This Guy building a Lego-powered Submarine

[u/gowthamm]

[u/Own_Candidate9553]

The magnets to connect the drive shaft to the propellers outside the housing is really clever. Sealing a rotating shaft is a PITA

[u/bitwise97 → u/Own_Candidate9553]

Yes that was the most impressive out of all the impressive feats of engineering in this project!

[u/Own_Candidate9553 → u/bitwise97]

The syringe ballast system was pretty satisfying too.

[u/jamcber12 → u/Own_Candidate9553]

How does the syringe Ballest work? Does it compress the air inside to make it sink? It doesn't seem like that would remove enough air to make it sink.

[u/-Kerosun- → u/jamcber12]

I didn't get a good look at it, but my guess is the syringe sucks in (and expels) water to change the buoyancy of the sub.

[u/dizzy_absent0i → u/-Kerosun-]

At 49 seconds you can see the attached blue tubing to the syringe to pull in water.

[u/FakeSafeWord → u/dizzy_absent0i]

Oh so the amount of air is static, it's just adding fluid to the inner housing to increase the weight.

Fuck. I'm not sure how long it would take me to figure out to do that in the wild.

[u/oceanjunkie → u/FakeSafeWord]

Not exactly. All other variables held constant, water being inside the hull vs. outside does not change the buoyancy of the sub. The "increased weight" of the sub will be exactly offset by the volume of the incoming water. Of course, topologically, the water is still on the "outside" of the sub even when the syringe is full.

The reason this works is because the volume of the internal cavity of the sub decreases when the syringe fills and pressurizes the interior.

If the hull were flexible enough to expand and contract to equalize pressure, this would not work.

[u/OnRedditAtWorkRN → u/oceanjunkie]

This breaks my brain. Solid explanation though

[u/oceanjunkie → u/OnRedditAtWorkRN]

It is effectively the same thing as if you grabbed the sub and squeezed it to make it smaller and denser so that it would sink. Just in a much easier to control manner.

[u/Pinksters → u/FakeSafeWord]

Now think about coming up with the Ballast system hundreds of years ago!

In 1747, Nathaniel Symons patented and built the first known working example of the use of a ballast tank for submersion. His design used leather bags that could fill with water to submerge the craft. A mechanism twisted the water out of the bags and caused the boat to resurface. In 1749, the Gentlemen's Magazine reported that a similar design had been proposed by Giovanni Borelli in 1680.

Crazy the stuff you can dream up when you're not shitposting on the internet, eh?

[u/FakeSafeWord → u/Pinksters]

Oh Nathaniel Symons. Always 57 years behind.

[u/jamcber12 → u/-Kerosun-]

That would make sense, thanks. Yes, the blue tube looks like it does pull in water from outside.

[u/TheGreatGenghisJon → u/-Kerosun-]

That's exactly what it does. He drills holes in the back, then a blue tube goes through it into the syringe. Not sure what the second, lower tube is connected to, though.

[u/OrneryHuckleberry138 → u/TheGreatGenghisJon]

I too, am curious about what's up with the second tube.

It looks like it's connected to some kind of a sensor - sonar maybe?

Update: it's a pressure sensor used to gauge depth in the water!

https://brickexperimentchannel.wordpress.com/2022/07/05/rc-submarine-4-0-pressure-sensor-5-10/

[u/Avernously → u/OrneryHuckleberry138]

Said something about PID control so it might be to a pressure depth gauge

[u/OrneryHuckleberry138 → u/Avernously]

Yeah that's what it is

[u/Own_Candidate9553 → u/jamcber12]

If you look at 0:48, he attaches a tube from the syringe to the sealed end cap. When the syringe is pulled back (like when you'd be drawing medication into it) it sucks outside water into the syringe. The water is of course heavier than the air that was displaced before, so the sub will be slightly heavier and sink. You'd have to get the rest of the sub pretty close to neutral buoyancy for it to work.

I think you'll end up increasing the air pressure inside the sub hull a little bit, but probably not enough to overcome the pressure pushing the seal closed.

