3D Printed ROV – Beginning & Design
This project originally started out around 2009 as a simple PVC frame type ROV I called the LCUBE, which was an acronym for “Low Cost Underwater Basic Explorer” because it was basically a square design and it was going to be a low cost basic observation type ROV without any no bells or whistles. I was trying to build this while at the same time trying to write a complete set of detail build plans that I could sell to support my website.
This was as far as I got before I ran into issues with the buoyancy aspects of the project. I tried using various sizes of PVC floats for buoyancy but could not achieve enough flotation without going to 3″ PVC pipe which would have meant I total redesign of everything at which point it would basically just be a Seafox Rov. At this point the entire project was shelved and basically most of the work I did writing the plans was pretty much a wasted effort except for the control portion but more on that later…
In 2014 I bought my first 3D printer to support a side business I ran and then eventually I started also using it for all of my hobbies. Circa 2015 – One of the first things I designed was a kort nozzle for the bilge pump thrusted I used on the LCUBE. These things came out awesome and increased the performance of the thruster by about .8 lbs of thrust.
It was at this point I decided to try and incorporate the kort nozzle right into a complete thruster/mount for the bilge pumps.
Once I had the thruster done I then decided to try and design an entire 3D printed (for the most part) ROV.
This was the main design which I dubbed the “REBOOT” because I was reusing the thrusters and control system from the LCUBE. I tried to keep it a basic square design still and the size was limited to the how big my build plate on the printer was.
There’s more info on the forum post about the initial build process but I’m skipping most of that here because things changed after getting this far.
Rear view. (all of the cracks in the parts are from printing in ABS without an enclosure… I was still new to printing at this point.)
After getting most of the parts of the main frame printed out I was concerned I wouldn’t have enough buoyancy again and not wanting to repeat my LCUBE failure I decided to jump back into the CAD and enlarge the float pod.
Starting from scratch I redesigned the entire ROV with a much larger float pod and even went a bit further into the design at this stage. (Of course if I go with a tube up front for the camera as shown it might be to much buoyancy now.)
With the basics of the overall design complete it was time to reprint all of the parts of the float and frame.
All Information, Pictures, and Material is copyright © 2022 by Stephen Thone and may not be used for any personal or commercial purposes without the consent of the author. All rights reserved. The Author makes no guarantees or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of, or results to be obtained from accessing and using the Information herein.