Waterjet-Powered Speedboat For Fun And Research

November 1, 2021 by Bryan Cockfield 1 Comment

There are a lot of cliches about the perils of boat ownership. “The best two days of a boat owner’s life are the day they buy their boat, and the day they sell it” immediately springs to mind, for example, but there is a loophole to an otherwise bottomless pit of boat ownership: building a small robotic speedboat instead of owning the full-size version. Not only will you save loads of money and frustration, but you can also use your 3D-printed boat as a base for educational and research projects.

The autonomous speedboats have a modular hull design to make them easy to 3D print, and they use a waterjet for propulsion which improves their reliability in shallow waters and reduces the likelihood that they will get tangled on anything or injure an animal or human. The platform is specifically designed to be able to house any of a wide array of sensors to enable people to easily perform automated tasks in bodies of water such as monitoring for pollution, search-and-rescue, and various inspections. A monohull version with a single jet was prototyped first, but eventually a twin-hulled catamaran with two jets was produced which improved the stability and reliability of the platform.

All of the files needed to get started with your own autonomous (or remote-controlled) speedboat are available on the project’s page. The creators are hopeful that this platform suits a wide variety of needs and that a community is created of technology enthusiasts, engineers, and researchers working on autonomous marine robotic platforms. If you’d prefer to ditch the motor, though, we have seen a few autonomous sailboats used for research purposes as well.

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Electric Surfboard Doesn’t Need Waves

September 8, 2020 by Lewin Day 20 Comments

Surfing is a majestic sport, but one which relies heavily on the environment to provide suitable waves for the practice. If you don’t live near the right piece of coast, you’re simply out of luck. Of course, you could always build yourself an electric board instead to tear up the local lakes – and that’s precisely what [Simon] did.

Following on from earlier experiments with 3D printed boats, the board is powered by a pair of jet drives, sourced from [YOUNGSTERS JETS]. Not one to skimp on horsepower, [Simon] selected twin 5000W motors to provide plenty of motive power. Of course, operating at such power levels comes with some headaches, and there’s plenty of blown ESCs and damaged motors along the way. Perseverance and plenty of cash outlay later, and the board is out carving elegant lines in the water at over 45 km/h.

Future updates aim to solve the problem of water ingress into the electronics, particularly the hand controller, of which [Simon] has already ruined two. We look forward to seeing more of these craft out in the water in coming days, particularly as they’re at least 30% less loud and annoying than the common jetski. Video after the break.

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3D Printing A Water Jet Drive

April 30, 2019 by Lewin Day 16 Comments

[Ivan Miranda] is always experimenting with 3D printing, and recently has been taking his work on the water. His latest creation is a racing paddle boat, but its performance left [Ivan] with a need for speed. Cue the development of the 3D printed water jet engine (YouTube link, embedded below).

The basic principle of operation is simple. Water is sucked through an inlet, where it is accelerated by a turbine driven by a brushless motor. This turbine, in combination with stator fins, forces the water through the outlet, propelling the boat forwards in the process.

The first prototype is printed in PLA. Tolerances are good, thanks largely to [Ivan]’s experience and well-calibrated printers. After assembly, the engine is fired up, to great results. After sourcing a series of larger tubs in which to test the device, the engine is finally run up to full throttle and appears more than capable of shifting a serious amount of water.

We’d love to see a proper instrumented thrust test, particularly one that compares the device to other water jet drives on the market. Brushless motors make a great drive solution for RC boats, so we’re sure [Ivan] will be tearing up the lake real soon. Video after the break.

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Video Series Shows Custom Machined Fly Reel

February 17, 2017 by Dan Maloney 9 Comments

For those of us who can’t get enough vicarious machining, YouTube is becoming a gold mine. Intricate timepieces, gigantic pump shafts, and more and better machine tools are all projects that seem to pop up in our feed regularly.

