RC Boat Project: Update 2

The PLA hull was sanded down starting with a heavier P150 grit sandpaper. After that I switched to P220 and finally P320 to get the hull as smooth as possible. After I started sanding I soon realized that PLA is much less forgiving then I realized. It took approximately 3 hours to sand the PLA to a desirable smooth surface as see in figure 1.


Boca Bearings Workshop Weekly Update 15

Not much was done on my personal project this week because the group go kart took priority. However, the first half of the hull was printed and glued together with hub. More components were ordered so the pressure vessel and rods can start being assembled and machined. I printed the hull in safety orange, so you can see it clearly in the water.


Power Wheels Racer 2.0: Update 2

This week in the workshop we focused on the electronics for the electric kart. After spending over a week trying to diagnose and fix whatever caused our first ESC to not work we decided to purchase another unit (Link here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DB0DNO6/). Once it was here I referred to the wiring diagram supplied by the seller for the hookup guide.


Boca Bearings Workshop Weekly Update 14

Some final adjustments were made to the hull of the sub. Using Solid works the hull was thickened for strength and and holes were added for the fin rods and mounting plate that hold the two halves of the shell together. The Arduino Uno, battery, and motor holder were 3D printed along with the propeller and end caps for the pressure vessel. The LSM303DLHC compass arrived and the pins were soldered on. Now code can be written and tested for finding the heading and speed.

workshop weekly  workshop weekly


Power Wheels Racer 2.0: Update 1


Over the past several months us here at The Workshop have been designing and fabricating the next generation of go-kart for our entry into this year’s Power Racing Series event at the Orlando Maker Faire. During last year’s event we found the old kart to simply be too big, too unwieldy, and too slow. Our aim with the new kart was to improve on these three aspects. First, a new frame was designed and welded together. WE salvaged certain parts of the old kart including the steering system and drive shaft but upgraded them with a full wheel in the front (instead of the old handle) and a 48V brushless motor (instead of the old 36V Brushed one). We hoped that the increase in voltage and switch to brushless would allow the kart performance to stay the same or increase while also increasing our run time.

Electric Skateboard Project Update 2


Quick update to the skateboard! In an effort to diagnose issues with another project I needed to salvage some known working parts from something and that turned into me pulling all the electronics out of the electric skateboard. After I was finished with the electronics, I decided to put it all back together but as soon as I looked at the old box full of hot glue, pieces of Velcro, and plastic shavings I decided to remake the box. I took another project box, same as before, and began by taking measurements of the box’s wall and also the three bullet connectors on the esc. I went into Fusion360 and made a bracket to hold the connectors on the inside and outside out the box. The inside bracket clamps down onto the bullet connectors locking the in place and preventing them from sliding around when I try to plug them in.

Boca Bearings Workshop Weekly Update 13


This week I worked on the 3D model for my personal project. The pressure vessel at the center of the design is based from the dimensions of the Arduino Uno microcontroller. The groove in the end caps for the O-ring seals was dimensioned around the #144 O-ring see the parker O-ring manual for more detail. To get the U brackets and fins to turn DC moors with 270 rpm will be hooked up from the pressure vessel and connected with a series of rods and universal joints. The rods in the universal joint will be threaded and when the dc motor spins the u bracket will rise or lower on the rod and pivoted about the fin rods. The universal joints compensate for this pivoted so that the U brackets have a full range of motion of 15 degrees.  To seal the rods and stop eater from getting into the pressure vessel 6mm rotary seals are placed into the end cap with the shafts running through it. The drive shaft with the propeller also goes through bearings once they leave the pressure vessel as well as in the back hub. This allows for support of the shafts as well has keeping the rods turning. The Hub was 3D printed and Fins are on the printer.

RC Boat Introduction


I have decided to start on a project to design, fabricate and test a fully functional remote controlled (RC) boat inspired by a 1940’s Chris-Craft. The goal is to be able to remain stable and running for approximately 10 – 15 minutes on a battery pack. This boat will be designed as a semi-displacement hull which will allow it to operate more smoothly at slower speeds. The boat will be engineered with stability and maneuverability in mind. This being said, the boat will be a small scale model of an American classic that can be enjoyed by people of any age, whether it’s enjoyed in a pool, lake or ocean. The motor and other electrical components will be salvaged and modified from a previous RC boat/cars. The hull will be 3D-printed from PLA. Its propulsion will be a single electric motor and propeller that will be directed by a large rudder at the stern. The propeller shaft will be fitted with two small ceramic bearings to insure minimal friction and stress on the electric motor.

Autonomous Submarine Introduction


The objective of this project is to fabricate and test an autonomous scale model of the FAU human powered submarine. That can replicate the course laid out by the International Submarine Race (ISR) and the European International Submarine Races (EISR).

SECME Mouse Trap Car Racing

Kurtis, a member of the Boca Bearing Workshop Internship program, is also a participant in the Southeastern Consortium for Minorities in Engineering Mouse Trap Car Competition. Additional information on this program can be found here.


