1:75 diving support vessel Well Enhancer

[Ome]

I believe you can solve it ..
then you are happy with the design of the project .. I want to turn the main engine and sail to leave all the problems ..

keep the spirit, mate

[tweety777]

Update:



Here's the answer to my quiz, here the walls were too high.

Continued working on the not yet smooth parts of the ship.

As a preparation for the Arduino system which is under development I decided I could add some wiring which will make it possible for the Arduino's to communicate with each other.

This will be the place for the main command centre, which will handle all communications.

Not finished with this yet, but I'll get there.

It was pretty much time to try to solve the problem of the weak bulwark, which also didn't really have the right shape.

This side was a bit easier.
When I build the Seven Atlantic I will surely not build the bulwark on top of a finished hull, but build the bulwark as part of the hull, as this keeps giving me trouble.

Sanded the rear deck.
I tried to make the screws level with the wood, but all my effort seemed to have not worked at all.
The bright side is that there will be a platform above it, so that platform could cover the flaw, especially when I place some containers beside it.
On the other hand, I might have removed so much wood that some filler could do the job.

While inspecting the hull I discovered some damage here, so I grasped some filler and tried to repair the damage.



The turntable was placed to high due to the position of the turning engine, so I drilled a hole underneath it to make it fit lower then it did.

Took some parts away to make sure it would get low enough.

That's better.
Now I only need to add the height at the top which I took away at the bottom.

Took Tweety with me outside so she could oversee what I was doing.

Greetings Josse

[tweety777]

Update:

As the LEGO base was too wide, and might not be able to deal with the forces of the crane with it's way out of centre centre-of-gravity, trying to lift something as heavy as possible I decided it was time to make a new base which will be able to withstand these kind of forces.
Here I'm trying to find out if my new idea could even work.
I'm thinking of mounting the servo in a silicon "bath" to make it able to be pushed into the silicon when the load on the gearwheel becomes to high for the servo.

What do you guys think about making a silicon "bath" in which the servo can move when being overloaded?
I'm not entirely sure if it will work out the way I want to.
It would only be a back-up to the limitations which will be incorporated in the software, which will know the status of the crane through 2 sensors measuring the angle they're in.


In an effort to make the gearwheel fit as well as possible atop of the servo disc I started to make a plate to fill the gap created by the edge around the screw holding the servo disc in place.

Scratch build a machine (what's the name of this kind of machine?) to make the plate perfectly round.

Turn on the Dremel, and then hold the sanding paper gently against the plate to adjust it's shape.
I held the ends of the sanding paper in my hands to eliminate my own inaccuracy and movement to allow for a more perfect circle.
After all it remains an improvised machine...

I never managed to make something this perfectly round, and especially not with this little effort, except for the parts I bought in stores...

All parts ready for assembly.

As the holes on the gearwheel are much larger then those on the servo-disc I started to make something to fill the additional space, as the gearwheel shouldn't be able to move off the centreline.

Greetings Josse

[Richard J OMalley]

I like your lath .

[tweety777]

Got both some good and some bad news.
The good news is I went out to sail with Well Enhancer, and despite the high waves (scale 8-9 Beaufort) the stern remained completely dry this time.
Than the bad news, I found a crack in the bow just below the waterline.
I found this crack after some 15-20 minutes of sailing, and there did get water inside, which hasn't happened in similar situations before.
I'm hoping to get this fixed before 30 April, as I'm then taking her with me to the model boating club for queens day.

Has anyone some advice how I could permanently fix this crack?
I'm hoping there'll be some way which doesn't require fibre glassing or anything like that big a job...
Could epoxy glue do the job?

Enough talking, now some photo's:

Moored and waiting for ballast.

Ballast placed, moored for some photographing with the bulwark still in 1 piece...

Found a beach not far from the car, which was nicely covered from the wind, making it easier to get going.
In the rear of this photo the higher waves on the open part of the water are visible.

It took me a while to get going properly (one needs to be gentle with the rudder when using azimuths in weather like this), but as soon as I found out how to work a way through it I got her sailing against the wind for some time.
With the wind in the side of the model gave a somewhat scary sight, which will be shown in some photo's further down this post.



Ballast was really properly spread out, it's the waves and the wind causing her get some list...