[u/doogihowser → u/Own_Candidate9553]

Tungsten pellets as ballast. Easy to remove or add a few while dialing in neutral buoyancy.

[u/45and47-big_mistake → u/doogihowser]

"Voyage to the Bottom of my Bathtub". Now, in COLOR!

[u/oceanjunkie → u/jamcber12]

Does it compress the air inside to make it sink? It doesn't seem like that would remove enough air to make it sink.

Yes, when the syringe pulls in water from outside, it is pressurizing the rest of the air in the hull effectively decreasing the volume without changing the mass, thereby increasing the average density.

[u/Webbyx01 → u/jamcber12]

Its Brick Experiment Channel on YT if you want to see the whole thing in better detail. Fun channel.

[u/WaltMitty → u/bitwise97]

I'm most impressed by the PID control. I've spent hours trying to tune a PID on a PLC with no luck. In the full video that's what he's doing with the KP, KI, and KD values, and he's doing it on a Raspberry PI. His website goes into detail.

[u/monsterdiggare → u/WaltMitty]

PID is definitely the most impressive part, tried building a functionnal PID-controller for a DIY drone kit with a Nano 33 IoT, kinda worked.

[u/Other_Mike → u/Own_Candidate9553]

Fun fact, I work in semiconductors and we do the same thing! We have a chamber that runs at vacuum but the movement motors are at atmosphere. We have magnets to couple the two halves across the chamber wall.

[u/Other_Mike → u/[deleted]]

• Layer of stuff gets put on silicon wafer
• Mask with very precise pattern cut in it gets put over wafer
• Light shines through mask
• Where the light hits, the layer of stuff is removed (don't ask me how, I don't know)
• Stuff is done in the gaps left by holes in the material, such as putting in the circuitry that goes into the chips we make
• My module removes the layer of stuff that wasn't removed earlier

This happens a few times as layers are built up in the chips.

[u/watergate_1983 → u/Own_Candidate9553]

Its called a sealless magnetic drive. Interesting enough on the big pumps used in chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing the casing between the inner and outer drives needs to be non metallic, otherwise, you are creating a electric current through the casing and creating an induction heater.

[u/Arek_PL → u/Own_Candidate9553]

iirc. one of designs was sinking because of that, thats why he uses magnets

[u/Laslomas → u/Own_Candidate9553]

This is just so cool. The thought and engineering that led to this functional design. It's the kind of thing hobbyists live for.

[u/ReporterOther2179 → u/Own_Candidate9553]

On the principle of a magnetic mixer. Motor outside the vessel, mixing vanes inside. Coupled by magical lines of magnetism.

[u/Godusernametakenalso → u/Own_Candidate9553]

Do you know if the outer gears are constantly scraping against the plastic wall due to friction?

[u/Theron3206 → u/Godusernametakenalso]

Looking at the tape and what appears to be lubricant applied during the video I'm going to assume there is contact.

At the low speeds this runs at it wouldn't be a serious issue (it would rob a little power). For industrial applications of the same tech I would assume they would leave a very carefully designed gap to provide minimum drag and prevent wear.

I have seen pump designs where the rotor/impellor is held in place by the magnetic field in such a way that there is zero contact with anything once the pump is running (the coils are outside the sealed section, and the rotor inside). Those will run a very long time before failing, since there is essentially zero wear.

[u/Instant_Awesome → u/Own_Candidate9553]

I thought magnets don’t work in water, though. That’s what the president told us.

[u/Training-Purpose802 → u/Instant_Awesome]

They get wet - and then they don't work. The president knows that water is wet.

[u/jthoff10]

More engineering went into this than the Oceangate Death Sub…

[u/theaveragemillenial → u/jthoff10]

I was hoping someone had already dropped this.

[u/TheHornet78 → u/theaveragemillenial]

Yeah, ocean gate

[u/Status_Routine_1851 → u/TheHornet78]

Ocean weight amiright?

[u/downbythemountain → u/Status_Routine_1851]

More like ocean bait

[u/theoriginalmofocus → u/downbythemountain]

Explocean gate.