3D Printed Camaro LS3 V8 Engine

The printing of the engine block was the biggest print we’d ever attempted, by far. At 20 percent infill it took just over 79 hours to complete.

This is the link to the model I used: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1911808

Iron Man Helmet Project - Part 1


In celebration of Marvel’s third Avengers movie I decided it would be a great time to make something from one of my favorite characters in the MCU, Iron Man. I started out by downloading the helmet’s STL files provided on Thingiverse (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1779274). I then loaded each helmet piece into Simplify3D and began slicing each part. This version of the helmet has eight parts, plus a ninth print for hardware mounts if you’d like to motorize the helmet. I printed everything at a layer height of .15mm and at 10% infill and made sure to use a brim since most parts have a small surface area on the build plate. Importantly, I decided to increase the number of perimeter layers so that I would accidentally sand down the print to infill later. This had the consequence of essentially turning the prints into 100% infill, but they came out great and feel solid. I printed everything in a gray color filament to save time painting later on but any color, or combination of colors, is fine.

Boca Bearings Workshop Weekly Update 12

It has been some time since we have updated you all, but we have been working on a number of projects lately. So, the first project that I will be discussing is the Power Wheels project car. Structurally, the Power Wheels car is ready for its first test drive. I finished welding the steering column more into place so that it was more linear with the chassis. I also welded the bracket for the steering wheel onto the shaft of the steering column.


Boca Bearings Workshop Weekly Update 11

Hello all! Over the past few weeks I’ve printed out several different iterations of the design and tested their mechanics until I got to a point that I’m comfortable saying that the first version of the design is complete. I know there will most likely need to be some minor edits to this but it’s close enough to work as a good starting point for anyone who would like to get started on their own. I am linking a google drive folder that contains all the parts to download ad play with.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lHCO_vAFfgywqYFIWytexU1MGKUKrvrW?usp=sharing

Wave Energy Senior Design Project

The Boca Bearing Company is currently helping Broc complete his Senior Design Project. Broc is a student at Florida Atlantic University. His project is designed to capture and store wave energy using an air pump system. It requires 3/8" ID flange mounted linear ball bearings.


Boca Bearings Workshop Weekly Update 10

The Powerwheels car is close to its first test run! So since the last update I have managed to remount/relocate the motor to a different position so that it would be easier to get the chain on and off. With that being said, we now finally have a mounted chain with the correct tension. We used the standard T8F chain. The gas pedal (throttle) was also mounted to the front of the chassis and that is held in place with two 4” bolts with adjusting nuts on the bottom and nylon lock nuts on top for adjustability.

The brake pedal was also installed. This was rather interesting as I used leftover materials to assemble the brake. I started off by notching the frame a little in the area that I wanted the pedal to be at. I notched it for the purpose of giving physical support to two 608 bearings. I then put a threaded rod into the two bearings so that it can swivel freely. I then proceeded to cut two pieces of steel that are about 2.5” long each and drilled two holes into each piece. One hole on the bottom for the threaded rod and another hole for the support bolt. The support bolt also has 3 spacers on it to provide a good contact surface between the plates. So the idea now is to just have a link go from the pedal to the master cylinder for the brake, and that will be accomplished by using two ball-joints.

Boca Bearings Workshop Weekly Update 9

The Power Wheels car has deserved a long over due update. Lately I have been busy working on it every chance that I get. From the last update, I’m pretty sure that the frame was not complete, or it was close to being complete. Well, the frame is completely done in terms of being structurally strong. I welded the rest of the seams that needed to be done. I grinded and sanded down the weld spots too.

After about a month of wait time I finally received the rear sprocket for our chain drive system. All I did was drill holes into the flywheel and put washers in between the flywheel and sprocket so I can space it out enough for the chain to go on.

Boca Bearings Workshop Weekly Update 8

This past week I have been trying to catch up on the schedule of the Power wheels car. I started off by attempting to finish the structural design of the steering column on the frame. I picked out 0.5inch round hollow tube metal and a steel pipe that I would fit bearings into for the steering shaft. I began to cut and weld the pieces into place. The process was going smoothly, until Andrew began to look for a bearing that would fit the steering shaft and the inside diameter of the steel pipe that I already welded on.

Boca Bearings Workshop Weekly Update 7

After doing some research I recently discovered that AutoDesk offers their Fusion 360 CAD program for free to hobbyists. So I have decided to switch to Fusion 360 from SolidWorks in the hopes that in doing so other people can more easily recreate, modify, or otherwise explore 3D models that get made in The Workshop. If you are interested in downloading and getting started follow this guide:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/fusion-360/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-activate-start-up-or-educational-licensing-for-Fusion-360.html

Boca Bearings Workshop Weekly Update 6

Our old Powerwheels chassis has taken a beating over the past two years now. With that being said, the team decided to create a new chassis and retire the old one. The layout of the new frame is a rather simple design, yet it is structurally sound enough to get the job done. The rear end of the old frame will still be used in our newer since it seemed to be the only part of the old chassis that was not bent or structurally defected.