Underwater Drone Built With Parts From a Flying Drone

[@TheRealWulfderay]

Hey Simon, I love your videos! I work for a scuba dive computer manufacturer, and a lot of the issues you are facing are awfully familiar. Our earlier dive computers have a faceplate with 8 screws onto an o-ring sealed surface much like the one on your drone. We've found that ironically this kind of design leaks far more commonly near the surface than when at depth because the water can seep by the seal when the pressure is lower, but as the pressure increases, the faceplate is forced back upon the o-ring. The sealing surface for the o-ring is critical. Too much surface roughness (as you may find with a painted 3d print) and the water can pass right by the o-ring at lower depths. As well, properly sizing of the o-ring is also very important. Too thin and it can't make good contact, but too thick and it can fold onto itself and cause channels for water to pass by. All that being said, I am a firmware developer, not a mechanical engineer. YMMV.

[@fluffyeggs]

Temperature probably plays a part too. The water will start to cool the internal volume of air dropping the pressure inside. Getting the electronics hot to compensate, pressurizing the hull slightly, or pre-cooling below water temp might help.

[@AntiVaganza]

Thanks for the input. Sounds like you may have used a face seal, then. Maybe you went to a "piston type" seal later on. I noticed a lot of, if not all, Suuntos use that. Just one correction, small, thin o-rings can actually hold quite a lot of pressure perfectly well - as long as the surfaces are smooth. But if you meant sealing on a 3D printed surface, I guess you are right, a bigger surface could help bridge small gaps in the surface. Anyhow, I have 1.5mm cross section o-rings in some spots in my pneumatic spearguns ( up to 33bar). And Suunto has 1.0mm cross section rings on the button pins on, at least, D4 and D6 computers. And in one place in one of my computers, they have an even smaller one.

[@unicorntulkas]

@@AntiVaganza Another thing with o-rings is that you should put a generous amount of grease on them to fill any gaps. I work in manufacturing/qc for small sensors and we always have a big jar of vaseline at hand to grease up the seal of our pressure tester.

[@AntiVaganza]

@@unicorntulkas I hate to disagree, but normally, the rule of thumb is not to put much grease on o-rings. As little as possible, actually. I think the idea for the grease is not to fill in gaps, but more to lower the friction of the o-ring so that it can move easily into where it needs to sit in the groove during assembly and when pressure is increased. Perhaps, that's just the internet speaking, and maybe you are right, but that's how I have always done it. I would think if you need grease to fill in gaps, your surface is not smooth enough in the first place.

[@optikid0373]

@@AntiVaganza I mean I’m not an engineer, but I play trumpet and we use grease and oil on the slides and valves to help seal the instrument when we play. It mostly lubricates but helps with leaks too

[@nathan1sixteen]

You have to remember to oil those motors after EVERY use. Get some CorrosionX HD and soak the motors in it. It should help prevent the bearings from seizing like they did

[@ethankey5805]

Yer for my rc car motors /drone I power them up in distilled water to get out all the dirt then oil then they don’t seize

[@ChaNnArD-mD]

I was expecting a 3D printed scuba suit... kinda disappointing.

[@bittasweetsymphony726]

you are not supposed to pollute wildlife water with oil

[@MrThomashorst]

@@bittasweetsymphony726 you can use vegetable oil instead

[@hjoore]

You can easily replace the bearings with 3D resin printed water-film bearings/bushings , I did this on a 5065 motor on a diy electric kayak, works much better than ball bearings under water. The water forms a film and decreases the noise a bit. The ones I have designed have 6 small canals running axially across the bushings which suck in the water that creates the film. No oil, no rust, no contact

[@roraraptor]

Only halfway through, and someone has probably suggested this already, but.. To save yourself some trial and error with the ballast, you could just temporarily seal the hull, submerge it in a container, take note of how much water it displaces, and calculate the updrift on the drone. Then just add enough ballast to make the drone weigh the same or a bit more than the updrift, and you should be golden~

[@DinJaevel]

I recommend putting propellor guards on those props of yours. They will make easy use of the umbillacal and leave your ROV (remote operated vehicle) loose and dead in the water. Also important on both your home made ROV and the iFish is to keep a count on how many turns you make in each direction, as a lot of turns and a sharp pull can sever the connection inside the umbillical. It is easier to seal a round hatch waterproof than a square and it is very, very important to cross tighten the screws. I.e. tighten the opposite screws, much like the bolts on a car wheel.