Nicely high waves, this is one of the reasons why I like these kind of ships.
The engines didn't like it as much as I did, I noticed they refused to go to full power from time to time.
This makes me consider adding temperature gauges and Amp meters so I can see when they're getting hot.
It also makes me consider to use Speed 700 Toque engines on Seven Atlantic rather then the less powerful Speed 500 E's of Well Enhancer, though Seven Atlantics 5-bladed brass props might give more power already, and Seven Atlantic has 3 azimuths under the stern compared to just 2 in Well Enhancer.

When sailing takes as much attention as did today, taking proper photo's using a DSLR isn't quite easy.
As a result of that this shot is out of focus...



This is how I managed to get some proper photo's whilst controlling the model (well, at least sort of controlling...).

The damage to the bow.
I think this crack is about 5cm long.

When something like this gets stuck around a prop the performance won't be what one would expect it to be...

Greetings Josse

[Richard J OMalley]

Josse
All in all it must of made you happy to get her in the water.

[Neptune]

Hi there Josse,

I'm finally home again and hope to continue my Chaconia soon.
A small suggestion for your bulwark can be found in the Chaconia build. I used a 6mm piece of ply wood (you can buy it in Schleiper, a store for architects and artists). First I made a template of paper, folding it around the bow of the ship. Then draw a line (use a light to shine through the paper) following the deck edge by pencil. If you fold the paper open again, so that it's flat, you'll see a bow line. I then cut a small part vertically around the bow of the ship to fit my bulwark inside.
I then transferred the paper shape to the 0.6mm ply and cut it out (measuring the height of the bulwark from the bow line in several places (if you want, I can make some extra pics to explain the method). I then put glue on the edge around the bow and glued my wooden bulwark in place (first making it wet to create less tension). I temporarily fitted three blocks (with the angle of the bulwark) of wood with CA, one on both ends of the bulwark and one in the centre of the bow, to keep the shape until the glue was dry. Afterwards I broke the blocks free from the deck. Afterwards I applied the layer of car body filler over the hull, smoothening out everything. The only thing left is drilling out the holes for the leads and trimming the upper edge to get a straight line.

Here is a picture where you see two of the temporarily fitted blocks in place. The third one was already removed, you can still see the CA glue spot... The result is a rather thin (0.6mm + some filler) bulwark which is smooth and fairly strong. Afterwards, when the inside is painted along with the deck, I will add the supports to the bulwarks. Plan to do that this holiday.

[tweety777]

Yesterday I managed to control the engines and servos using the Arduino electronics, though I still need a USB cable to do that at this point.
This is the first big step towards a wifi controlled model.
Now all I need to do is fix the bowthruster, get me a wifi module and make an interface (like a joystick which can be moved using the mouse to send an order over the wifi connection to the Arduino which will execute the command), and then I'll be able to control Well Enhancer using the wifi!!

If the weather is good tomorrow I'll first drill out the crack in the hull, and then I'll fill it up with polyester filler.
The sailing season now comes close, so I want to have her fixed and ready to get in the water.

Greetings Josse

[tweety777]

Update:

Made an amplifier so the sound of the general alarm and fog horn will be heard on the shore...

First step in repairing the hull.
At some point I put to much force on the drill resulting in a hole penetrating the hull...
Nothing a bit of polyester filler can't fix.

Second layer of filler.

This is the result after some sanding.

Continued strengthening the bulwark.

The missing piece got lost overboard, so I'll have to make a new piece.
I'm starting to think about making a fibre glass mould in which I would make a fibre glass version of the bulwark with some extensions covering the hull below the deck to secure it firmly, but as a new layer of fibre glass covering the entire hull might well be needed to stop the hull from cracking more often I might as well leave the current bulwark in place, covering it with the same fibre glass that will be covering the hull, though I'm not yet sure if I will do that.

Continued the filling and sanding of the dive-area.

The other side was also sanded.

I noticed that the shadow of the tower covered only 1 piece of the dive-area, making me think if I had painted it, looked kinda funny to me...

Lengthened the brass bar that is to keep the dive-area in place.

Last but not least I sanded the deck that was filled earlier.