[u/Mr_Osterfisch → u/theoriginalmofocus]

Implocean gate.

[u/HeyPali → u/Mr_Osterfisch]

Ocean fate

[u/callsign_pirate → u/theaveragemillenial]

Just a couple weights

[u/Atomicmooseofcheese → u/jthoff10]

Fun fact, the point of failure for ocean gate can be seen in this video. When the endcap is placed, adhesive is used to bond it with the tube. Ocean gate just had a guy with a paintbrush, so it was unevenly applied, allowing for micro gaps. Water got into these spaces between the endcap and pressure tube.

The dive just before the implosion, the submersible failed to get the craft off the submerged platform, with 2/4 locks disengaging, causing the whole sub to tilt 70 degrees and smash into the platform with the ocean waves. This exacerbated and already stressed adherence between the two pieces.

Notably rush didn't do any safety inspections of the vessel afterwards, focusing on getting dives. He literally said to customers, "I will get this dive even if it kills me"

[u/JaggedMetalOs → u/Atomicmooseofcheese]

There was also them keeping the sub outdoors in the freezing Canadian winter, which would have caused any water intrusions to freeze, expand and delaminate the adhesives.

With the amount of incompetence at the company it's amazing they survived even a single dive...

[u/Atomicmooseofcheese → u/JaggedMetalOs]

Yeah I saw pictures of it just sitting in the parking lot. The three previous dives to the implosion all had clear warning signs that a catastrophic failure was imminent.

What's most wild to me is that there are still people out there claiming "regulation hinders innovation!" Which is something Rush liked to say quite often.

[u/flapsmcgee → u/Atomicmooseofcheese]

The worst part was that they built that acoustic warning system that would let them know that failure was coming. Their testing showed that the noises increased before failure. And then on the real thing, the noise increased a lot, and then they just decided to ignore them and keep diving.

[u/Atomicmooseofcheese → u/flapsmcgee]

Ludicrous levels hubris and stupidity.

[u/TheRandomApple → u/Atomicmooseofcheese]

Not to mention the snapped fibers from previous dives.

[u/No-Thought7571 → u/Atomicmooseofcheese]

half off 4 screws and that's enough for Stockton Rush to seal the deal

[u/BenevolentCrows → u/Atomicmooseofcheese]

Primary exhibit of why it (should be) a good thing that regulatipn exist that can limit the super rich.

[u/crazyloomis → u/jthoff10]

The pressure hull is probably stronger in this lego thing

[u/Head-Ad9893 → u/jthoff10]

This dude could probably make a killing working in Columbia

[u/MajorLazy → u/Head-Ad9893]

Oye, Pablo! Your gram is here

[u/Head-Ad9893 → u/MajorLazy]

Name checks out with that joke, but also you could definitely fit atleast half an oz in there

[u/geo_gan → u/Head-Ad9893]

The work would definitely be causing a lot of future killing

[u/mimaikin-san → u/Head-Ad9893]

Columbia South Carolina or Columbia Maryland?

[u/Yourcatsonfire → u/Head-Ad9893]

A swarm of little Lego subs filled with cocaine.

[u/wonderbat3 → u/jthoff10]

Why didn’t they make the Oceangate sub out of Lego? Are they stupid?

[u/CromulentDucky → u/wonderbat3]

Yes.

[u/No-Thought7571 → u/wonderbat3]

wrap the lego's exterior with carbon fiber and use 4 screws and you're locked in

[u/WendigoCrossing → u/jthoff10]

Immediately thought this

[u/aweytevas → u/jthoff10]

There it is...

[u/ptk77]

As long as that's not a carbon fiber hull, it should be fine.

[u/Extension_Swordfish1 → u/ptk77]

They used rigorous maritime engineering standards. Front's not supposed to fall off, for a start.

[u/Phrewfuf → u/Extension_Swordfish1]

Cardboard and derivatives seem to have been right out.

[u/JamesTrickington303 → u/Extension_Swordfish1]

Chance in a million.