[@FarmerFpv]

You're an RC Legend! I have been watching you for years. Never disappointed with your new projects. Always posting the good, the bad, the ugly, and in the end rewarding projects. Keep it up, Simon.

[@ohctascooby2]

Suggestions for you… 1. instead of multiple cables running to surface which are bulky, heavy, and don’t allow the drone to move as freely as it could… just lengthen the receiver antenna so it reaches the surface. 2. All openings should be round. You could design one that threads (like a jar lid) on and has o-ring at base. Should seal reliably, easily, and be quickly removable.

[@MariusEV123]

They are called ROV. Better to have the electronics in an cylinder with o-ring endcaps and bulkhead-connectors. Then also do a vacuum test

[@Lizlodude]

Couple quick notes, motors, as others have said they won't fail immediately but oil will help a lot, and at least rinse with clean water afterwards. Also, with the balance lead, usually with a well-balanced battery with well-matched cells, it will probably be fine, but charging with only the main lead can definitely lead to some cell imbalance and damage. In the future, you can get a passive balancer board that will balance while charging, but take very little (or no) power otherwise. For something short like that, I would just undercharge it a bit, like to 4.1/cell or so just to avoid overcharging a cell.

[@Vousie]

Yup. I totally cringed when he said you don't need to use the balance lead when charging (and didn't follow it up with a warning about cell balancing). But since he was apparently only doing this as an ad for that expensive commercial one I guess it makes sense...

[@maisaanmufeed438]

Okey this looks much more cleaner, the design is really coolll, ALSO WHEN ARE YOU GONNA USE THE HUGE BLDC MOTOR YOU GOT

[@MatthewNovoselskiy]

he already did

[@maisaanmufeed438]

@@MatthewNovoselskiy oohhh, sorry my bad I forgot😭😭

[@macShen]

12:06 - not only two crabs fighting but also a starfish riding a leaf :D

[@macShen]

Thanks for the scam... Sigh

[@davenarisotto3674]

Using the other drone to pick garbage up was cool, that's a very cool application

[@shinrakishitani1079]

That's pretty amazing, I would like to give a suggestion for the floatation device though, instead of blowing air into it you could seal it with a water cooling system inside, a water cooling heatsink with a circulating fan and a pump using the water from whatever it's floating in. This is a more complicated solution but it would avoid trouble from rain, rough waters, etc. Also even on hot days the waters will be significantly colder than ambient air temp so it should cool the components very well

[@nek111]

Use CorrosionX on the motors, and all the electronics inside, that stuff is pure magic! Trust me I fly over salt water :) Also, you NEED those balance leads to safely charge… Cells will slowly have different voltages and the list of stuff that can go wrong grows. But hey, its your house… Amazing project!!

[@Astropowergtv]

We want a family blog from you because we don’t know about your family and love to see more from you and love the comedian style you put into your videos

[@AllanElkaim]

I find your dedication to making an underwater drone amazing, despite all the failed attempts you never give up ! Keep up the good work :)

[@Festivejelly]

Mate your projects are bloody brilliant. This one is one of my faves.

