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  #1  
Old 09-08-2011, 01:00 AM
DrGerryD DrGerryD is offline
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CardCat X900 Stealth Drone

There is no doubt about it. The 900mm version of the X200 (named X900) is one mother of a cardboard hull. Made in 2mm card the parts are not only glued together but also pop-rivetted with 3mm akuminium pop rivets. The projected cargo capacity of the boat will be around 14Kg - a humongous capacity for such a small boat whose projected weight will lie around the 2Kg mark. This will be an extremely sea-worthy hull, and I mean SEA-worthy. I may begin marketting this as an environmental monitoring boat for use in sensitive areas like bird colonies etc. We shall see. I have to build it first..:D (You can probably "hear" that I am looking forward to that.)

Reporting on the development of Monohull B has been transferred to here because the X900 is based on that hull. Reporting on the X200 will stop when the last tests have been carried out, and development of the X900 is started. So the two partial projects will be joined here at CardCat X900 Stealth Drone.
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Old 09-08-2011, 08:22 PM
DrGerryD DrGerryD is offline
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Hi guys

The cardboiard I need turned up today. The cutting machine won't arrive for another week but that's no problem. I am beginning to cut the templates for the X900. These are cut on 0.65mm and I can manage that with my current tooling. When those are finished I can mark them up on the cardboard. So I don't imagine the delay with the machine causing any delay in the project. Now that about 1 month of the projected 3 month development time has passed on the X200 things seem to be on schedule.
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Old 09-08-2011, 09:03 PM
DrGerryD DrGerryD is offline
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Drawing of the X900 frame - without side plates.

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Old 09-08-2011, 09:12 PM
DrGerryD DrGerryD is offline
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I am still looking for an old-fashioned XY Plotter for A3 or even A2. I know everyone threw these on the scrap heap many years ago (as I did with my Roland DXY-1300) but somewhere in a dark corner someone must have one they want to get rid of for the freight costs instead of running it down to the recycling centre. If anyone has a clue PLEASE let me know.
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Old 09-09-2011, 06:44 PM
DrGerryD DrGerryD is offline
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Hi Guys

The 2mm card for the X900 arrived yesterday. As you have probably observed throughout the X200 development, I always carry out material tests when I am dealing with something new. In this case it proved to be decisive for the construction of the X900.

The card is 2mm ok - but consists of two layers of 1mm card pressed together. This is called "Bookbinders Card" here in Denmark. It is the cheapest one can buy. Its construction means though that glueing parts together by angle bracket will not work. That is because the glue will only hold the angle bracket to one side of the card while the other is free to break loose, which it does very easily.

Secondly. Bending this card is impossible without damaging it. The fibres are too loose knitted. Bending in large radius bends (above about 6mm radius) is possible without damage so the card can be twisted to match a hull shape if necessary. The X900 is built with my SLO (Straight Line Only) technique, so the ability of the 2mm card to twist is not an issue at all. It does mean however that angle brackets used to hold the structure together cannot be made from the same card.

Because of the loose fibre structure of the card I am reasonably confident that it will be able to absorb a good deal of the plasticising material. It will obviously have to be added on both sides of the card if the X900 is to be waterproof both internally and externally. This is not an option as the weight of the polyester or similar is large compared to the card. And the polyester will cost a couple of times more than the card.

I also performed punching, drilling and cutting with a standard hobby knife tests which showed that the looseness of the structure does not permit fancy operations like that to be performed upon it without resulting in raggy edges.

Sandpaper tests showed that if a very light hand is used and a medium grain sandpaper then good results can be achieved. So on that score the card passed the test.

Pop rivets are not an option. The pop rivets work ok, but the drilling or stamping operations needed to make the holes for the pop rivets damage the card.

Stapling using 6mm x 14mm staples proved to be a very valid solution. The card is not deformed or crushed by stapling.

The results of these tests show that the X900 should be (and therefore will be) constructed as follows:-

1) All major parts - bulkheads and plates - cut from 2mm card.Only flats. No bends or tabs.
2) No glue to be used unless unavoidable.
3) All Angle Brackets cut from 0.65mm card.
4) All connections between parts and angle brackets are by staples alone. The reverse side of the staples will have to be flattened as they are normally rounded by the staple machine.This may prove to be a problem when attaching the hull skin but a solution to that must be found.
5) Only surfaces exposed directly to water will be coated by polyester. Other surfaces can be protected adequately by normal acrylic paint.
6) Special fittings will be needed to attach the hull deck hatches to the frame as these hatches have to be removeable. The fittings will have to allow the use of 3-4mm machine screws. Self-cutting screws are to be avoided as they will eventually gouge the screw hole and prevent making the hatch cover watertight.

So that's it. I am changing the design to accomodate these requirements. There will be no huge changes unless you know where to look, but since only I have seen the original drawings this will not cause any confusion. Although the change to staples complicates things (some parts are not easy to reach with a standard staple machine - I may have to construct a special one for this) - work is saved in that I do not need to stamp or drill the dozens of holes needed for pop rivets, and I can save some money since the staples are much cheaper than pop rivets.

Gerry
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Old 09-09-2011, 08:12 PM
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whulsey whulsey is offline
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OK, I'm lost. What are you building here? or was there another thread that relates to this?
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  #7  
Old 09-09-2011, 09:55 PM
DrGerryD DrGerryD is offline
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Hi Whulsey

I am not surprised you are lost - I get that way myself sometimes too..

The CardCat X900 Stealth Drone is a 900mm version of the X200 Stealth Drone catamaran, which thread you can follow from the beginning of the project by selecting that in the miniboats list in the site map just above this thread. From the X200 Stealth Drone was developed a larger hull, Monohull B. When development of this hull showed that it could be used to build a 900mm version of the X200, a new thread for the X900 was started, and both the Monohull B and X200 projects were merged into this one.

This is a boat being developed from the very beginning here on the forum. My experiences with the material may help others wanting to build bigger "real" boats (miniboats designed from scratch for their size and not models) in cardboard, so I am doing a lot more detailed reporting than a normal modeler would.

I hope that helps but if not then come back again. Otherwise, welcome on board. If the reoports are too windy or boring then just let me know and I will tone it down a bit.

Cheers
Gerry
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Old 09-10-2011, 02:45 PM
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whulsey whulsey is offline
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Thanks, I have 9 pages of unread postings so figured I'd missed an earlier one that this one was referencing.
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  #9  
Old 09-11-2011, 01:33 PM
DrGerryD DrGerryD is offline
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Bulkheads for the starboard hull are ready for assembly.

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  #10  
Old 09-12-2011, 10:30 PM
DrGerryD DrGerryD is offline
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Hi Guys

The X900 Starboard hull frame is assembled. No details required at this stage as work is progressing entirely according to plan. Now I start the Port Hull frame. I have come to the conclusion that this will be the final model of the CardCat Stealth Drone and as such I intend to "arm" this one with Drives, R/C, Wireless web cam, GPS and anything else I can think of. If you guys think of something that I could include then let me know and I will take a look at it.

Gerry
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