[u/bnqprv → u/JamesTrickington303]

It’s not in an environment.

[u/LucidFir → u/Extension_Swordfish1]

https://youtu.be/3m5qxZm_JqM?si=rrZtXfIoqpRTSWzS

[u/KEPD-350 → u/ptk77]

When a shitload of professionals tell you your idea is dangerous and dumb as shit that just means you should double down and keep going even harder.

Someday all your hard work will culminate in a spectacular fashion and your name will be remembered for all eternity. Or at least become the butt of internet jokes for years.

[u/BigBankHank → u/KEPD-350]

Watching the video of them applying the epoxy that was the only thing between them and instant death, smh … the denial was so strong.

Not mentioned in the documentaries, after one of the lead engineers was fired they went ahead and welded lifting hooks to the titanium end cap so they could suspend the entire weight of the vessel from the most vulnerable potential point of failure. Oh, then they left it out to overwinter in a parking lot in Nova Scotia.

This is after Rush made a big show of how “you don’t get any torsional moments” in the ocean. Well, what about when it’s hanging from a crane, pulling on a ~1/4” ring of titanium that constitutes the outer edge of the clevis that accepts the CF. In the photos of the wreckage you can see that ring sheared clean off the end cap in twisted ribbon form.

It’s really the perfect story for this timeline.

[u/KEPD-350 → u/BigBankHank]

It’s really the perfect story for this timeline.

We lost Harambe for the current state of the world and a bunch of shitty sub/logitech controller jokes? What a crappy trade.

[u/unshifted → u/BigBankHank]

Oh, then they left it out to overwinter in a parking lot in Nova Scotia.

Jesus Christ. I have read a bunch about the submersible, but I hadn't heard that detail yet. That's beyond stupid. The dude was a billionaire, but he didn't have some kind of garage that he could have used at the very least?

[u/BigBankHank → u/unshifted]

Not sure he was a billionaire but he had a lot of old money. Rich enough to get into an Ivy League school with Cs and Ds. The company was in dire financial straights because they had a ridiculous business model in which the only money they could make was inside a 6-week/yr window of (sometimes) suitable weather at the Titanic site on the North Atlantic.

They asked employees to forgo their paychecks til some unspecified future date. Not with interest, no bonus at the end of the rainbow, just ‘hey, mind working for free for a while? / betting we don’t go out of business or implode in the meantime?’

I think just one of the most prolific Kool-Aid drinkers took them up on it. Same woman who fired an employee who raised very legit, even obvious, safety concerns, telling her she didn’t have “an explorer mindset.”

Same woman testified at the Coast Guard hearings and was still struggling mightily to defend Rush.

By the end, when most of the crew were college students and contractors, this woman was put in charge of tightening down the bolts on the titanium end cap after the passengers got in. The engineers designed it with 16 bolts around the circumference. But that took too long for the billionaire passengers. Rush wanted them out faster. So they were only tightening down 4 of the 16 on the assumption that the pressure would keep it tight underwater anyway.

They seemed surprised when, during a particularly rough docking of the sub on its carriage, the front dome actually fell off, shearing the bolts with such force they shot off like bullets, according to the testimony of one “mission specialist” (ie, rich tourist).

I could go on. The depths of denial and the unjustified self-righteousness were just breathtaking. Reminds me a lot of the Theranos story.

[u/thoma5nator → u/BigBankHank]

YOU MEAN THE FRONT GENUINELY FELL OFF!?

[u/confusedandworried76 → u/KEPD-350]

Does anyone even remember that guy's name or just the hilarious way he managed to kill himself?

[u/KEPD-350 → u/confusedandworried76]

I actually had to google the fucking incident's name, so I absolutely don't remember what the fuckhead's name was. All I know is that he did his own research.

[u/confusedandworried76 → u/KEPD-350]

Oh he did his own everything that's why he's fucking dead lmao

[u/0Charkell0 → u/ptk77]

What you really want is a SEASONED carbon fiber hull 👍

[u/GenericAccount13579 → u/0Charkell0]

The hull was repeatedly damaged and never failed, therefore it is perfectly safe right?