[@mattster7412]

The Titan sub needed a man like you

[@Rostol]

the way you cool watertight devices is by having a heatsink (or a full pump and heat-exchanger and blower (radiator)) with or without fan to the hull, it blows cold air from there. water will go inside the floating relay thru the fan opening and you'll lose it. also if you shape the floating relay like a buoy it would be better, like 2 tall cones stuck by their circular parts, with some lead ballast on one end around the cable exit (and a cooling heatsink) and the antenna up top, that way it causes less drag to the sub and stands the antenna easier over the waves, waves cut out, and reflect the signal upwards. you could open it and close it twisting the two cones together with some o-rings in between

[@WhiteG60]

I'd make the bottom of the 'hull' of the floating control out of aluminum with an o-ring seal to the plastic sides/top. Then use that aluminum as a heatsink, or even put some actual heatsinks on the bottom so that you're constantly water-cooling the heatsinks.

[@NoGufff]

Awesome stuff, mate. Great to see your sister getting involved too.

[@rexx2507]

You can paint the 3d printed parts with resin ( the type used in resin printing works well )which helps with water proofing.

[@AquaticRobotic42]

I like your style with the brushless motors and wireless float on the surface. Made my own underwater drone this way, which is constant work in progress, but works quite well most of the time. I found epoxy sealing where the wires go into the motor helps since wires are not coated where they join from motor windings to cable. Also I use pvc pipe as a pressure hull. Pipe union style fittings for the pvc pipe have an o-ring style seal, and you can swap the flat side of the union for a piece of plexiglass/acrylic and you have an easily openable but very robust hatch of sorts. Only challenge there is you then need a long narrow chassis to easily get electronics in and out of the pipe enclosure. Keep up the cool projects!

[@sulphur_fpv]

I done mine the same as you with PVC pipe and used screw cap ends, unfortunately the smallest I could find was 100mm pipe and wished I could have found some screw on caps to suit 65mm pipe so it would have displaced less. I got around this by adding a heap of lead in the pipe, the battery sits on the lead so it kinda works like a heat sink lol

[@Chemnut220]

I am finally getting back to doing cool creative stuff like this. Super cool to see your work even if it was a failsess - frustrating but enjoyable at times and very informative to go through the process.

[@gmanhi5]

I like all your videos, but would like more always want more.

[@PCBWay]

we just can't agree more ✌

[@GeorgeCooper_LoneWolf]

How can somebody as clumsy as you be so bloody brilliant. You're a genius mate this is looking fantastic

[@robertst-laurent6452]

Have you tried putting the access cover under the unit instead of on top? The air pressure inside might be enough to prevent water from coming entering the sub.

[@proislam-co6pg]

to avoid motor problems in seawater, place them inside and use magnets to couple the outside props to the motors. As an option, instead of props placing far outside, you could use floating canals with the advantage of not getting hit by cable or other obstacles

[@MrSmileyn]

You may consider using removable gel to protect your electronic from accidental water ingress, we use that on outdoor electrical junction box, you mix 2 liquid that solidify into a gel that is close in texture to the gel candle. If you want to remove, you can juste break the gel

[@TheStuartstardust]

Also perhaps a kids daiper for capturing the water inside 😀🤓

[@James-C24]

Is anyone else getting Thunderbird 2 vibes from this? Looks amazing regardless.

[@SeanReevesD]

1:11 that was a smooth transition 👍

[@sealpiercing8476]

The hull is so thin walled that you could definitely get away with magnetic feedthroughs for the propellers rather than external motors. Also hatches should be round, or at minimum round off the corners. Rectangular seals are a huge pain in the rear every time. Also you can just buy o-rings in practically whatever size or material you want, which will probably work way better than that printed thing. Edit: Credit Brick Experiment Channel which built a lego-inside-tupperware submarine using such a feedthrough. It worked great.

[@ddegn]

Have you seen the video video "Building a Lego-powered Submarine 3.0 - balloon and compressor*" on the*Brick Experiment Channel?* (It's a fun watch.) He used a magnetic couple to keep the motor inside the sub. It worked pretty well but it really limits the speed and torque from the motor. Friction is a big problem with magnetic coupling.

[@sealpiercing8476]

@@ddegn Yes, that is precisely the inspiration. Limited speed and torque is fine. The total possible length of voyage of this thing is the length of the tether, so speed is not a high priority.

