You already know these outdated cliche that the youthful generations have begun to cynically despise: “comply with your goals!” “You will be something you place your thoughts to!” — effectively, maybe they’re true every now and then. As an example when [rctestflight] had PCBs that dreamed of changing into a hydrofoil, he discovered a technique to make that dream come true.
It’s sort of apparent looking back: printed circuit boards are made from FR4, which is a type of fiberglass, and you understand what else is often made from fiberglass? Boats. So sure, the fabric is fitted to this process. The truth that solder joints maintain up to make use of in just a little remote-control hydrofoil is much less apparent, however good to know. It definitely makes for simpler meeting for these of us who’ve developed an allergy to epoxy.
Ease of meeting wasn’t actually the purpose right here: the purpose was that by making the “mast” of the hydrofoil out of PCB– that’s the half that holds the underwater wing– [rctestflight] figured he may (shock!) print a circuit onto it. Particularly, a liquid-level sensor, and since microcontrollers are so low cost today he went the “whole overkill” route of embedding an ESP32 on every mast. He began with a resistive sensor, however since these self-corrode too rapidly, the workforce switched to a capacitive sensor that doesn’t have to type a galvanic cell in salt water. Come to consider it, which may nonetheless be an issue with the solder joint between the PCBs. Good factor no person might be driving this one.
Having such a sensor and mind close-coupled permits for a sooner management loop than the sonar [rctestflight] had beforehand been utilizing to manage his hydrofoil’s altitude.. Pivoting every mast with its personal servo made for a clean flight over the water— effectively, as soon as they acquired the PID tuning set, anyway. Test it out within the video embedded beneath.
We’ve seen PCB used for enclosures earlier than, and even the chassis of a rover, however utilizing it for a hydrofoil is a brand new hack.