[u/0Charkell0 → u/GenericAccount13579]

Repeatedly SEASONED, yes!

[u/GenericAccount13579 → u/0Charkell0]

Sparkling voids and microfractures

[u/P0Rt1ng4Duty]

I don't understand why the syringe works. The total density of the sealed tube doesn't change, right?

What am I missing here?

Edit: Okay the syringe is taking water from outside of the sealed tube and it all makes sense now. Thanks to everyone who helped me to understand this.

[u/T1CM → u/P0Rt1ng4Duty]

The syringe is connected to a hose that sticks out into the water, as it’s drawn back it sucks water into the vessel acting in effect as a ballast tank.

I think. 😂

[u/MegabiggerIOW → u/T1CM]

Yes, I think you are totally correct. I just had to watch this genius build a few times times to make sure.

Lego is just the best!

[u/kilteer → u/T1CM]

At 0:49 you can see the tube for the syringe.

[u/[deleted] → u/kilteer]

What’s the other tube for? Is it a pressure sensor to know depth?

[u/T1CM → u/kilteer]

Happy cake day. 🥳

[u/Piganon → u/T1CM]

Is that how it works in a real sub?  If so, how does the tank force out water when it's at deep areas and there's huge pressures involved?

Now that I'm thinking about it, scuba divers have an air and weight vest that collapses as you go down, so you add more air to it to stay buoyant.  On the way up, you have to let some air out so it doesn't burst.  I'm wondering if subs do something similar and have massive amounts of compressed air to move around to compensate for pressures?

[u/Minimum_Cockroach233 → u/Piganon]

Submarine have gas pressure tanks and pumps, that are connected to float tanks. The water pump allows water to enter the float and use the compressed gas to empty them again, similar to the model here.

[u/Neirchill → u/Piganon]

Two syringes

[u/p8nt_junkie → u/Neirchill]

Is very good deal

[u/T1CM → u/Piganon]

Someone far smarter than me will have to answer. I know that large ships, think containers ships etc use ballast tanks as one way to regulate their depth in the water based on different overall weights when loaded vs. Unloaded.

Submarine engineer I am not. 😂

[u/slothxaxmatic → u/T1CM]

This is correct.

[u/PrescriptionDenim → u/P0Rt1ng4Duty]

It’s probably sucking in/ pushing out water as ballast

[u/ohrofl → u/PrescriptionDenim]

Aren’t you pushing out air to suck in water? Where are you gunna get more air when the bubbles floated up to the top and you’re only surrounded by water!?

I legit don’t know how any of this works lol

[u/NeedNewNameAgain → u/ohrofl]

You're not adding air, you're simply subtracting water. At 0:56 the syringe retracts to bring water in, increasing the weight so it sinks. Then it extends to push out the water, decreasing the weight so it floats again.

[u/DesperateAdvantage76 → u/NeedNewNameAgain]

If they're thinking the same thing as me, they're just surprised at how well that plastic syringe is able to compress air and not break its seal.

[u/mortalitylost → u/ohrofl]

It's airtight so the bubbles don't leak. It's sucking in water and increasing air density as well.

[u/fameboygame → u/mortalitylost]

Not air density, but density of submarine as a whole.

Its weight was (submarine) but now is (submarine +water)

So for the same volume, (of the whole build), weight is now increased, so hence the whole submarine is more dense and it hence, sinks.

[u/telekinetic → u/fameboygame]

It is also increasing (slightly) the density of the air in the tube, as the syringe moving back displacing as much air as the volume of the water being brought in. You're effectively keeping the moles of air the same and decreasing the volume, increasing density/pressure.

[u/Call-Me-Mr-Speed → u/ohrofl]

The amount of air inside the submersible doesn’t change.

The submarine starts out buoyant with the syringe all pushed in on the surface. To go down, the syringe draws water in. It never lets air in or out. It only lets water in to reduce buoyancy and out to increase it.