[@ddegn]

@@sealpiercing8476 It would be cool to see. The one which used Lego bricks worked pretty well.

[@dsp4392]

I would trust waterproofing advice from a guy named Seal.

[@CorDawgYT]

I don''t know the quality of them speed and torque wise , but mini submersible fountain pumps with custom propellers seems like an idea.

[@proislam-co6pg]

The ventilator opening is also enabling waves destroying the electronics. Make it sealed and get cooling from the water. Either by using metal to be contacted by water or use an active watercooler from a PC

[@TrillMurray]

"The right stuff" gasket maker is extremely good and can be returned to service as soon as the pieces are fastened together

[@OTRFlyer]

This video is so freakin cool! I'm so excited I haven't even finished the first half of the video and I'm already in the comments! I totally need to build this so I can find my other quads that I've sunk in various bodies of water lol!

[@bishipc117]

Man I love all of your videos. Even the outtakes and bloopers. You should do a blooper roll sometime. It makes me want to try to make this

[@007REAPER007]

a proper rubber seal around your screws should fix any water leak issues to a certain depth. Also, for the heat sink in the transmission box you could cut a hole in the bottom and seal a heatsink in the hole this way the lake water would cool the heatsink. Cool Project.

[@3DLL.]

Awesome build great work mate

[@grande1900]

I like how your idea for the radio control is basically the same thing DIY Perks came up with for his submarine

[@Project-Air]

I know your pain! With DIY subs, something is always going wrong 😭Yours worked way better than mine though! 😄

[@tenchuu007]

Brits and Swedes, discovering the pain of subs together a sea apart.

[@Ahahahhaaah]

The commentary on this video was hilarious lol, great video!

[@Curtis-Randall]

Pretty slick!! I love that you painted it green. Cheers

[@anon_y_mousse]

One suggestion, if the connection to the internals of the drone is a physical plug, the metal contacts could be bridging in the water. Even if it's fresh water, there are still minerals which can facilitate electrical transmission, and all the worse when the contacts are closer together too. It'd be better to fully seal it and use induction charging to supply power, maybe with a physical twist lock to attach it to the drone. Also as others have already said, use a solvent smoothing technique or just take some sandpaper to it so that the seal with the o-ring will work better. If you take a piece of aluminum and make it part of the hull, you can cool the electronics by placing them directly on that. The heat will dissipate into the water much better that way.

[@theflamecoreguy7929]

"call me crazy my doctor already did" I can feel you 🤣

[@DorisDelux]

"I have this perfectly engineered and waterproof underwaterdrrone but I want to make a drone that is not waterproof and shorts its self." 👍😂 love your videos

[@Duke-px2kk]

om jag hade mer tid skulle jag fortsatta med projektet. bra jobbat, du kommer lyckas!

[@hots2215]

just another amazing video that made me watch at 3 am...

[@PS1212]

12:00 where this video really gets good

[@nfi2nfi2]

Drill the cover holes so the thread falls through the cover this will help avoid warping of the plastic and a better seal also might be worth doing it the same as a car, where you tighten small amounts at a time to avoid any warps and similar torqued screws.

[@muhdhilmi1506]

Garrett Evans Wow thank you Garrett, you've made my day!

[@paradieshenne]

Nice build, but way more fascinating: Damn that gripper has power... thats a few kilos of biting force. Now we need rov fighting competitions

[@Darksagan]

You getting so close and I see lots of helpful comments below. Hope you continue this project cause its badass.

[@Fasel99]

7:03 FlipFlops with socks. Nice :D

[@kylebachert1137]

I would 3D print it with the hatch on the bottom instead of the top. Might help keep air inside the body and less water.

[@kartoffelwaffel]

good thinking

[@lattitude01]

Awesome vid, got me in problem solving mode so may i suggest if you take another crack at the 3d printed drone that you encapsulate the control board in silicone or resin once assembled water will inevitably get inside but having the vulnerable components sealed within a water tight environment should just make it a question of removing the moisture that seeps in, and to that end might i recommend inserting several packets of silca desiccant within the hull to absorb moisture .

