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Hi Paul,
In addition to what I've said earlier, the free
online book "Manned Submersibles"
on the Psub site is a good place to start. Also I
found the free program " Under Pressure"
by "Deep Sea Power & Light" an awesome tool if
you're wanting to design your own sub.
It analyses cylinders, cones, heispheres &
spheres under external pressure & gives crush depths,
weight out of water & weight in water. There is
a good manual you can also download. This program
doesn't show where the reinforcements should
go, the psub program does that; however if you analyse
a peice of pipe then reduce its
length & anylize it again it becomes obvious where you might
need
reinforcing rings. I started my sub designing by
getting volumes of engineering books from a local tech library.
Then decided to
interpret these I needed to get some maths books out so was quite appreciative
when I
found this program & could ditch the
books.
Regards Alan
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 4:17
AM
Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] New and
needing early advice
Hi
Paul,
I took a welding class at a nearby junior collage a few years ago, at the time
I already knew how to weld with my stick welder but I wanted some more
experiance with other types of welding. Needless to say the class taught
me that it really takes years of welding to become a good welder.
Those guys have to weld numerous test joints and then have them sawed in half
and inspected before they can become certified. A lot of it is almost
like an art, my nieghbor across the street has been a welder for 30 years an
his welds are a beautiful thing to behold. If I were you I would learn
how to weld the best you can, you can weld many of the things on your sub
but leave some of the more critical welds to a proffesional welder. Welcome to
the group !
Brian
Hello All,
I am a new member to this discussion group and,
being new to the whole subject of personal submersibles, have a few
questions for the rest of you to help me decide if the whole idea of
building my own submersible is a sensible choice for me. I do NOT want to go
further down the road of resource, financial and emotional investment if its
an unrealistic venture.
I’ll tell you a bit about me, my intended
submersible and also the area where I intend to use it.
My name is Paul Lassen and am 46. I live in
Rosebud, Alberta, Canada (about as land locked as you can get) near Calgary.
I have a masters degree in Industrial Design and currently work as an
acoustician who assesses and designs solutions for industrial noise. I have
spent my life building virtually anything that strikes my fancy. Including
everything from violin family instruments, rally cars, engines, boats,
product models, homes, tools, stereo equipment electronics, on and on. I
have also been an instrumentation mechanic / technician in the oil and gas
sector.
I have good confidence in my ability to build a
submersible with one exception. Welding. I have virtually no experience
welding and I can only imagine the importance of a high quality weld to the
building of a safe PSUB. Can the necessary welding skills be gained through
adult education courses, some additional reading and practice? I get the
sense that at least some of you have done just that. Am I right? If you know
of good resources for welding education then please pass their titles / URLs
/ whatever along. What kind of welding is appropriate / necessary for our
kind of welding (stick, MIG, TIG)? Is there an exceptionally well suited
model of welder that people know of? Are there welder models to
avoid?
My hope is to build a K-350 with my own little
modes. I intend to use it in Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver
Island in British Columbia, Canada where I now boat regularly. On the
surface its a stunningly beautiful area of intersecting fjords and inlets
but below the water I just don't know much. Neither does anyone I've spoken
with. I have oceanfront recreational property there which can act as a good
base and the invertebrate speciation there is really second to none. Depths
are between 30 to 60 metres for perhaps 50% of the various inlets of
Clayoquot Sound while the remainder is 60 metres down to 170 metres.
Visibility was poor the one time I’ve bothered to dive there (I far prefer
more tropical destinations for SCUBA) and surface observation of visibility
seems to indicate that this is the norm. Water is typically 11º C (52º F)
without much seasonal variation.
The idea of building and operating a PSUB has
really captured my imagination. I just need to know what it will take to get
to a skill level where I can make welds that will result in a safe and
reliable submersible. I also want to know if cool mirky waters (at shallow
diving depths) will allow any kind of observational enjoyment or if I’ll be
consistently disappointed in what I am unable to see down there. Does visibility ever improve
at depth? Finally, explain to me the reasons that the K-350 has become
such an apparently popular PSUB?
I'll be grateful for any
responses.
Cheers,
Paul
Lassen
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