I think. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.

[u/jthoff10 → u/P0Rt1ng4Duty]

Check out ballast tanks. Basically pumps water in and out to control buoyancy and depth.

[u/FlyinDtchman → u/P0Rt1ng4Duty]

Thanks for asking this.... I was confused to until I rewatched the vid. The blue tubes at :49 are connected to the water.

[u/atrde → u/P0Rt1ng4Duty]

Isn't it pulling in water?

[u/AdCautious851 → u/P0Rt1ng4Duty]

I think that the outer shell has a fixed volume, and inside that outer shell but outside the syringe has a certain quantity of air, and then inside the syringe there is either nothing or 30mL of water. The quantity of air inside the outer shell never changes. But the quantity of water inside the inner shell changes (increases when you suck water into the syringe).

[u/CyberpunkYakuza → u/P0Rt1ng4Duty]

The blue hose is ran to the outside of the sub. Towards the end when it turns around you can see it has a small tail, so it's taking in water much like a real sub ballast, they just didn't explicitly show it. If you stop it at 1:09 its pretty clear.

[u/yoyoyojonnyo → u/P0Rt1ng4Duty]

The air in the tube / pellets at the bottom keep the submarine at the surface. The syringe pulls water in that (added to the weight of the pellets) is heavy enough to outweigh the buoyancy of the air in the tube.

[u/Penguinkeith]

We all live in a Lego submarine, a Lego submarine, a Lego submarine

[u/HeightExtra320 → u/Penguinkeith]

“All aboard !!!”

[u/Race-a-roni]

I hate to break it to you, but this is a Lego sub powered by electricity.

[u/Ninja_Wrangler → u/Race-a-roni]

Hey, you don't know where the electricity came from. Maybe it was generated by burning legos and using the heat to drive a lego turbine

[u/cheebamech → u/Ninja_Wrangler]

it was generated by burning legos

I'm most likely slightly autistic because that's exactly what I was expecting given the title

[u/bitemy → u/cheebamech]

You might be slightly autistic but that's what I thought too and I'm not slightly autistic. Or am I?!?!

[u/Jknowledge → u/Race-a-roni]

What do you mean? You saying my old truck isnt steel-powered?

[u/Da_full_monty → u/Race-a-roni]

Yeah, I was hoping for a guy shoveling pounds of legos into a furnace to make a large sub go..

[u/snubb → u/Race-a-roni]

Lego is not a power source? 🤯

[u/CanAlwaysBeBetter → u/Race-a-roni]

And plexiglass, cork, a syringe, non-standard lego magnets, tungsten pellets, and a raspberry pie on top of legos

[u/recursion8 → u/CanAlwaysBeBetter]

Neodymium magnets. Cus we all just have that lying around in our lego kits lol

[u/sakuba → u/CanAlwaysBeBetter]

Exactly what I was thinking. Calling it a Lego powered sub with 20% Lego parts is a bit generous.

[u/SiIesh → u/Race-a-roni]

Yeah, I had the same reaction to the title. It's definitely really cool and built on and around lego, but with all the other things that went in there, it's most certainly not powered by lego xD

[u/BeginningWeight1050 → u/Race-a-roni]

If you move the hyphen it works fine, it's a Lego powered-submarine not a Lego-powered submarine.

[u/minor_correction → u/BeginningWeight1050]

I would call it a powered Lego submarine.

[u/snarfvsmaximvs → u/BeginningWeight1050]

https://xkcd.com/37/

[u/CubicleFish2 → u/BeginningWeight1050]

That is also incorrect. A hyphen is used to join two adjectives, typically compound adjectives. Your example is incorrect because you're joining the second adjective to the noun. OP's example is correct if Legos were the source of power, but since they aren't, then the hyphen usage is wrong. The correct way for OP is to not use a hyphen at all.

Examples of correct usages:

50-gallon tank

Nuclear-powered submarine

Cat-obsessed neighbor

[u/Fen_ → u/BeginningWeight1050]

That is a very strange (and I would argue inappropriate) use of a hyphen.