With all that to choose from, can a series on building a fly fishing reel actually prove interesting? We think so, and if you enjoyed [Clickspring]’s recently completed pedestal clock, you might just get a kick out of what’s cooking in [JH Reels]’ shop. Comparing any machining videos to [Clickspring]’s probably isn’t very fair, but even with a high bar to hurdle, [JH Reels] comes out looking pretty good. The challenge here is that this is a saltwater fly reel, so extra care with material selection and machining methods ought to make for some interesting viewing. Also of interest is the range of tooling needed to produce the reel. From lathe to mill to waterjet cutter, a lot goes into these parts, and watching them come together is fascinating.

You wouldn’t think a seemingly simple mechanism like a fly reel would be so complicated to build. But there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye, and with a reel that’s clearly destined to be an heirloom piece, [JH Reels]’ attention to detail is impressive. The series currently stands at 10 videos, and we’re keen to see how it turns out.

The first video is posted below to whet your appetite. But if machining and fishing don’t do it for you, maybe you can try drones and fishing instead.

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Tinijet — Affordable Waterjet Cutting At Home

February 4, 2016 by James Hobson 63 Comments

While laser cutting remains the dominant force for rapid prototyping anything made of plastic, MDF or wood, the real holy grail is the ability to cut metal — something most laser cutters are just not capable of.

In the industry, this is done using extremely high-powered laser cutters, plasma cutters, or water jet cutters. All of which are very pricey equipment for a hacker. Until now anyway. Introducing the Tinijet, the missing tool for affordable water jet cutting.

We first covered this project a few years ago when it was just a university research project called Hydro — it’s since evolved immensely, and will be available for sale very soon.

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Hydro: The Low Cost Waterjet Cutter

January 14, 2014 by James Hobson 103 Comments

Waterjet cutters are generally huge machines, with equally large price tags. But what if there was a hobbyist level waterjet cutter that was actually affordable? Well, for their Senior Design Project at the University of Pennsylvania, [Adam Libert] and his team made one that could retail for less than $5000.

[Adam] was the lead mechanical designer on this amazing project, and he designed the fully waterproof XY gantry, capable of withstanding the water and abrasive from the cutter. The entire machine is only 2′ x 2′ by about 5′ tall, making it extremely portable and easy to move through doorways — and it runs off of plain old 120VAC and shop air. It is capable of cutting through up to 1/4″ aluminum and 1/8″ steel with a working area of 12″ x 14″ at a tolerance of 0.005″.

Not surprising, the project won the Mechanical Engineering Senior Design competition in 2012 with accolades for outstanding creativity. We weren’t able to find any information on the future plans for this project, but we hope they make it open-source, or even run a crowd-funding campaign for it.

The goal was to create the first ever low-cost, small scale, and easy to use waterjet cutter, and judging by the video, it looks like they did it — stick around after the break to see for yourself.

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Carabiner Helps You Hone Your Milling Skills

March 13, 2012 by Mike Szczys 26 Comments

[Christian] is learning to use the metal milling tools at what we assume is his local Hackerspace. We love this about the communal spaces, they provide so many opportunities to delve into new fields. He embarked on a voyage that included visits to most of the machinery in the shop as he build his own carabiner with a magnetic gate. He’s not going to be hanging off the side of a mountain from it. But his keys or a water bottle will find a happy home thanks to the device.

It all started with some sketches to establish the shape of the overall design. From there he spent some time modelling the frame of the carabiner in CAD. He’s lucky enough to have access to a water jet which took the SolidWorks files and cut out the aluminum frame for him. That left a part with very sharp edges, so he used a wood router with a carbide bit to round them over.

The next part is adding the gate. He used an end-mill to add a mounting area on the frame. The locking ring for the gate was textured using a knurling tool, and the rest is milled with a simple cutting tool. This gate uses a magnet to center itself, with the knurled ring as the only mechanical latching mechanism. [Christian] does a good job of demonstrating the completed carabiner in the clip after the break.

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