Submarine Instructable

Here are the steps to building a submarine made out of PVC pipes.

These are the materials you will need to build your submarine:

Materials:
(1) 1/2 in. x 10 ft. PVC Sch. 40 Plain-End Pipe

(4) 1/2 in. Schedule 40 PVC Tee (4 )1/2 in. Schedule 40 PVC 90-Degree Elbow

(2) 1/2 in. PVC Sch. 40 Socket Cap

(2) DPDT Mini Toggle Center Off Momentary

(2) 24/4-Gauge Category 5e Riser Internet Wire - Gray

(3) Thruster Motors

(2) 8 in. Black Double-Locking Cable Ties

(1) Disc Magnet

Tools:

Pipe cutters

Electric Tape

Wire cutters

Wire Strippers

Soldering Iron

Solder

Step 1: Cutting Your Pipe

Cut list:

You're going to cut your Plain end pipe into 11 pieces with the pipe cutter.

The first cut will be 2ft.

The 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th will be 6 inches

The 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th cut will be 1 foot.

The 10th and 11th cut will be 6 inches.

Now that we have our parts cut we will arrange them and write on each pipe to identify them.

1st cut will be called A

2nd cut B

3rd cut C

4th cut D

5th cut E

6th cut F

7th cut G

8th cut H

9th cut I

10th cut J

and 11th cut K

Step 2: Making the Submarine Base

Grab pipe A and attach on each end a PVC Tee. Grab pipe B, C, D, and E and attach it to the PVC Tee ends making it look like the first image.

Grab 2 of the PVC 90-Degree Elbows and attach it to pipe B and the other to pipe C. It should look like the 2nd image.

Now you should grab pipe F&G and connect them to the elbows like the 3rd image.

Grab your 2 PVC Tees and connect them both to F&G see the 4th image.

Next, grab pipe H and I and connect them to the PVC Tees. Look at the 5th image.

After that connect two PVC 90-degree elbows and connect them to Pipes H & and I, see the 6th image.

Now go back to the PVC Tees and connect pipe J&K to them. it will look like the 7th image.

Finally, place a socket cap at the end of pipes J&K. Look at the 8th image.

It should look like the 9th image.

Step 3: Protecting the Motors

You'll need three small thruster motors for your submarine

First you'll want to wrap a protective sticker around the cylinder of the motors, then you need to put a protective sticker at each end of the motors.

Step 4: Wiring the Motors

Get 10 gauge wire and strip about 2-3 inches off of one end, then strip about an inch off of each wire inside the other wire

Step 5: Assembling the Motors Pt. 3

The motor should have two tabs coming off of it with holes in them and one of them should have a red dot, put the striped part of the red wire through that tab about halfway, then fold it over.

Do the same on the other tab for the black wire

Step 6: Soldering the Motors

Use solder and a soldering iron to solder the wires onto the motor

Step 7: Making Wax Balls

Take wax and make a small ball and a large ball, the large ball should have the diameter of a quarter and the small one should have the diameter of a nickle.

Step 8: Protecting the Motor Pt. 2

To keep the motor from getting wet we put the motor in a protective canister which canister can be made with a film canister by drilling a small hole in the bottom, for the chassis, and another one in the top, for the wires

Put the chassis of the motor through the large ball and put it into the protective canister

Step 9: Putting the Other Lid On

Put the small ball of wax around the wires and pull the wires through the hole in the top of the lid, then squeeze the lid on

Step 10: Attaching the Top Motor to the Submarine

Take one of the motors that you just made, you need going to attach this one the open 4-way cross pipe. the size of the motor should fit around the motor. Once you jam the motor in the pipe, you need to run the wire through the other end of the cross piece. After doing that you need tape the bottom half that is connected to the pipe with electrical tape.

Step 11: Attaching the Rest of the Motors

On the left side of the submarine, you want to attach the motor to the end corner of the sub. *MAKE SURE THAT THE PROPELLER DOESN'T HIT THE SUB* When you have it lined up you want to take three zip ties and strap then tightly around the body of the propeller. then with the motor secured around the body, you want to tape the motor down with electrical tape.

Repeat this step with the right motor.

Step 12: Attaching the Wires to the Switches

1. Get your gray wire

2. Cut open the wire about 2 inches until you see the wires on the inside ( You should see a brown, blue, green, and orange wire along with a white string)

3.You only need three of the wires( you can wrap the other around the gray wire)

4. Then you’re going to untwist 3 out of 4 of the wires (you should see a solid and striped of each color)

5. Your going to strip each of the wires that your using about 2 1 and a half inch until you see copper

6. With your 2x3 switch, your going to line your solid color across from your striped wire. ( EX: 1st row - blue solid and blue striped, 2nd row - orange solid and orange striped, 3rd row - green solid and green striped)

* ALL OF THE SOLID COLORED WIRES SHOULD BE IN 1 ROW TOGETHER, AND THE STRIPED COLORED WIRES SHOULD BE IN THE OTHER ROW*

7. Curve the wires around the hole of the switch so that they stay.

8. Then carefully solder the wire around the switch *TAKE YOUR TIME WITH SOLDERING BECAUSE YOU COULD MELT THE WIRE AND THE SWITCH*

Step 13: Connecting the Motors Pt. 1

The motor should have a red and black cable coming off of it (from earlier), strip about and inch off of each of the wires.

Step 14: Connecting the Motors Pt. 2 Stripping More Wires

get out your gray ethernet cable and take about and inch off of the protective covering. You should have eight wires that are in groups of two based on color, blue/ blue-white, green/ green-white, orange/ orange-white, and brown/ brown-white (the colors may very bassed on the brand you buy but as long as you have eight wires grouped like that you should be fine)

take one group of wires and wrap them around the protective covering of the cord because you won't need them, unravel and strip about a half of an inch to an inch off of the other six wires (if you are using an extra motor, you will need to keep that group of wires and strip them too, but this sub only requires three motors)

Step 15: Connecting the Motors Pt. 3 Connecting the Wires

once you have all of your wires stripped, take one pair of colors and attach your motor by twisting the copper parts of the red wire and the solid color wire together and doing the same for the black wire and the matching wire (the one that is the same color as the solid color wire but has white mixed in with it)

Repeat this step for the other two wires.

Step 16: Connecting the Motors Pt. 4: Soldering the Wires

Solder the connected wires together, solder the parts where the copper twist together (**solder the wire pairs separately** don't solder all four wires on the motor together, it will cause a short and your motor wont work), then wrap electrical tape around the soldered part (after it has cooled down) to keep the wires safe from the water, and people safe from being electrocuted.

Step 17: Overview

In conclusion, you need to build the frame, build the motors, connect the wires to the switches, then connect the switches to the major cable, then you have to attach the motor wires to the other side of the connection cable. Then solder all open wires and wrap them in tape. test it out and have fun!!