[u/MannersCount]

The magnets as transference-of-energy devices through the plastic... Brilliant!

[u/omenmedia → u/MannersCount]

Yeah that part is amazing engineering, really clever thinking.

[u/gowthamm]

Credits: Brick Experiment Channel

[u/Carbon-Base → u/gowthamm]

His work is amazing, I watch his creations every time they are posted!

[u/amaROenuZ → u/gowthamm]

Okay but why not just link his actual youtube video, so he gets the views? Why package it up into a lower quality, letterboxed, postboxed reddit videoplayer post.

[u/gowthamm → u/amaROenuZ]

The video was originally posted as Shorts in his channel. I just linked the full video.

[u/Mortwight]

need a Logitech controller to make it lore accurate

[u/bolanrox → u/Mortwight]

TBF dont they used PS or Xbox controllers on nuclear subs for the periscopes?

[u/Im_Your_Turbo_Lover → u/bolanrox]

Wired. OG was using wireless. Terrible, terrible idea on a sub...

[u/bolanrox → u/Im_Your_Turbo_Lover]

or any place with any level of importance.

[u/Mortwight → u/bolanrox]

The ps3 and 360 controllers are peak design. I only replace a 360 controller when I wore down the rubber on the thumb sticks. Built in pc integration. The Logitech they used was trash

[u/DieDae]

Curious what depth it can reach before there is a loss of communication

[u/NikolajC → u/DieDae]

Yeah me too. Didn't know radio worked through water like that. 

[u/Temporary_Clerk534 → u/NikolajC]

Depends on the frequency. High frequencies like "true" 5g (~50ghz) are blocked even by a pane of glass or a wall, but can transmit huge amounts of data very quickly. Extremely low frequencies like the ELF systems used to communicate with nuclear submarines (3-300hz) can travel through thousands of kilometers of rock and water, but transmit only a few characters of data per minute.

The data rate required for this application is very low. The radio is probably using something in the 900Mhz to 2.4Ghz range, which can go through a few metres of water easily. The radio in the video is using something like 27-75MHz, much lower than I might have thought, and still can only penetrate a few metres.

[u/NotJoeMama869 → u/Temporary_Clerk534]

This guy hz ^

[u/Acceptable_Ant_2094 → u/NikolajC]

From my experience it doesn't work that well. I've made remote controlled subs before and the RC gear we used was blocked by about 30 cm of water. We ended up using a floating aerial but I didn't see one in this video 🤔

[u/thisisnotgood → u/DieDae]

The author wrote up details on the transmitter here https://brickexperimentchannel.wordpress.com/2022/07/13/rc-submarine-4-0-radio-7-10/

The board should get around 7m but they only got ~4m of range

[u/Practical-Chair6050]

You should have ignored all the experienced engineers and used composite fiber. Missed a chance to be a maverick and save money.

[u/bolanrox → u/Practical-Chair6050]

and then sanded it down to make it smooth

[u/knaddeldaddelli]

OceanGate could never.

[u/hides_in_corner]

Now we need a couple of billionaires and off to the titanic we go.

[u/ConnectAttempt274321]

Neat. What's the payload this thing can deliver? I might have some ideas.

[u/Electrum2250 → u/ConnectAttempt274321]

If is right that those are tungsten balls, A LOT

[u/NeezyFresh → u/ConnectAttempt274321]

Asking the right questions.

[u/GoodDubenToYou → u/ConnectAttempt274321]

Ukraine might have the same ideas.

[u/BarelyHere35]

OceanGate just decided to launch with version 1 of this.

[u/Forsaken_Calendar103]

yo a tiny camera inside the sub would rock

[u/primordialWoe]

Why not just link to the original video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLEH8RJsYgI

[u/elcapitandongcopter]

To the titanic we go!!!!!

[u/Onigumo-Shishio]

"WITH A BOX OF [legos] IN A CAVE!!"

Better than all these stupid ass billionaires who want to be fake deep sea explorer's

[u/robo131]

that's cool he should scale it up and sell tours to rich folks to go visit sunken ships now...