Greetings Josse

[tweety777]

Update:

Applied some paint, though not the right colour as I need to get a new can of paint in that colour.
Buying a new can of paint would be useless at this point as I might well apply some fibre glass on the hull, forcing me to paint the hull all over again.

It's not all to well visible, but I primed the brass bar on top of the hull.

Removed the sides of the deck so I can finish the filling and sanding process on the main superstructure.
I at first planned to do this later when the electronics would be fitted, but as I turned out to have plenty of room to get my hands through the remaining hatch I decided to do it now.

Also removed the other side.

Dry fit of the deck.

Plenty of room to place the electronics.

Preparations for placing the other deck.

The deck has to fit as close as possible as it needs to be closed water tight.

Greetings Josse

[tweety777]

Update:

The proof that I can easily get inside the hull.

Closed the gap in the bulwark.

Gearwheel has been properly attached to the servo.

All hands at the wheelhouse for navigating through a narrow channel.

Well Enhancer at speed.

Mechanic busy with finishing the repairs on the bulwark.




Greetings Josse

[Richard J OMalley]

Josse
With all that electronics I see you don't belive in the KISS method.[ keep it simple stupid ] but I cant wait to see it in action .

[tweety777]

Hi Richard,

I'm not stupid, so I don't need to keep it simple
With a little knowledge of programming and wiring (wiring as in + shouldn't be connected to the - and there should be a circuit from + to -, not much more then that) and anyone can do this.
Besides, I got a friend who has a system like this working on his model, he showed it in my room, and it works nicely well.
When I was still building LEGO ships (which weren't any smaller then this model) I also tried to make everything working, it's just a big part of the hobby.

Btw, there are harder ways to control a model with this amount of functions: normal transmitter with 16 channel decoders, then I'd need to remember 16 functions per switch, now I can just give every button a name, and that name states what will happen if I click on it.
That makes the build process harder (though I need much shorter wiring), but the sailing is that much easier and I'm planning on sailing with her a whole lot more then I spent time building her.

Greetings Josse

[tweety777]

Update:

Supports for the platform for the first Arduino under construction.

Made the first bit of service lighting.
This will be quite useful as I have moved my desk lights to a place where they're of no use for working inside the hull.
This will also help finding ballast and batteries when sailing at night.

The dive-area now houses quite some stuff, but that will all be moved to the hull this afternoon.
The reason for this is that the dive-area houses only 4 functions, whilst the hull will house many more, so I can reduce wiring and vulnerable connectors by moving pretty much all the electronics to the hull.
The fuse-box will also be moved to the hull.

Still a mess of wires out here too, though this will be dealt with this afternoon.

Added some more support for the platform.

This is what it will look like, though I now have an Arduino Uno in place, whilst there will be an Arduino Mega, which is slightly bigger then this.

As the ballast used to be put down where I now put the platform for the Arduino, I needed to make room for the ballast.
As I had 2 ventilators installed which were basically taking power away whilst not having anything to do at all I decided to remove them.
That leaves me with the 2 rear compartments housing both main engines, ESC, servos and the ballast, 1 compartment ahead are 1 section for a 6V battery and 1 section for the Arduino, one compartment before that now houses on 1 side the old receiver (which will remain in use until the wifi control has proven itself to be reliable) and on the other side is room for the 12V battery.
Once the old receiver has been removed the room will be used for an extra 12V battery to answer to the growing need for electricity.

Greetings Josse

[Richard J OMalley]

[tweety777]

Update:

Support for a power supply under construction.

Removed all unneeded wires.

All the still usable wires.

The dive-area is now completely empty.
Later on there will be the drive train of the small crane which is positioned atop of the dive-area.

Construction of a mount which will hold the battery pack powering the receiver.

Here you can see where in the hull the parts will be placed.

As a 40' container would be to big for this place (which is the only deck space that is secured to the hull where there won't be anything build on top of), so I decided to place a 20' container instead in which I will mount the main switches.

I also installed the power supply in the bow in it's new and more secure place.
The re-wiring as far from finished at the moment, the wires from the batteries are now only connected to the new build fuse-box, but need to be attached to switches and other devices.
That will be done tomorrow, for today I can't see any soldering iron any more...

