Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] University Competition

["D. Blake" <dblake@bright.net>]

The program should allow conversion to other formats if it is worth it's
salt.  If not, Carsten from Germany has been reliable in converting formats.
He has bailed us out more than once, and he is a valuable asset to our
endeavors.  Question him at MerlinSub@t-online.de .  Do not limit your
questions to converting formats.  He has a storehouse of knowledge that he
has readily provided to us in the past.  No doubt he can provide you with
the same.
Big Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: Wade Carson <wacarson@interchange.ubc.ca>
To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Date: Saturday, February 12, 2000 3:05 PM
Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] University Competition


>Suds,
>
>Actually, the competition requires that the sub be two man (buddy system
>type thing).  This also allows for one pilot to concentrate on propulsion
>and the other to concentrate on direction which equates to less crashed
>subs.  In actual fact we have already begun construction of the hull (with
>the competition only a few months away we are a little pressed for time to
>get the thing in the water for testing.  The aluminum frame is not for
>structural purposes in the hull, it is just to attach all of the systems.
I
>like your idea of embedding plates in the fibreglass, that never occurred
to
>me but I'm afraid at this point it will have to be a consideration for next
>years sub.  The aluminum was a cost issue.  We can get all the free
aluminum
>we need so it made the choice there pretty easy.  As for the foam core, our
>predecessors had the same idea but unfortunately they spent so much time
>sanding the thing down that they never got it into the water.  We took it
>out for testing in the pool a few months ago (middle of winter in an
outdoor
>unheated pool with minimal thermal gear! How's that for dedication.)  The
>thing took several hundred pounds of extra weight just to get it under.
>With 1/4" acrylic would I need to worry about it thinning to much during
the
>forming?  Another question regarding the controls is whether there is
>significant electrolization between aluminum plating and stainless steel
>fasteners and if so will teflon tape solve the problem?  I would put the
>drawings that we have up here but unfortunately, several members of the
team
>insisted that they be prepared in PRO-Engineer.  THere are a few advantages
>to this but I think there are more disadvantages. One of them being the
>difficulty in distributing the drawings.  If you have access to a copy of
>pro-e let me know, but my understanding is that it is a ridiculously
>expensive program and so not a lot of people use it.  The other big
>disadvantage is that the files get very large very quickly.  At the moment
>I'm having trouble just getting them onto my computer so that I can work on
>them.  Oh well, I'll see what I can do.  Thanks again for the advice.
>
>Wade
>
>