Posted Sat, 03/20/2010 - 16:47 by Brian
I bought some test foam yesterday and did some penetration tests with Nassau's cannons. As expected, they are firing a little soft. So I spent a little time experimenting to see what the best solution is for increasing the volume of the accumulators. As I mentioned in the comments for an earlier blog post (Quick Test Firing) I should only need about one cubic inch more volume. However, time is running short for the Maker Faire so I am not experimenting anymore.
Posted Thu, 03/18/2010 - 17:48 by Brian
Earlier today I ordered a new Canon T2i DSRL. This camera has some really great video recording modes that I am hoping will be useful for making promotional videos for the hobby.
Posted Sat, 03/13/2010 - 15:59 by Brian
Brett Fleming and I were brainstorming about depression earlier this week and he had a great idea - just sandwich tubing between the barrel bends and the barrel bracket. After spending a couple of days to decide if I could come up with anything better (I couldn't) I roughed one out this afternoon and fired a few rounds through it. There is good news and bad news...
Posted Tue, 03/02/2010 - 20:56 by Brian
I took a little time to mess around with the barrel bends again. I somewhat accidentally discovered that the PVC glue bonds strong enough to press fit barrels and risers into the barrel bends. This will eliminate two of the metal parts I had planned to use. I also did some test fires through the barrel bends. Everything worked great except the guns seemed to be firing a little soft. I will probably have to wait until the weekend to investigate more.
Posted Mon, 03/01/2010 - 22:42 by Brian
I took a little time tonight to knock out some test risers for the Barrel Bends I roughed out yesterday. I am trying to get enough together to test fire some rounds through them by the end of the week. I was really surprised to find that even with the risers loosely fit in they held the barrel bends in alignment very well - even without being bolted in place!!!
Posted Sun, 02/28/2010 - 19:40 by Brian
I am not going to post many details as I don't know if this is going to work or not. However, I did make some progress making the machined barrel bends today. Plus the PVC glue does seem to be be at least as strong as the PVC itself. So this might just work. If it does then it should trim amost two inches off of the height of Nassau's barrels. I am hoping to install them at scale height. Here are a few random pictures from today.
Posted Fri, 02/26/2010 - 23:10 by Brian
I took some time tonight to make the holder I needed to make the next-gen barrels on the rotary table. It took longer than expected but I think it will work. This bolts to the rotary table and provides repeatability of setup for the barrel bends. Plus it should hold two parts at a time!
Posted Tue, 02/23/2010 - 20:50 by Brian
The latest additions to tooling for the mill arriived today. I just spent the evening cleaning the packing greese off of the rotary table, four jaw independant chuck and mounting plate.
Posted Sun, 02/21/2010 - 14:06 by Brian
I believe that Phase 2 is now complete. Existing users should now have the ability to subscribe to blogs, events, etc.. I have also enabled the ability for users to sign up for new accounts. We will see how this goes.
Posted Fri, 02/19/2010 - 06:58 by Brian
After a recent facebook exchange with Greg McFadden I noticed his February 7 post on RC Naval Combat showing the work he is doing on his SMS Baden. I really like how he integrated the motor mounts into the stuffing tubes. Its basically a two component setup - the first is a bracket that allows him to easily adjust the distance of the motor from the prop-shaft - this makes it easy to use a belt to drive the propellor. It also allowed him to place the motors aft of the stuffing tube (something I am going to also probably need)