U uPVC class

About to cut O ring grooves in the polycarbonate endcaps with my trusty Peatol lathe, with riser blocks fitted.
OK it is not uPVC but it fits into a standard PVC sewer pipe!

Stages in this very simple construction method. Basically just bending PVC sheet over a clay former using a heat gun. Good for winter construction - no smells!

How do you clamp the End cap in that small lathe and centre it? Do you have sort of faceplate that you can mount and centre it on?

Yes Ramesh, It is bolted to the face plate (You can just see the slot in the faceplate.)

I glued a small diameter disk of polycarbonate on the face of the larger disks. I centre drilled this and the tailstock goes in there.

This means that you can remove the faceplate and disks in one piece to test for O ring fit and then put it back on the lathe and centre it easily.

The Peatol is on the limit of its size range turning a 100mm disk but it works fine.

Thanks, I have to get myself an end plate. At the moment I use a regular 3 jaw 'chuck' and drill and the PVC held by a single bolt and nut through the centre, which in turn is held by the chuck. But this means unless you take very fine cuts the the pvc disc starts spinning around the bolt no matter how tight you tighen the nut.

Yes, face plates get a bit overlooked as lathe accessories.

It is worth getting the fixings for them as well (The T bolts etc.) makes them much easier to use and prevents bits flying off at high speed!

The first trial of the bare hull at Barrow to check on motors, props, rudder and turning circle. Looks fine.(I will also try to post a video.)

From a breezy Barrow today:

I am going to have to use a different primer colour to avoid these quips. Green?

So Nigel and Richard you may make fun of the red carrot but it does show that the following drive system gives good results:

2 off MFA 950D Series motors with 6 to 1 ratio gearbox. (5 pole motors giving 10000 rpm at 12v and drawing about 1A at maximum efficiency)

2 off Rivabo Code 534-45 (45mm diameter) 3 bladed props, right and left hand.

In combination drive a 44inch long hull.

Information which may be useful in the eagerly awaited Brian/Nigel U class project!

The superstructure in tin plate. (I've avoided red priming to avoid comments about tinned carrots etc.)

Thank you very much, Richard.
(You sure you don't want to say something about tinned carrots?? Maybe I'll wait for Uncle Nigel!)

Is there a "bow plane shaped" plate behind the bow planes?
Brian's Umbra shows this but I can't really see anything like this on the drawings (See below)

Also if any one has details of what I assume is a hydrophone housing just in front of the keel,I'd be grateful.

LOOK AT THE DRAWINGS AGAIN,THE ARE THERE SHOULD HAVE GONE TO SPECSAVERS!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry about the quality of photo, you can see from this scan that the sonar details do not show they are covered by a plate which is part of the keel.