From: DMeriman@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 7:11 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: A new WTC, The 2" SubDriver, Part-6
Attachments: DSCN0069.JPG; DSCN0070.JPG; DSCN0095.JPG; DSCN0076.JPG;
DSCN0078.JPG; DSCN0079.JPG
A new WTC, The 2"
SubDriver, Part-6
A Report to the Cabal:
Lets finish up here the
last bit about templates, fixtures, jigs and gauges. Then, we'll take
a look at the first five production 2" KILO SubDriver's to get out of
the shop alive! Not bad work ... about ten days from conception to
delivery of a new SubDriver design. I'm getting pretty good at this shit!
What it's all about!
Just to remind ourselves what the 2" KILO SubDriver is for: to run the
Trumpeter KILO submarine ... Duh! The 2" cylinder gives me a
1/4" annular space between it and the inside of the model kits hull --
just enough room to cram in the lead weight and buoyant foam needed to
stabilize this beast!
This evening I'll work
out the masters and tooling for the two semi-circular foundations needed to
stand the SubDriver within the center of the hull. Then on to building up
a proper fittings kit for this thing: two types of propellers (the export and
domestic versions of the KILO had different wheels), properly shaped stern
planes, horizontal stabilizers, rudder, vertical stabilizer, control surface operating
shaft bell cranks, and a internal journal bearing foundations, along with the
above mentioned SubDriver foundations.
I went through about
five versions of the aluminum mounting hardware -- needed to suspend the
servos, APC, ESC, receiver, and fail-safe within the after dry space aboard the
2" KILO SubDriver -- before settlings on the arrangement you see
here. Note the three templates used to mark off sheets of
aluminum, which were then scribed and fractured to the required lengths and widths.
An assembled production
aluminum equipment rail, bulkhead, and bracket shows off the finished product.
To ease assembly and quicken the build I worked out a way to secure the three
elements with only two pop-rivets.
Three pieces that
comprise this item are self-keying, therefore I had no need of a dedicated jig
to assist with assembly and fastening. Time is money!
This jig is used to hold
down a motor as I wrap and solder three .01 uF condensers between terminals and
the motor case. The capacitors work to buffer the high voltage spike generated
by the sparks that originate at the motors brushes and commutator. Without
proper spark suppression all that RF noise could get into the electronics
and on into the receiver detector and 'glitch' the unit.
This jig was designed
not only to hold various sized motors for capacitor attachment, but to
also hold a motor and its associated electronic speed controller as I
make up the wires between the two.
You see one of the
MTronic Sub 10 ESC's and a motor mounted on the jig being soldered together.
Below that is a completed soldering job. The working surface of the jig has a
long strip of sandpaper glued atop it to provide a non-slide surface.
Assembled motors and
ESC's ready to be installed within the motor bulkheads and upon the equipment
rails of KILO SubDriver's. Look out Detroit, me know assembly-line method! Me
thunk good!
Do any of you 21st
Century Yuppie scum know what a cloths-pin is? Well, these are modified wooden
cloths-pins that have been altered to perform a very specialized clamping
operation: holding against the port aluminum equipment rail the on-off switch
that controls power to the entire system.
I used 3/8" plywood
sheet to replace a portion of a cloths-pin and epoxied the two together to
achieve the special clamping tool needed.
The system switch
isolates control and power current through the ESC. all I had to do was find a
way to mount the switch nub in line with the most outboard port pushrod and
pass the pushrod through a hole drilled into the nub. A 1/16" wheel-collar
either side of the nub secured the pushrod to the nub so that linear motion of
the pushrod would turn the SubDriver's systems on or off without need of
opening the cylinder. Pretty neat! But that required epoxying the switch body to
the port equipment rail ... hence, the clamp.
The switch clamping tool
in use. I glued #100 grit sandpaper to the jaw faces of the tool to insure a
non-slip grip between the opposing aluminum rail and the switch body.
Epoxy is just about the
only adhesive you can count on not to fail when used against aluminum, but it
takes time for that goo to cure. Commercially available clamps were too
cumbersome, and those of the right size had too much clamping action and would
have bent the rails. These modified cloths-pins were just right for the job.
Necessity is indeed the mother of invention!
A special jig is used to
hold the parts together as I solder together the ballast tank linkage arm --
that item translates the ballast system servo travel to operate the vent and
blow valves; to blow the tank dry or to open the vent to flood the tank.
Here are the templates,
jigs, and specialized tools developed to speed KILO SubDriver production along.
Toys!
Five production 2"
KILO SubDriver's ready for packing and a trip to Caswell Inc. These things come
out of the shop with four installed and tested servos, three sets of Kli-Con
magnetic couplers, an installed and tested motor and ESC, propellant charging
adapter, and associated hardware. Each unit is factory tested for water
tightness and correct operation of the propulsion, ballasting, and control devices.
All the customer needs do is install battery connectors, provide a battery,
receiver, APC, can of propellant, and fail-safe and he's ready to sail.
What we have here is a
2" SubDriver who's growth potential is fantastic! This thing, with
modifications to cylinder length and motor bulkhead, will evolve into a unit
for the upcoming Moebius SEAVIEW, the Revell 1/72 type-7 and
other injection formed static display kits of submarines.
This is the business-end
of the KILO SubDriver. Here, on the wet side of the motor bulkhead you see four
1/16" pushrods passing through their respective watertight seals. The far
pushrod, on the port side, with a 'hook' at its after end, is used to turn
the system on/off switch ... well .... ahh ... on and off! The three
pushrods connected to the servos will later make up, through Kli-Con magnetic
couplers, to the KILO models bow planes, stern planes, and rudder.
The single propulsion
shaft is 1/8" in diameter and will make up to the submarines 1/16"
drive shaft through a Dumas type universal coupler. On the starboard side of
the motor bulkhead is a modified Schrader valve, used as a cylinder
equalization valve -- used to dump the over-pressure within the cylinder
created whenever the motor bulkhead or the forward bulkhead is installed.
Notice the nice tight
packaging of the three servos and ESC back there!
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