Bushnell’s Turtle. Revolutionary war submersible. 1:35 3D design and print

[Mousemuffins]

Nobody?

carries on regardless....


I think I I scale it up, I'll ad an interior. Cool thing is there is very little reliable evidence or reference for just about any of this vessel, let alone the inside. What little evidence there is indicates a bench for a seat, two hand operated pumps, a crank for the propeller (possibly both foot pedal operated and hand cranked), a ballast release catch and a foot operated water inlet valve. that's in the bottom half, anyway.

Started playing the crank and associated foot pedals as the geometry needed to be believable.





A flywheel is also evidenced. Which after the geometry test I figured it's there to help overcome the pedals jamming when they are in a neural position.

Anyone know what an 18th century bevel gear would look like?

 

[Mousemuffins]

Going with simple cage gears for now. Until someone can tell me different.

Well, this is becoming crowded, complex and claustrophobic.







My inner steampunk approves.

 

[Uwek]

very interesting project you are working on here......
and very good weathering work in this "egg"

 

[Mousemuffins]

Thanks all for the many likes.

the exercise bike from hell progresses: now with more bilge pumps. (and a bit of colour...)





The hope is that most of the internals can be assembled out of the model and inserted later. (the fetching pink colour will be optional)

 

[Mousemuffins]

nothing like designing a ballast release lever before breakfast.





...because submarines need a handbrake.

 

[Mousemuffins]

I've done a highly detailed figure to help me with the geometries. Pretty close. I'll need to move the hand wheel forward and up a bit, but the rest seems to be within the realms of reasonable believability.

 

[Mousemuffins]

Fixed! also not immediately apparent in the previous post, I needed to move the seat a tad upwards. Which has let me make the pumps a bit taller.

 

[Mousemuffins]

You know that point in the model when you haven't finished the detailing, but you just wanna paint it?

That.



Top end should be simpler, with two operating handles for the diving propeller and Auger, a bellows of some description for pumping air in, and the torpedo release mechanism.

I'm thinking a canteen or two and a pistol to accessorise. oh. and a condensation rag.

and glowing fungus. wonder how they stored that....?

 

[Mousemuffins]

A few more details. So much engineering involved in this to make it work. This bit goes here, but bumps into this bit or interferes with that bit. this bit can’t swing past that. crew wouldn’t be able to reach that thingy. There have also been sacrifices made to aesthetics ('That looks cooler that way…), and buildability (that part will be too thin, or need a better connection).

Still, having fun.





Also starting to put serious thought into producing this as a kit, as far as ordering a more suitable printer for the larger sections. Like an Elegoo saturn or Mono X. (the fiddly, really fine details will still be printed on the Form 3, if there’s a noticeable difference…)

 

[Mousemuffins]

. made some decisions Things have been purchased...



...and reasonably post proof and satchel friendly packaging designed...



another week or two and we should have a solid price estimate. There will be a 1:35 scale kit (no interior), and a 1:16 kit with all of the fixin's.

 

[Mousemuffins]

testing, testing...



One of the main reasons I need the second printer is that it should be quicker. The Form 3 is a beautiful machine, but it ain't fast and it's very expensive to run.

This, for example, is 12 hour print. Note also I'm testing a 1/35 interior, but I really think it would be too fragile and frustrating for most, especially those inexperienced with 3D printing, to remove from supports and clean up. There would be breaking and snapping and unhappy e-mails.

 

[Mousemuffins]

Hmmm… You know, the wee 1:32 interior might just work…












Big one is kinda awesome though.

Some parts are going to need slight changes between scales. the ‘panel lines’ on the outside of the barrel staves will need to be a bit finer on the big one, and some parts for the interior on the wee one will need some judicious beefing up.

 

[Mousemuffins]

Hmmm. I think this'll work. especially if I re-orient the file so there's only one support attached to the chain...





I managed to remove it, but was a bit scary.

Next print will be better.



Also: Pumps.

 

[Uwek]

just amazing what you are doing here - and highly interesting to see such a development

 

[Mousemuffins]

Thanks!

More editing and test builds... (1:16)



Crankshaft goes in well, decided to add some guides for the pedals. I'm also going to beef them up a bit.

 

[Mousemuffins]

Hmmm....





163% more likely to end in a disastrous moustache misadventure.

 

[DocBlake]

Awesome work, here! Unfortunately wasted on those of us who can’t paint. I’d love to see the job my friend Mike Shanks could do with a weathering paint job!

 

[Mousemuffins]

Unfortunately wasted on those of us who can’t paint.

Ah, but you see, this the perfect opportunity to practice. If you screw up the interior, glue it all closed, spray the rest gold, roll it around in some glitter and stick it on the fridge.

 

[Mousemuffins]

Cogs happened.





…I’m thinking they should be photo-etch for the 1:32, but I’m not sure I want to spend the extra money/deal with the possible additional downtime. Nevertheless, I’ll investigate. Anyone know someone in Australia who can do me some etchings?

 

[Mousemuffins]

Found a place for etchings. I think the 1:16 scale will be fine with resin prints for the cogs. They were just too difficult/tedious in 1:32.

....so depending on turn-around time, the 1:32 may be delayed a bit after the 1:16.

Added What I think is a last part to the lower interior. The Water inlet valve. There was no ballast tank to speak off, the operator just let the water in to splash about the bottom of the vessel and then pumped it out again when surfacing was desirable.





wait. no. I lied.

Trim ballast.