumidifier running, I'm happy if the humidity is down around 55-60%. (it's an old house and not as airtight as new construction). Not usually a big issue if I'm actively running long jobs. The filament lives inside the enclosure and the heat inside helps with the humidity (a 15"x15" print bed @ 110C is a very effective heat source). If I don't print for a while and use filament that's been left on the printer, the first prints can be ... less than beautiful.
Ghost Printing and all vertical edges are incredibly rough. When the filament is known dry (new or directly from filament dryer); the print runs strong, clean, and consistent for around 30-ish hours. However, anything last that, it consistently falls into failure state repeatedly. Its very reproducible We’ve had significant rain storms, so the humidity is very high for Dallas. We’re @96% / 105F right now. It sucks. I should note, I have a very consistent pattern of nozzle cleaning, bed prep, and rebooting the printer before sending new prints. I try to make sure everything is very consistent before every print.
Update - The last hull segment came out clean last night! All I need now are a bunch of small parts & 3x deck segments. I started fitting the CO2 system last night. I’m not happy with how tight everything is; but it’s good enough for battle. I couldn’t do full pressure test for my new valves yet, which has me worried. The cheap Amazon fittings I bought are more like a smooth ribbed tube than a true barb. They are going back & new ones are arriving today. The #1 risk for ruining my Saturday is if the valves can’t hold pressure. Will see tonight. I also programmed the matching fire script for the cannons last night. I had a couple of goals: - World-of-warships style target-based fire control. —- If the target can be hit with the cannon, then it fires. —- First trigger pull fires a single round only, hold trigger fires everything. - Automatic reload timing, for Deutschland, it has a 6 second reload - Valves are held open for a set duration to make sure round is actually sent.
@Huru MorDae and I hit the lake yesterday for some dogfighting. It was incredibly useful for me, pointing a rotating cannon at a moving target is a lot harder than I expected! Overall, she handled wonderfully. Shout out to @Commodore as his motors were perfect. The only issue was I used the wrong brand “Duck” tape; & it leaked a lot.
I'd love to see more about your radio setup. How are you doing the coding, what is your interface for turret rotation, etc? I'm also VERY interested in the mechanics of your turret rotation. As for duct tape sheeting, I am using Gorilla Tough And Wide brand. I haven't tested anything else. Furthermore, I'm only using it on a basically slab-sided transport with fairly simple hull form. Pocket BBs with their bulges and armor belts are more complicated and may not sheet well with tape unless you do separate sections.
You should be able to make your servo go 360 if you're willing to open it up. It's just a pin in most cases. View: https://youtu.be/wR8YRN8tKQA
While my next revision is in the printer, I figured I would start with some photos and text descriptions. After failing to get good/cheap results using 6-turn winch servo, I decided to use a standard 270d servo. To make that possible, I need to either mount the servo inline with the cannons, or create a 1:1 gearing. I chose to do the latter. There is a lot going on in this mechanism, so I want to start as simply as I can. The cartridge cannons sits 'into' the gun mount (shown under the turret in this photo). - The gun mount is where the rotation happens. - It's also a simple geometry, so I can add a pivot-based depression in a later phase. In front of the gun mount is the rotation assembly. - The blue box is a waterproof full-size servo. - That servo rotates a pulley which is connected to the gun mount via an O-Ring. - The servo pulley has the cut out of the metal servo arm, which gives it a really good mechanical hold. The black line represents the O-Ring which pairs the rotation assembly to the gun mount. - The cutout above the O-Ring is how the rotating assemblies mounts to the deck. To hold the rotation assemblies in place, I make a cut out (blue) where a plastic AirSoft round fits. - This creates a ball-lock with the channel on the gun mount and the rotation assembly. - Essentially, I've created a plastic ball bearing.
Here’s a close up video of the mechanism. It still has a bit of resistance, so the position doesn’t return exactly to where it should. I hope the next revision (in the printer now) corrects that! Also, this morning the printer fairy delivered the remaining 50-round 7/32” cannons. So, I can’t wait to see what a triple BIG gun cannon can do!! https://youtube.com/shorts/McQSkbbGbbc
Thanks for this! This is the trick that a lot of big guns are using. See @Kotori87’s post here: https://rcwarshipcombat.com/threads/turret-rotation-mechanisms-and-user-interface.446877/ I’m trying to do something a bit different. I want a gun-director, but to do that I need to know exactly where each cannon is pointed. That way, I can make all cannons point in the same direction.
@Kotori87 - and a deep look at the cannon rotate in action. Let me know what you think! I just love seeing three 7/32” cannons rotating back & forth! BTW - those are the new 50-round variants.
Using up-scaled Fast Gun cannons certainly opens up a lot of options that traditional Indiana-style Big Gun cannons don't have. Firing individual barrels instead of full turrets, etc. It doesn't look easy to have depression, though. On most pocket BBs I've seen, the weight of the barrels causes the ship to list when you rotate to the broadside position. So you can do long-range fire straight off (or near to) the bow/stern, or close-range fire in the broadside direction. No need for depression servos at all. If you want to do this but the plastic barrels don't induce enough list, consider adding a stainless steel barrel liner to add weight and reduce blow-by. Also very curious what kind of velocity you're getting. It seems like you've got a pretty good rotation setup. If you ever cannot find the right size o-ring, you can make your own using Textured Round Belting from Mcmaster-Carr. Just cut to desired length, then melt the ends with a candle and press together. I use the stuff on all of my ships.