[@sulphur_fpv]

The pdb can be coated in silicon conformal coating and the same with the escs however I would also heat shrink the escs and silicon the ends where the wires come out before fully heat shrinking😉

[@lattitude01]

@@sulphur_fpv good tip :D!

[@brianbagnall3029]

Love this project! Can't wait to see V3.

[@BOTGRINDER]

Yes! This is sick.

[@t1mmy13]

Good to see your fusion 360 projects are full of help full names like "preop" and "body 6" too :D

[@Seafariireland]

Great progress, keep at it!

[@chemicalvamp]

please dont give up on having a hatch you can open, And I didn't see you properly testing for leaks, submerging in a wheelbarrow with neutral pressure isn't good. I would recommend adding a schrader valve for testing, you could use a hand pump for a little bit of pressure, and just leave it on the drone knowing it is air tight. And to test for leaks, You can use the wheelbarrow (lol) or just some soapy water, watch for bubbles. I really hope this project continues, I myself have always wanted to build one, Mine was going to have a metal detector in it as well. :)

[@jimmyscott5144]

I love the magnet on the screwdriver. I do the same thing on a set I have that was cheap but works well but isn't magnetized.

[@mclr.cfabricationandperfor5255]

Great DIY idea 💡

[@luisengineering]

In my last video, I built a 3d printed boat with a removable lit which is completely waterproof. I covered the hull in epoxy and used a very soft rubber/foam seal

[@zacplunkett8490]

That claw is so good!! Hope your drone works out too.. Well done so far.. 👍

[@astreyrize5210]

Good job, congratulations!

[@groundskeeper5292]

Just an idea. Get one of those Sea-Doo underwater scooters and modify controls to be remote. Already has sealed battery housing, motor etc. Just requires tethering or here's an idea a co2 cannisters/bag on a timer set to go off if battery power drops floating it to the surface. 3d print necessary upgrade pieces rather than starting from scratch.

[@keysimfr]

New vidéo !!! YEAHHHHH make it longer pleasssssse !!!

[@andersekman3803]

tack för dina väldigt inspirerande projekt och just rover får en att drömma om att endag ha råd att bygga en egen (utan att sälja en njure) kör hårt!

[@mitchellstrobbe7779]

Put some conformal coating on the electronics after you have them all assembled. Should keep them from dying when a little bit of moisture makes its way in

[@MiNiD33]

Use the spare pins to send battery from the floating box then you will need less holes in your sub. Each pin will add some amps you can send. If you pause during the print then you can design the holes in the print and maybe even have it as a single print with connectors on the main board

[@ChenhaoZhang-kf1gu]

The editing is epic

[@tclark]

Fun video to watch. Keep in-mind... Submarines have round hatches. Hatches on the deck of a ship are round too... Round > Square

[@woophereigo9755]

*_Have you thought about making threaded big holes and cross threading them with some rubber for seal like you would in a shower nozzle? The hole could be big enough to stick camera inside, you know._*

[@FixDaily]

Submarines use water and air pressure to sink, you could do the same. They don't need to be adjusted to specific value to the weight of the load, because the load varies.

[@danielstewart3507]

Submarines use ballast tanks which are completely flooded to remove positive buoyancy from the submarine. Then short term compensation tanks are used whereby water is pumped into or out of the compensation tank depending on depth. They also use trim tanks where water is pumped fwd to aft or vice versa to maintain pitch. Compressed air is used only to clear the water out of the ballast tanks at the end of the dive. I agree that he could implement a few of these things into his next iteration.

