BindoROV1 - Micro DIY ROV

[Bindo]

Brain fart coming..... you have been warned.......

OK so I've attached a little mock-up of my ROV design, Codename...... BindoROV1

The buoyancy is Low Density Buoyancy Foam rated to at least 300msw , i managed to score an offcut, which should be more than adequate for my needs.

The "frame" so to speak, will be either wet or dry, i'm not sure yet, but it'll be made from 10mm airline and festo push fit fittings.

The thrusters are 8x 21mm 1.5-6v DC motors (£0.60 each!), they will be run in parallel, controlled topside by 4 escs, giving fore, aft, yaw, dive/surface, and lateral movement, according to my calcs based on a 10 - 15m tether, using an 8.4v supply, i should end up with more than 6v at the motors at full chat. this puppy won't be fast, but she'll have 5 axis of freedom!

i know i could have had lateral movement with just the 4 vectored thrusters, but it's more of a redundancy thing, more things to go wrong etc,

The camera will be either an £8 parking camera or a spare board camera, running to my FPV screen, or laptop USB DVR.

The obligatory GoPro camera will be mounted on top, with additional buoyancy/ballast added as required

The illumination will be a spare 5V LED module i had lying around for my quadcopter, in pipe fittings, controller by a 200k logarithmic potentiometer for dimming.

the tether will be stranded cat5e, probably 8 pairs will be needed, with closed cell foam on standby should i need it to aid buoyancy.





I'm not planning win MATE or anything with this project, just dipping my toes in the water so to speak.............For now............

Bindo

[scubersteve]

10mm airline? Sounds kinda small and flimsy...

[Bindo]

Yeah i get what you are saying, however it is plastic tubing, so should be fairly rigid, it's more of a crash frame than chassis.

it'll more than likely be holding ballast, though i may have an option to build with stainless steel tubing, i'm still convinced the plastic airline tubing is the way to go....

[Bindo]

Still in the planning stages and throwing ideas around.

I reckon i'm good for buoyancy, so may have to add ballast to offset the gopro, as opposed to adding more buoyancy.

i'm swaying towards the far right, forgoing a light, for a gopro..... at least everything is contained in the crash frame that way and it keeps the COM lower than mounted on top.

[Bindo]

I've been away with work so today is the first time I've actually done anything with the build.

I decided to mount my motors and quickly check that my thruster layout actually works!

It's basically a boat at this point, quite a few things to add, like lights and cameras,, but i'm very buoyant at this stage which i'm happy about, hopefully i'll be able to mount some ballast in the right places and avoid the "seesaw" effect i see on a lot of home built ROV's when flying.

I still need to acquire my tether, I've been disappointed by an eBay seller, so i'm still waiting, but its all coming together nicely.

I made a short video demonstrating the level of maneuverability i'm hoping to have once it's completed.

I won't have tons of thrust, but as i'm hoping to be launching from jetties and pontoons, i don't think that'll be a huge issue.

And yes i know its small, however i'm hoping the principles from this one when completed may be applicable to a larger model

[fryslan76]

that was fun watching, where you trying to lift it from the water around 50% of the clip?

[Bindo]

Hey thanks for the feedback.

Yeah i was just trying an up thrust to see how much it lifted itself out of the water, and that it lifted straight, which it seemed to do.

[Bindo]

Been away with work so things are going to be going slowly for the next few weeks,

but today i did a quick mockup of the frame and roughly trimmed it out, it wasn't trimmed perfectly, but the ROV performed well, in my "test tank" which is now miles too small haha!

I am happy with the level of finesse the system has.

I'm considering running the tether straight up in the middle of the buoyancy, as i'll be operating from directly above in most cases i think it'll give me more control.

[Bindo]

Well the build is finished. .... kind of. Still have a little tidying and finishing to do, however my first dive went well, 5m and my camera and lights held up well, couldn't find a single drop of water in either housing.


The first proper dive is tomorrow, hopefully have some nice footage for you all. I've added a little hook for manoeuvring a hook that's to be deployed from the surface with mandraulics lol, hoping to recover some junk from the local reservoir.

Cheers

Bindo

[Bindo]

Well some of you may be surprised..... I've finished my little micro ROV..... and it works!!!!


Yeah it's a little underpowered, yeah it's not going to win any beauty contests, but it works and it's heaps of fun!

3hrs at a local park and it never missed a beat, it's a real shame the water level in the reservior was very low due to it being summer, however it was about 3m deep, so still bags of fun!

as promised i've cut together a little video of it's maiden voyage.....




cheers

Bindo