Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Flying Sub "SOLO" Stability

In a message dated 2/18/04 1:18:14 PM Pacific Standard Time, Asmyth@changepoint.com writes:

Man, that sounds like another sub I can’t wait to see materialize. I can see a “flying sub convention” some years down the road. D’you have a start date for construction?

Umm ... does "later" count!? ;-) No. Thanks to largely to this group, directly and indirectly, I have a lot of the larger pieces mostly defined and designed, but not enough to project when I'll get the rest figured out. I've never designed a sub before, much less an "unconventional" one, so I have no prior experience upon which to even guess at how long it'll take to figure out the smaller bits necessary to get the bigger bits to work together the way I want.

Part of the problem ... or the blessing as the case may be ... is that the design keeps changing and mutating based upon the odd bits I find in my copious and voracious research, what's worked and not worked with members of the group and other subs, and everyone's unique assortment of experiences and perspectives that you bring so openly to the table. *That's* what makes this group so valuable and intellectually productive ... even if it means an ongoing series of redesigns.

Being from "outside the field", I'm also not intimately familiar with all of the hardware. I keep juggling the cost and availability of "off the shelf" components (and potentially having to retrofit to make them work for a purpose to which they may or may not have been designed), with the time and potentially greater cost to purpose-build exactly what I want ... provided I have the knowledge and skills to do so, or am willing to expend the time to learn how to do.

For example, I know that I *want* a hemispherical viewport. But I've also defined placement locations and sizes for a series of flat viewpoints in a hemispherical endcap as an alternative. But I won't know until I can source what each path would cost before I can actually commit to one and all the decisions that may result therefrom. And I can't evaluate that until I can obtain Stanislaw's Acrylics book, read it and evaluate what I'd need to produce my own. I've built a precision kiln before so ... [shrug] so many interrelated questions to answer yet.

I've also started a 1:6 scale model to help me better visualize how things go together. CAD and Inventor and similar software are great and I wouldn't want to do this without them but sometimes I just have to put it on paper or hold it in my hands for it to become real enough for me to overcome some design blocks. It should also locate manufacturing/construction problems by forcing me to essentially practice building it before I attempt to do it for real. Will post pictures as the design comes along.

Warm Regards

Shawn

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