Greetings Josse

[tweety777]

Update:

Applied some red paint.

Second layer of primer applied.
Today I will paint this red as well, though I'm already pretty certain that I will apply an additional layer of fibre glass and polyester somewhere this summer.

Placed the platform for the battery pack.

New fuse box nearing completion, with now all the wires attached.
Some may notice that I have decreased the number of fuses by leaving the smaller fuses away.
The reason for this is that I have decided to give each board computer it's own fuse, thus taking away the need for smaller fuses in the main fuse box.

Mounted the first switch.
This will at once turn all the electronics on and off.

I also attached the battery pack to it's on/off switch and attached that to the receiver.

Greetings Josse

[tweety777]

Update:

I finally attached the new fuse box to the rest of the wiring.
Then I tested the service lights, only to find out they didn't work.
Gapped a voltmeter and started testing.
On what should be 6V I measured 2,5V.
Then I tested the 12V spot, finding out that that got 6V...
I turned out to have connected the 12V battery wires to the 6V system and the 6V battery to the 12V system...
After having fixed that problem I tested all the power supplies again, finding out that when the 12V battery was attached the 12V got it's 12V, whilst the 6V systems got 2,5V, while there was no battery connected to it.
When I removed the 12V battery and attached the 6V battery I measured 4V on the 12V system, and 6V on the 6V system.
When both batteries are connected both systems got the right voltage.
Leaving me with 2 questions:
Is this dangerous?
How is this even possible?
My father mentioned induction as possible cause, what do you guys think about that?

Found me a new box to put my spare parts in.

The container housing the main switch has got it's first wall.

Painted the sheer strake.

New fuse box fully attached and ready for use.

As I had the battery wires attached the other way around I decided to move the 6V battery forward so I didn't need to adjust the length of the wires.

Last but not least I made the first side of the container and also added some of the folds in the plate.

Greetings Josse

[tweety777]

Update:



Painted the sheer strake.

Nicely covered rear deck, now with the container.

Container has all it's sides, now on to completing the details, then painting it and finally I can place it on the deck.



Continued the work on filling and sanding, starting with the bulwark.

Filled the deck as well.

Also filled the rear funnel and the tower.

Repaired some damage on the rear bulwark.

More damage that is being repaired.

I also continued the work on the hyperbaric lifeboat.

Greetings Josse

[tweety777]

Update:

Filled the decks on the sides some more.



I also painted the rear wall of the dive-area, but that has caused it to bend.
Now I'll have to add some reinforcement, which I actually had to do anyway.



Sailing at night is being done with as little as people as is allowed on the bridge, therefore the helmsman is on his own...

More people have arrived on the bridge so the sun must have risen again.

Now she has entered a busy shipping lane.

It's such a busy shipping lane that even the compass needs to be checked...

Crew busy getting all sorts of jobs done.

As there's a container placed on the rear deck again it can be emptied by crew, or get filled off course...

Maintenance on lifeboats and ROV being done.

In this photo is the only progress of today, the top plate of the escape hatch has been placed.

Communication with the cable crews is very important so a back-up is never a bad thing, even not when it implies hand signals...

These 2 lazy officers are checking the work that is being done at the rear deck.
Those officers have quite some live heh, well, at least until something bad happens...

Container being emptied as the crew apparently wanted to get some dinner at the end of the day, how weird is that heh?

Little off-topic, but couldn't resist to mention:
Today I've been driving a real Ferrari 360 Modena for some 20 mins.
Got a voucher for that event with a magazine, and today I used my voucher.
A company in The Netherlands has a few of these cars, spread out over a few locations and they let you drive the car on the public roads, so I couldn't test it's top speed, but at my own risk for fines I was allowed to go 30km/h faster then the maximum speed, which I this time did do!
Anyhow, here are 2 pics proving I at least stepped in to the car at the drivers side:

This is me getting in the car (for all of you who drive on the wrong side of the road: I'm the one with the sun glasses on).

Instructor starting the engine while I'm adjusting the seat prior to me driving the car.
The instructor was there to make sure I wouldn't steal the car, to tell me which way to go and some driving instructions like "make some distance, we'll accelerate towards them when we have the room", which is quite nice to hear in a 400HP Ferrari!

Greetings Josse