Juan's Projects

This is my third attempt at building an RC submarine, a difficult endeavour as those who have had a go at it will know. After a German WWII U-Boot (undergoing repairs), and a Russian Akula (decommissioned two years ago), now it was time for a Spanish one. The S-80 class submarines, still under construction, have been elongated due to technical problems. This model, at 1:120 scale, is of the original project. The hull was modelled in Fusion 360 using photographs found online and some rather vague lateral and top views found on related publications. Then, it was 3d printed in grey ABS and acetone-welded together.  The WTC, housing all the control electronics, servos, pumps, and propulsion motor is made out off a convenient water bottle I found at a local shop. Anyone wishing to replicate this project will have to find a suitable container. All movements are magnetically coupled to the exterior, and two tubes go out through the end cap, one housing the antenna a...

A few years ago I bought an rc quadcopter kit from hobbyking. It was somehow difficult to configure and I am not such a great pilot, so I broke the frame that came with it -which by the way was't particularly strong-. I saw a frame that suited my needs on thingiverse ( https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:34552 )and printed it with a few modifications, and added some "landing legs". Now it is much stronger and if it breaks I can just print  a new one.

. Trying to fix the ballast tank isues, I attempted a 'surgery'. A hole in the ballast tank was made to put some bulkheads in, see the photos: Hole shape marked. Had to go through 6-8 layers of paint to reach the metal! After cutting it. Notice the existing bafles, wich were there to prevent the tank from deforming under presure, but do not prevent water to move around. The inside, closer. You can see steel powder from the cut. Everything was painted with minium /red lead paint. Had been 2 years closed, not smelling good. Paint was removed using a metal brush, with a mask as I don´t think swallowing minium powder is good for health. Paint almost completely removed and 3d printed bulkheads trimed to fit: Now we have four independent compartments. The bulkheads will be epoxy glued to the inside of the tank, and then everything will be painted. Hole will be closed gluing another steel sheet to the underside of the tank. I am not really sure if epoxy wi...

I am going to describe a project that I started in 2015 and needs some modifications to be done for it to work properly. I would be proud to hear sugestions! This is a radio-controlled model submarine. It is 1.06 m long and it is based on the german U-boots operational during WWII. The main objectives were: -Low cost : For now it is below 240 € without radio equipment (+- 150 €) -Simple hull, made out of wood (later discovered that this was not the best material for underwater stuff!) -Static diving -At least one hour of battery. -Operating foward dive planes and twin ruders (only four chanels, so no rear planes). -Similar to an Type IXB german U Boot. First stages from the build, as you can see, simple , square-shaped hull: Water tight compartment. Policarbonate sheet cut and drilled to form the acess hatch. Hull construction, simple shapes, cheap and "easy". Fore. Aft. After foward and rear planes had been fitted, rudder assembl...