SE2: MM Glass Bottom Boat: February 2011

Friday, February 25, 2011

Log 2/25/2011

Last night I worked with my mentor for two hours and lengthened the wires attached to the motors and attached the wires to connectors. With these connectors I can easily attach and detach my motors to my receiver and battery. This will make building easier because I can move parts around without the wires getting in the way or being too limiting. Today I will glue together my new support structure whose inner dimensions are 4x4.

Update to Mr. Alfonse 2/25/2011

The dimensions of my support structure were too small so I had to re-cut and rebuild my support structure from scratch.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Testing Questions

Are there batteries in the system and radio controller?
YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
Is the system on?
YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
Is the camera attached to the power source?
YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
Is the camera receiver hooked up to a screen/DVR?
YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
Does the support structure easily and properly attach to the vessel?
YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
Is the camera transmitting a picture to the screen/DVR?
YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
Is the picture clear of blockages?
YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
Is the reception of the picture clear? YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
Can the picture show what is outside of the glass bottom? YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
Does the up control rotate the camera 360º clockwise smoothly? YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
Does the down control rotate the camera 360º clockwise smoothly? YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
As the camera rotates, does the picture remain clear of blockages?YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
As the camera rotates, does the reception remain clear?
YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
As the vessel moves, does the picture remain clear of blockages? YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
As the vessel moves, does the reception remain clear? YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
As the vessel moves, is the picture showing what is in the water through the glass bottom?
YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
As the vessel moves, does the support structure stay in place? YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________
When the vessel’s testing is complete, is the support structure easy to remove from the vessel?
YES / NO / OTHER: ________________________________________

Update to Mr. Alfonse 2/21-25/2011

I'm a little more than halfway done with my project. Most of the work I have to do is assembly because the structural piece is complete. I have to put the gears in place, attach the camera, and finish the wood on the structural part. I bought a gear kit so I have all the materials I need to complete the project and once I get past a certain roadblock I should be able to finish the project within the next couple of weeks.
This roadblock has caused a lot of problems for me and wasted a lot of valuable work time. I cannot find the RPM of the motors I am using so I cannot mathematically calculate a way to gear them down. I hadn't originally planned on doing it mathematically because I do not know what is considered "slow RPM" I was just going to work hands-on until I found the right speed. I was going to solder the wires that tore back to the motors so that I could work with the gears, but it was brought to my attention that I should do the gearing mathematically. I wasted a lot of time trying to find the RPM of the motors and was unable to find out what it was. I intend to go with my original plan to work hands-on with the gearing. I will be at a program up at NJIT from Wednesday night to Friday and unless I get a monumental amount of work completed tonight at home I can't imagine I will make much progress by tomorrow.