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Hello Alec. Yes, I have been in contact with that company and in fact they
have the best prices I've found so far. I was quoted last week, the price on a
2:1 semi elliptical tank head at 96 inch diameter, 3/8 inch thick, AS 516-70
steel for $1420 each.
This is about a third of the cost for one produced in California.
I am pretty sure I'm going to place that order next week.
I will, however be ordering two heads at 72 inch diameter. The man I spoke
with also quoted a price of only $340 for a 24 inch hemisphere tank end at 5/8
inch thick, hot formed from a single piece. I have two very different designs in
mind and have decided to go with my original design using the semi elliptical
heads. ( but a little smaller than originally planned )
It looks sort of like a 50's era flying saucer, with the pressure hull at
72 inch round and 52 inches high. The displacement gives me about 6500 pounds of
buoyancy, where the 96 inch design was way up there at 11,000 pounds. ( OUCH! )
I'm hoping to increase the thickness to 1/2 inch for about $1000 per 72 inch
head. Some reasons for going back to the original design are, first, I
can't find a 30 inch one piece hemisphere, and second, the two head design is
inherently more resistant to external pressure. It also requires a lot less
welding on the basic hull. Really only two welds for the envelope, and then
adding all the other stuff like a hatch, windows, mounts, etc. which any design
must have.
The other design ( which I spent the last 2 months on ) was pretty cool and
would have been pretty quick, but it doesn't have the basic spherical shape.
More like a sports car than a sphere. Looks cool, goes fast, cheap to build, but
small inside and only for a much shallower depth than what I really wanted. I
saw a sub made by a Chinese company called Tarwa ? and it looked like it used
the two head design. It probably is thicker than mine, and I think it is
designed to reach a 1000 ft depth. They make them for sale I think. Anyway, I'm
rambling. Thanks for the contact and yes, they are a good source.
When I get the pieces, I'll come back on line and give all you guys an
update. Maybe I can even post some pictures as the work progresses.
Happy subbing to all........Frank Dalgleish. (408)353-6645 shellydalg@aol.com
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