Video The Bogus Batoid Submarine is Wooden, not Yellow (Video) 44
Tim: Martin, you are standing here at Maker Faire 2014 near Atlanta Georgia next to a couple of different submarines here.I want to ask you in particular about this one here that you see, a beautiful wooden submarine, and explain it.It has got some wings.
Martin: Right.So this is a human powered flapping wing wet submarine.
Tim: Is this the only flapping wing submarine that you are aware of?
Martin: This is the only one that I have ever actually seen, and I am not aware of any other ones.So it has got to be a unique vehicle.So it is designed as a human powered submarine.It is wet, so it has got its own built in scuba system.
Tim: Why is that?As opposed to having an air pocket in there.
Martin: So the reason we want it to be a wet submarine, is that if it is already filled with water, nothing worse can happen.But if it is filled with air, and it starts to fill with water, you have a whole different set of problems.
Tim: Now when you dive with this, how deep do you actually go in this submarine?
Martin: The deepest that we have ever actually gone is about 35’.Realistically, if you are running it, you probably want to stay about 20’.It is just a recreational sort of thing.So you don’t want to go too constrained.
Tim: When you say ‘we’, explain who is it behind this project?
Martin: So both the submarines that we have were built, were designed, built, machined, fabricated, fiberglassed, tested and run by my Dad and I.So we did all the design and we did all the work on the machine.So both of them have about 1000 hours of work in them.
Tim: Can you talk a little bit about the material?
Martin: So the way it is built, it is basically, it is built like a strip built canoe.So in here we have about a 1000” like 1/4” wide feeder strips laid individually one on top of the net.So once we created the entire frame, what we did is we covered with fiberglass on the top and on the bottom.And on the top, we have sanded it and really smoothed it out, and epoxied out.That might explain the shining.
Tim: And on the interior you have got a flap here. Explain about that. How does that work?
Martin: So this is actually sort of like the hood of your car, and this is how we access the drive.So it just flips out and we are able to go with the drive.Right now, it is just an empty hole, but normally the drive would go in it.
Tim: Show us the interior that that flap what is the texture like in there?
Martin: So on the outside, it is a very nice smooth shiny texture, but on the inside it is just a rough fiberglass.So it looks really just like the fiberglass wood there.
Tim: Now if the drive were in, you would be showing the way it is human powered.Can you give us a look at that at that mechanism over here?
Martin: So we actually have the drive outside.So this is the drive, so in the front of the drive what you have got are these two pieces, and these pieces connect to the wings, and the shaft of the wings around.So as you sit, and you put your feet right here, so you will pedal, you will pedal motion like this, and as you pedal, this part goes up and down, when this goes up and down, it is attached directly to the wings, and it makes the wings rotate.
Tim: Now the wings themselves are made out of what material?
Martin: So the front of the wings are made out of a foam core with fiberglass, and then what we’ve got right here is all natural rubber sheeting.So the way this sub actually moves forward is when the wings flap like this, you get a basically forward motion of the brown parts so it is built like an airflow so you get lift pulling you forward on it, but then the rubber also bows out and it thrusts water backwards, so it funnels it backwards.So as you get moving, the wings change the pitch, as they rotate, and it funnels water backwards moving it forwards.
Tim: So your top speed is what 50 or 60 miles an hour?
Martin: So this one was built a lot more for style than for speed. So the top speed is about 2 miles an hour on slow water.
Tim: And how much energy are you putting out to do that?
Martin: A massive amount of energy.
Tim: So it is a good weight loss plan.
Martin: Yeah, it is a good weight loss plan.We built them for the international human powered submarine races and what that is is the navy sponsors it every other year, and it is a 100 yard race to the finish.So this one going about 2 miles an hour it is a 4 minute sprint to go 100 meters.
Tim: Are you the test pilot for that?
Martin: I am the pilot for both the subs that we’ve got.
Tim: Now by the way, just much briefly, much more briefly, could you talk about this one over here?
Martin: This was the one that we built the first time, and this one is a swimming flapping tail, so it is modeled after a porbeagle shark, so basically the way it works is you have got the drive in the front, the pedals, these pedals are directly mechanically linked to the first of four joints in the tail.When you only move the first joint a little bit, there are three more joints that are non-powered and they are just free spinning after that.On each joint, you have got an air cylinder, you got two different air cylinders there with springs, and the pistons are fully extended.So they act as an air spring.Each individual set of springs has its own regulator, so you can dial in how much pressure you want.
Tim: Is this kind of an online community, if somebody says I am interested and would like to get into building such a thing.