[@alfstewart2592]

@@danielstewart3507 hmmm how would you compress air on a scale that small?🤔🤔

[@danielstewart3507]

@@alfstewart2592 I don't think a drone needs ballast tanks. But I think it could probably use a short term compensation tank. Ballast tanks aren't really needed because the operator can just reach into the water to extract the drone once it is near the surface. A short term compensation tank would be useful because the drone wouldn't need to be weighted at all. The tank could be completely sealed off from the rest of the vessel. This would do away with the need for needing to store compressed air onboard.

[@CPstudioTheTraveller]

Awesome underwater drone.

[@Very_Grumpy_Cat]

I have always wondered if you could use sonar to control the drone

[@rbland]

Water is most probably coming down the wire insulation from the motor side and into the drone. You need to somehow create a seal on the motor side where the copper wire enters into the insulation. Dab of silicon perhaps? I've seen this happen multiple times before in underwater applications like bore pumps.

[@EisMann61]

i think allowing heatsink to have contact with water somehow will help with overheating

[@fluffigverbimmelt]

Next time you dump a case with electronics into cold water, add a few moisture absorbers (or fill it with completely dry air)

[@neversinkmakes]

You could find a way to use a magnetic switch to turn on and off while still maintaining the seal of the device.

[@tonutzforyalls3899]

The crabs fighting.. Hey!! Hey!! Heyy!! 🤣🤣

[@user-bz6gh5ng2m]

Imagien a full sized version of this where the floating radio signal reciever was disigned to auto-reel the submersible back in if it were to pass a certain depth, or when it detected any other problems.. something like that couldve saved those people that died recently

[@adrienouilou2999]

So nice. I had the same idea in my head since a log time but you realized it!

[@evFPV]

Success-ish... I love it. It was fun, though!!

[@TheWebstaff]

If you put the hatch at the bottom of the sub then the air won't try to escape through the hatch.. It will still leak as your cursed but at least it will leak less.

[@DoRC]

Just to clarify you physically can charge a lithium polymer battery without using the balance cable but you really shouldn't. If the cells become out of balance you will end up overcharging one of the cells because the charger has no idea what each individual cell voltage is and blowing up the battery.

[@pepethefrog7193]

The way would be to use an internal 3-cell BMS which costs $3 from ali.

[@pepethefrog7193]

@@DoRC You must be special! Because the rest of the world does not turn the BMS off ever.

[@meckarelis3235]

I think water is a problem that whould kill the battery before unbalanced cells. So not really a problem if it dies before the problem developes. Problem solved.

[@DoRC]

@@meckarelis3235 lipo cells are sealed so even if it got wet that really wouldn't be much of a problem.

[@meckarelis3235]

@@DoRC shorting rhe conector and lip no more

[@tobins6800]

I would say look into SLA printing for the most critical parts. Maybe consider aluminum parts for the sealing surfaces.

[@Jarmezrocks]

Success-ish for the win👍

[@brodens.109]

tip for the drone, use flex seal, it actually works insanely well

[@thomasschallowetz7014]

Well made !

[@filipdahlberg4420]

Flexing with that drone x)

[@T00LF00L]

That’s badass! I was wondering when someone was going to try to build something like this!

[@bravinjacobs2570]

i feel smarter after watching your videos even though i barely understand

[@batzuljohnthomas6094]

Glad I just found ur channel, so freaking good

[@luongmaihunggia]

Ultrasonic acoustic waves can travel much further underwater than radio waves. Maybe you can try that?

[@srck4035]

Try using hydraulic zylinder seals. Those are designed to press the sealing lips onto the sealing surface when pressure is applied

[@bigworknoscales]

People underestimate the positives of throwing tires into the ocean @ 12:17. This is more environmentally friendly than recycling them.

[@PBGBen]

Take tho bags of desiccant that come with 3d printer filament and place some inside, it will help with humidity

[@moodmaker2796]

Imagine you're whole family lived in the Coca Cola can for generations. No more! xD

[@CoolAsFreya]

Drone motors CAN survive clean water, but they absolutely don't tolerate dust, dirt, and particulate!

[@DarkGhost9595]

Goodjob man, Keep it up

[@chrisboer509]

Really nice build ;-)