Poseidon Mk II

[AHarris]

Hello scubersteve,

The yellow buoyancy device (a £2.99 swimming float from Amazon ) doesn't have any holes in, but there should be suitable distance between the prop blade (not shown, but would mount to the end of the gold spindle) and the float. The only issue I can see is water resistance but even then it isn't much bigger than an A4 piece of paper.

In terms of my previous designs, I believe they probably would of worked, however the issues came during the build. As mentioned in an earlier post, the budget quickly drained due to poor planning from me, and even at the beginning the budget was small which made it hard enough as it was.

Overall, a lack of supplies, a low budget and my poor planning where the main issues.

[Tal]

I can't think of anything else that I would need, although if anyone spots anything which is clearly missing I would appreciate it if you pointed it out to me!

The only thing I spotted straight away, AHarris, was if you had plans on how you would be viewing the video feed. Do you already have a display with RCA input from previous projects? or will you be plugging into your laptop (and if so, have you budgeted for a breakout box to allow the video capture, if required?). I've found its often the million little things you don't think of, because I'm so focused on the main items, although you'd be well versed with this from your previous attempts.

Now to attempt drawing a set of step by step diagrams for assembly, hopefully now I will see if I miss anything.

I sat down last night and and added to my very own diagram. I know you have had previous experience, but anyone reading this who is working on their first ROV project, this could very well be the best advice you read! If you don't have a plan, get out your favorite software (check out KR2_diving's plan), or just a piece of paper and pencil, and start scribbling. I actually drew a full scale drawing (in about 5 seconds) of my ROV and started drawing in all the components. Yes, it looked like my 2 year old son had drawn me a dinosaur.... But all of a sudden, it was really quite obvious when I'd overlooked something. I drew lines between sub-systems but included how they would be connected (Here's the thruster, and it will be connected to the ESC. Will I put the ESC in the thruster housing, or main housing. If its in the main housing, that's another connection I'll need between the two...what connectors should I use and how many extra should I have for the future) and the shopping list started growing.....and so did the question list. How will I........Just keep writing/typing!

Great to see you are making progress, and look forward to your next update!

P.s. Thanks for the tip on Sketchup! Just downloaded it and hope to play with it over the next few days

[AHarris]

Thanks for the reply Tal,

have you budgeted for a breakout box to allow the video capture

Some of the stuff posted I already have, mainly the cabling which I kept from my previous projects, including the 30m stretch of RCA.
Within my box of supplies, unfortunately smaller than when it started due to me using the bits for other things, I also have an EasyCap SMI Grabber thingy ma jig which connects the RCA to my laptop. Unfortunately trying to get it running on Ubuntu Linux was a royal pain in the behind so I had to dual boot into Windows.

or just a piece of paper and pencil, and start scribbling

I would agree with you, nothing beats paper and pencil when you start your initial design, being a web developer as one of my other hobbies, I'm used to the concept of scribbling things on paper before actually starting anything.

Great to see you are making progress, and look forward to your next update!

Well, unfortunately I was close to hitting the £200 budget with my basic design, mainly the cost of the motors and batteries which are looking to cost almost £100 between them.

Fortunately though, it has just been my birthday and a set of cards filled with money came through the door today (bad weather meant postal delays)! So it looks like I can go all out, and hopefully this means there won't be any bits that are left with a shortcut.

[AHarris]

Whilst attempting to find some cheap mineral oil which I could use to fill my electronic and camera enclosures, I happened to come accross this bottle of Johnson's Baby Oil on Amazon.

I can assure you, this image hasn't been edited in anyway:

[scubersteve]

lol
awesome
how many you gonna get???

[simpleben77]

you would certainly hope the shipping is free.

[KR2_Diving]

I heard about those! That is one of the Limited Edition Unicorn Drool formulas!

[AHarris]

Ok,

Here is the complete parts list, including cost. It is a bit above my original budget (approx £50 ($77)) however with the late arrival of some birthday cards I think it shall be OK. I still am going to look for some areas which I can price cut, however as I say, it is feasible.

Some of the items included in this list are and some aren't on my original post, this is because of changes I have made, and because I already have some of the resources I need.

What sort of prices, if you don't mind me asking, have you lot spent on your ROVs?