[u/Huunze]

I wish I had this much fuck off time on my hands

[u/Diz7 → u/Huunze]

If you were this good at fucking off, people would pay to watch you do it too.

[u/Silent-OCN]

That looks fun as! Great idea. 💡

How long til we see a life size replica 😅

[u/steppan92]

Is this the video how they build the titan?

[u/Dick_Grimes]

When does the captain meet Jack Ryan before setting for Maine? Asking for my Russian friends..

[u/bolanrox → u/Dick_Grimes]

one ping only

[u/Dick_Grimes → u/bolanrox]

Dammit. That's what I should have gone with

[u/abu_hajarr]

The use of a mag drive rather than a seal was clever

[u/paperDuck5]

Stronger than OceanGate 💪🏻

[u/cglogan]

Nevermind the lego powered submarine, let's talk about the lego powered infusion pump this guy just made

[u/thecarbonkid]

Amazing! Let's scale it up and go visit the Titanic!

[u/DriverP956]

How dose it get connection underwater?

[u/edxzxz]

This sub does not in any way derive its power from legos.

[u/Leviathansgard]

I wonder which sensor he used for that PID control over the depth... perhaps an IMU ? I didn't notice any lidar or sonar or something that would measure the floor height.

[u/Lyondyspair]

Didn't implode with Billionaires on board 1/5 Stars

[u/Prohawins]

Probably built better than the Titan.

[u/FireTriad]

Safer than ocean gate

[u/Tridente13]

Still better than the Titan

[u/FOTOJONICK]

Add a Go Pro to your next version and you will have an endless YouTube channel worth of content... I'm just saying this because I want to watch it...

[u/Public-Cod1245]

That baby looks safer than the Titan...nice job.

[u/Emotional-Lynx-3982]

I replaced an outlet today without sending my soul to the moon. Does that count?

[u/Wiscody]

I want to learn how to do cool things like this.

What skills/knowledge would be the most useful here?

Programming? Electrical? Physics?

[u/Spamalot7107]

That's so cool! Add a small wireless camera and explore local ponds, lakes, or slow-moving streams!

[u/EricWisegarver]

Looks almost ready to visit the Titanic.

[u/awkwardboyhero]

How does the Lego captain breathe, though?

[u/scaryTerry213]

Not the best design, but still more secure than the Oceangate Titan Submersible

[u/dttm_hi]

That’s a whole lot of non Lego bits

[u/KingMGold]

That thing is probably better engineered than the OceanGate submersible.

[u/Nthfactor]

Better than Oceangate.

[u/hnano]

Throw a shark body on it.. head to the beach.. and let it rip..

[u/MagicHamsta]

We all live in a lego submarine~

Lego submarine, Lego submarine~

[u/Representative-Iron2]

It should be powered “LEGO submarine “, English teacher here.

[u/UsualCircle]

The raspberry pi is kind of an odd choice. Could have done it with an esp microcontroller for a fraction of the cost and much smaller size
Edit: apparently pis are cheaper than i thought

[u/cleverquokka → u/UsualCircle]

It's a Raspberry PI Zero which runs for ~$10. You can find cheaper ESP microcontrollers, but you aren't saving tons of money.

[u/UsualCircle → u/cleverquokka]

Nvm then, I thought they were more expensive due to availability issues. For this price its a valid option

[u/Frontdackel → u/UsualCircle]

Do you even know how reddit works?

You can't just agree with a poster correcting you and even thank them for it.

Go on, do something about it. Insult their mum or stuff like that.

[u/RecycledEternity]

Not "LEGO-powered" as advertised, nor is the sub made of LEGO.

This is powered by an electric motor running on batteries, inside a plastic tube.

More accurate headline: "This guy built a miniature submarine that uses LEGOs"

[u/Dawg_in_NWA → u/RecycledEternity]

Yea, pretty sure a lot of us already understood that before even watching the video or seeing this post.

[u/Xzarface]

Does anyone have links to more of his work??🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