Martin: There isn’t quite an online community.There aren’t that many people that actually do this sort of thing.But there are you know a lot of a there is a biomimetic community, so that’s people who try and build stuff that acts like animals.So we got some of the inspiration for this actually off the ornithopter community. So we are flying but it is just we are under water.It is two different fluids.
Tim: Is it hard to test these?
Martin: It is extremely difficult to test these.So this one, we were able to test them like some [quarries and lakes] before we used it.This one we finished the mechanism almost a day before the race.So we actually bought a 15 foot inflatable kiddy pool, put it in our backyard, filled it up, we put it in, we got in there, and we started pedaling it the wings started flapping, we would move forward 3’ and if you can move forward 3’ you can move forward 300’.So move forward a little bit, push it back, and then we packed it up wet, and drove to the races the next day.
Tim: Are you building any more right now?
Martin: At the moment, we are not building any more, but we do have some plans maybe for a jellyfish in the future.
I smell a fake (Score:1)
There's something fishy about those subs...
Um... okay...? (Score:2)
it's a fake real what? I care why?
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You care because that's how roblimo feeds his family. Video ads of products.
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Part of the problem is the synopsis is so poorly written, I wasn't sure what I was reading about or why.
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i kan(t) read:
You know very well that Tim hits various events and videotapes whomever or whatever he considers interesting. If we were paid for running "video ads," each one would be clearly marked "ad" or "sponsored content."
Should we interview you? Know someone else we should interview? Email me with contact info. Maybe we will.
Submersible or Submarine (Score:2)
Assemble pedants! Which is it?
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With all the extra mass of the ship, is this really more efficient than just strapping on some flippers?
At this stage it just looks like a special-interest art project, or a sculpture you can sit in. Video of it being used in more than 1 metre of water would make this more interesting.
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Wet subs aren't new, and they can be far more efficient because the shape can be much more hydrodynamic than the human body, thus eliminating excess energy expenditure. They can also be used to haul more tanks around, or rearr
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But just imagine all the extra compressed-air you'll burn through!
Oh... wait.
DIY submarine, you say? (Score:2)
yeesh.
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Especially considering that it's in no way meant to be watertight and you're already wearing SCUBA gear, sounds accurate.
I reconsider my position (Score:2)
But I still think this [vulcaniasubmarine.com] is more impressive.
Any woodworkers around? (Score:2)
Thinking of that, the pictures of a whole bunch of curve
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He says it's built using the same methods as building a canoe, so presumably it's ok. Besides, this thing is only likely to see small dips in the water and spend the vast majority of the time just being pretty on land...
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I see a lot of 50+ year old wooden runabouts getting used on the big lake near here. I think they require maintenance but have generally figured out how to build them.
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Many of the common woods used in boating are full of natural oils that prevent water from penetrating. Teak, cypress, and cedar are among those. I didn't RTFA (or would it be WTFV? whatever), so I don't know what they made theirs out of.
Of course, the natural oils only act as an inhibitor, and if the wood spends any amount of time in the water, it'll still need maintenance. Clear finishes look pretty, but need loads more work than a good paint or epoxy coating.
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I think you've really nailed it here. Wood is a poor choice for something like this, because a boat only has to be aggressively sealed in certain places, but this is exposed to water everywhere. The best choice I can think of is probably polycarbonate, which has the added advantage of additional resistance to sharkbite. Plus, you know, it's transparent. That would be seriously cool. You can sand and buff out the inevitable scratches. Barring that, I'd use sheet Aluminum. Heck, I probably have enough for the
The Hunt for LOST October (Score:2)
News for nerds (Score:3)
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It is just a decoration. It has no practical function. Trying to use it under water would be a major hurdle and likely very dangerous.
You say that as if it's a bad thing.
Hooray! (Score:3)
Instead of wearing myself out kicking my legs swimming and pushing myself through the water, I can now kick my legs peddling and wear myself out pushing myself and a humongous piece of wood through the water with me.
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If you watch the video he gives the sub a top speed of two miles per hour, and equates it with a fast walk. I bet someone can swim faster than that on their own, and it would be a better (full body) workout, too. So it sounds like a lose-lose situation to take the sub.
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The partners made a "bat-oid" and the senior partner's name is "Wayne". That means their work shop is the bat-cave.
I suspect the designer's secret identity is Aquaman.
Can't Resist (Score:3)
This is a "wet" submarine. It doesn't try to keep water out.
Yeah, that's as funny as a screen door on a submarine.
that answers that... (Score:2)
...I was wondering what the Swedish Navy were chasing. Russian submarine, my arse.
We all live in a Yellow Submarine (Score:1)