Homebuilt ROVs Forum

Well, I just threw this together in a matter of days. Everything is built minus the side pods for thrusters and lights. The flotation block is syntactic foam, which supposedly is good to depths. We shall see... I loved the Video ray design and me being a complete Rtard having no idea how to reverse engineer things, figured I'll give this a whirl. It looks plausible. Everything in the Sketch-up design is measured out to be exact size to the real life counter parts. Once I figure out how to make the pvc reducers in sketch-up I'll add them to the back of the pods for my prop shrouds. My pod domes are a little funky at the moment. I'm still trying to figure out how to use this thing.

The landing struts are just aluminum, I can add some lead weights soon as I get this thing in the water and see where ballast will be needed. The cartridge style bilge pumps will be used for side and upper motors. Everything is off the shelf to build this which actually is really cheap. The housing is a pretty thick clear pvc pipe, dome is from a security camera from harbor freight which I got from an idea off a post on this site. The dome is actually pretty darn thick and I can squeeze it pretty hard in my hand and it flexes very little so it should make it to my 100' depth, not that I can find anything that deep in Rhode Island anyway. The struts are just aluminum rods cut to length, drilled and tapped.

Its going to be a lake and pond skirmisher for now, due to its small stature. I'll add the pictures of the upper housing tomorrow, as I seemingly only have just the skids. Electronics will be simple, just switches and relays, nothing fancy as of yet. Everything will be mounted to a sheet of Lexan or acrylic that will slide in the back through the removable end cap. The top thruster is going be somehow molded onto the top so it sits decently inside the foam float block. I machined a little recess for the dome to fit in and ill glue it in place then seal it up. Should work...theoretically. I cant cut straight lines or curves to save my life so the float block will look more like a deranged football, as I'll post tomorrow. I'm probably going to cut another piece if this thing actually works to keep up with aesthetic appeal.

Any questions, please just ask. I'll post more quickly as this thing is going together really fast.

Looks good demon keep up the good work

Are you planning on leaving that threaded cap unglued to acsess the electronics? if so, what depth do you think it will go to without leeking.

I am trying to use that part in that way, but it is very difficult to fit a o-ring in the seal.

Well, I plan on just using Teflon tape, a few wraps around the cap threads should do it. I'd imagine it should go fairly deep as we use this size tubing at work with quite a bit of water pressure running through it. I reckon if it can keep water inside, it should keep water out in theory. Find out shortly.

jpWA wrote:Are you planning on leaving that threaded cap unglued to acsess the electronics? if so, what depth do you think it will go to without leeking.

I am trying to use that part in that way, but it is very difficult to fit a o-ring in the seal.

Thanks

I'll be watching this with interest. Had a shot of a videoray the other day which re-kindled my interest in my build.
How do you plan on mounting the vertical motor? Video ray have theirs inside the pressure hull.
I havnt got room for that and dont want to flood the hull if the shaft seal leaks so i'm keen to get ideas from yours.

Well, I was planning on taking one of those 750gmp cartridge style bilge pumps, hacking off the fat part, and potting the thin portion inside one of those one and half inch reducers with a threaded end or whichever size I can find that fits the best. I'm going drill and tap the top of the main hull so I can just screw in the motor assembly with some Teflon tape and that should theoretically work. Stuff works under pressure and is proven so I don't see why it won't. If the motor dies eventually, I'll just unscrew it and pot a new one and screw the new one in. I'm trying to keep everything modular so I have don't to hack apart anything due to failures. I added a picture on top of post so you can get an idea of what I mean. Its screwed into the threads I made. That's a 1 1/2". looks a big but I need to find a small diameter and well that's the general idea. Thanks for your interest.

bigbadbob wrote:I'll be watching this with interest. Had a shot of a videoray the other day which re-kindled my interest in my build.
How do you plan on mounting the vertical motor? Video ray have theirs inside the pressure hull.
I havnt got room for that and dont want to flood the hull if the shaft seal leaks so i'm keen to get ideas from yours.

Here is my quick camera getup I threw together real quick. Its run by a Ardunio and a thumb joystick. Has pan and tilt and works perfect. Bigger servos were too big so the smaller ones will work perfectly. I'll get it mounted permanently and into the hull shortly but should fit nicely behind the dome.

Demon340 wrote:Here is my quick camera getup I threw together real quick. Its run by a Ardunio and a thumb joystick. Has pan and tilt and works perfect. Bigger servos were too big so the smaller ones will work perfectly. I'll get it mounted permanently and into the hull shortly but should fit nicely behind the dome.

That's quite amazing my design is vary close to yours, how did you wire the 2 axis joystick up? Got any schematics?

I almost forgot what do you plan on using for thrusters ?