Homebuilt ROVs Forum

WOW! Perfect!

Just finished the print and popped off the support material with ease. The motor fits like a GLOVE! with no sanding or finishing at all! just remove the o-ring on the
outside of the motor and it popped right in.

thanks!!!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pupxmmf6emfdh ... 2.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gtow68nwedl2r ... 3.JPG?dl=0

Looks great... I guess my tweaks did the trick then, glad everything worked out.

-Steve

Here we go.... 11 hours, 07 minutes, 29 Seconds later I have half a float. Fresh off the printer showing the support material. The support material pops cleanly out. A quick peek of the inside. As expected I did get some layer separation. Unfortunately this is quite common when printing in ABS without a heated incloser. I was going to print this in PETG but I wanted to use up this roll of ABS anyway so I thought I'd at least see what happens. It shouldn't be a problem as it's going to be filled with a epoxy/microballoons mixture anyway but, I may redo this later on in PETG I'll have to see how the rest goes first. The good news is my end cap and relay bracket fit damn near perfect. I'm going to try and print the other half of the float tonight and see what happens.

-Steve

The other half only took 10 Hours 47 Minutes. It had the same layer separation in the same exact places but the two halves fit together pretty well. The relay bracket fits perfect too. Now I just half to print the other end cap, the tether clamp setup, and then figure out how to make the microballons fill.

-Steve

Wow, impressive use of CAD and the 3D printer. The results look great and should make the ROV impressive

After a brief hiatus (other projects) I'm back at it... I got the tether clamp printed this week, now I just have to trim the bolts down to fit some acorn nuts.
I also printed up another Kort Mount (as requested shown with the supports, I printed the supports a little to thin on this one so they look funky but it worked out fine.) after the tweaks i did (as oceanrov31 confirmed) the pump fits perfect now, no sanding required.
Two down one more to go.
I also got the other side cap printed and everything is all set to glue together and fill with some epoxy and micro balloons. Still not sure if it's going to work but I'm optimistic as this point.
While the design isn't complete yet I also printed up one of the side plates to test fit the thrusters and get a feel for the overall size of the Rov. I'm pushing the limits of my printer with these.
It's not pretty but so far so good.....
So far everything is looking good, the Kort mounts are actually quiet sturdy when bolted to the frame.

Next I have to figure out the epoxy micro balloons mixture and go from there.....

-Steve

Wow! That is amazing. I can't wait to see the finished product.

I'm doing a little test on the Buoyancy Fill tonight. I'm using some old micro balloons I had laying around from my R/C Days and a epoxy like polymer coating. (it's old too but so hopefully it works.)
I mixed up about 10ml of the polymer, it has a ton of bubble in it....
I have no idea on ratios here so I just keep adding the micro balloons until its almost like peanut butter. I'm going to need it to flow into any gaps and voids inside the float housing so this might be too thick.
I'm using my vibratory case cleaner to try to shake out some of the bubbles in the polymer.
I decided to stick it in my pressure pot at about 40psi to try and eliminate any bubbles or voids that might be left.
Well it floats that's a good sign. It did have some voids in it still but the piece came out nice and hard which means it can be sanded to shape if need be. I am having some doubts again that I didn't make my flotation pod large enough so it has enough buoyancy but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

-Steve

I also printed the cross motor brace and another Kort Mount. I printed this one at .30 layer height and while it came out ok it will need some sanding to get the pump to fit in it without being too tight.

The motor brace design will probably change once I figure out how I am going to mount the camera but this is good enough for a mock up.

-Steve

I printed the other side last night and did a temporary mock up. I think it's going to need a complete redesign of the buoyancy pod though. I'm guessing but I think it's going to need about double the size of the area to be able to keep everything afloat. I don't want to go to all the trouble and waste of filling this current one in with micro balloons and not have it work so it's back to the drawing board for now.

-Steve