Build Log
June 2010
June 27th - First Dive
June 26th - Launch!
June 22 - Drop
Weights are Installed
June 14 - Casting & Trimming more lead ballast weights!
We took her to the scales and
came in a 2,560 pounds for the submarine only.
May 2010
May 30 -
Ballast weights, drive wheels, & inspection ports.
May 26 - View Ports
May 22 - Lots of sanding on
the hull today.
May 13 - Please stop raining!
We added the one layer of plywood
then rolled her over for the rest.
Framing for the
sides and the top deck goes on.
April 2010
Building the
ballast tanks.
Converted the CNC table to plasma and
cut the chain sprockets.
Successfully tested the
ROV's thruster motors.
Jose completed testing the
Dive Helmet!
The drop weight system
is now installed.
Dennis Tucker, Tina, Maya, and Sicily joined us for an evening of
putting epoxy on the top
deck.
March 2010
Mike, Hunter, and Brian joined Kay and I and we got a good start
on the Conning Tower and Drop Weight system.
Tonight we got the beams glued to the
top deck.
We have been building the
wheels, and they are 90% completed.
All of the plywood pieces have been
glued up into panels,
except for the curved sides.
Kay's article, "Start
With a Question" has been published in the "OCHEC Informer" a
magazine for Home Educators in Oklahoma.
We got all of the plywood
pieces cut, and sanded and ready to start gluing together.
February 2010
We picked up the wood today! See:
Cutting the Plywood.
Jose Berrios has the replica of
Simon Lake's dive suit ready for testing!
We've got all 4 laminated
beams completed for the framing and the drive wheel axel support
blocks.
Tim Smalley has begun construction of a
working model of the Argonaut
Jr.
Jose Berrios has started on a replica of
Simon Lake's dive suit.
The small wheels / tiller and
drive wheel axel are
nearing completion.
ROV plans coming together.
Mike Bearden and I have completed the planning and have successfully
tested many of the part.
January 2010
Posted CAD files for the
Argonaut Jr and the
model
Complete molds for interior lead ballast and a
materials list
Sub Monkeys - Movie Completed -
Part 1,
Part 2
December 2009
Building the display model
Thanks to Dennis Tucker of King Tat Graphix for our logo.
Pouring the drop weights
Testing the ballast with the
crush test model
Building the crush test model
Updated the ballast
calculations again - These are really close.
November 2009
CNC cutting the 1/4 scale model
Drop weights design
Ballast tank size and freeboard
Ballast tank
and ballast weight design
Completed the two anchors
Chuck Veit with Tim
Smalley's assistance is making progress on a 3D rendering of
Argonaut Jr.
Completed
converting our VHS radio for an underwater intercom
Built a VHS Marine antenna
for our radio
October 2009
In the Beginning
Stirred by a discussion about an open source ambient submarine
Kay and I took a couple of days to kick the idea around and decided
launch the Argonaut Jr 2010 project. Below is the original idea
posted to the international_psubs_minisubs Yahoo group.
"Build an Argonaut Jr, 2010 version, in 1 day. -- Interested?"
"With lots of preplanning, plywood, 2x6's, screws, some prebuilt
parts, tanks for ballast, PVC pipe & valves and 6 to 8 people I bet
we could build Argonaut Jr in one day. That would be fun! I don't
think it would cost more than $2000 USD by using loaned materials
like scuba tanks and lead. I'd be happy to foot that bill. Come in
on Friday, build it on Saturday, trailer it out to the lake on
Sunday morning for testing and invite the media for demonstration
dives on Sunday afternoon. Have some fun and maybe inspire some
young minds. Who here would travel to Tulsa, OK to take part in a
weekend like that in mid June 2010?
Doug Jackson
SubmarineBoat.com"
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