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A Catchy Tune
A Catchy Tune
I have a habit of whistling the iconic tune from Disney's 1928 short film, Steamboat Willie. I don't remember when I first saw this film, but I must've been quite young because it's stuck with me for a long time. I was bored during the winter break of my senior year at Harvard, I had just treated myself to a new 3D printer (the Bambu Lab P1S), and Steamboat Willie's copyright expired last year in 2024, so I thought it would be cool to create a working RC model of the iconic boat from Steamboat Willie!
The Propulsion System
The Propulsion System
Before I even began modeling the boat itself, the first thing I was concerned with was how I was going to design the propulsion system. Steamboat Willie is a paddle steamer driven by a pair of paddle wheels. Paddle wheels rotate much more slowly than modern boat impellers, and I only had spare airplane motors on hand for the project. Airplane motors spin far faster than I would want for a paddle wheel. The motor I had on hand had a rating of 2300kv, which means that with a 2s LiPo battery it would spin at about 17,000 rotations per minute (rpm). For a paddle wheel, I would want something closer to 200-300rpm, so I needed to design a set of 3D-printed gears that could reduce the speed and increase the torque of the motor.
13.5:1
13.5:1
I tried having just two gears to start and realized that this would still be too fast for the paddle wheel, spinning at around 1,300rpm using the motor and battery I planned.
60.75:1 Ratio
60.75:1 Ratio
This ratio seemed a lot closer to what I wanted, spinning the paddle wheel at around 275rpm when with the 2300kv motor and 2s LiPo.
Water Test
Water Test
As a quick test, I hooked up the motor to a speed controller and 2s LiPo to test the paddle wheel against some resistance (water) in the kitchen sink, and I was sufficiently satisfied with how everything held up! I decided to move forward with the rest of the boat design.
Prototype Hull
Prototype Hull
Before going through the trouble of designing the Steamboat Willie model, I needed to answer a couple more design questions. Would the waterline be far away enough from the hole where the paddle wheel axle meets the hull? How well balanced would it be? How would the gearbox hold up with not just one, but two paddle wheels connected to the main axle? After all, in the kitchen sink I only tested it with one paddle wheel, but the actual boat would need a paddle wheel on both sides of the boat, and my plan was to drive them with just the one motor via an elongated main axle. To answer all of these questions, I designed a super basic boat hull for testing.
Testing was super helpful. I was able to visually confirm that the gearbox and paddle wheels could in fact propel a boat. The waterline was a touch too close to the axle for comfort, but since I knew the weight of all the electrical components and the amount of plastic used to print the gearbox and hull, I could reference the total weight of this prototype boat and be conscious of total weight when designing the final steamboat willie model. It was here that I also remembered something super important: steel rusts in water! The original axle I used was raw steel, silly me, so I made sure to order a stainless steel rod for my final design.
Waterline just below the axle, seems to get even closer when the paddle wheels spin and "dig into" the water, kept in mind for the actual steamboat willie model
Steamboat Willie
Steamboat Willie
Modelling in CAD
Modelling in CAD
As with most of my projects, I designed everything in CAD so I can plan the parts to be printed and figure out how everything will be put together. I tried to keep mine relatively close in scale to the steamboat willie that we see from the original 1928 short film. Being very conscious of keeping the total weight of the boat low, most of the "cosmetic" parts that sit on top of the hull are printed with very low thickness, something like 1mm in thickness.
Buoyancy Test
Buoyancy Test
Printed out all the parts, confirmed here that the waterline sits well below the hole where the paddle wheel axle will go, should be no problem
Soldering
Soldering
Needed to solder connections for a new bidirectional ESC because my existing ESCs are unidirectional for airplanes, and I'll want the paddle boat to be able to reverse
Internal Assembly
Internal Assembly
Super happy with the gearbox, you can see it fits perfectly inside the hull with plenty of room for other necessary electronics. You can also see the servo I used in the stern for controlling the rudder, and I designed a lip around the hull's openings to keep water out
Quick Test
Quick Test
Just double checking here that all the electronics work now that they're properly installed on the hull. Paddle wheels can turn in both directions, and the rudder has all the degrees of freedom it needs. Success!
The Big Water Test
The Big Water Test
After finishing putting the boat together in January, I had to wait a number of months because all of the nearby rivers and lakes were still frozen. Finally, on a sunny day in March, my local river was warm enough for a proper water test! I think the results speak for themselves. I'm super please with how the boat performed; it moves along at a nice clip and is responsive on the water when I want it to turn and change speeds. It looks so fun bobbing up and down in the waves! I'm super pleased.
You Can Make This Too!
You Can Make This Too!
I had a blast putting this project together, and I've made all the relevant files and information to recreate this for yourself available publicly. I posted all of the 3D print files on thingiverse, and you'll also find there a list of all the electronics and hardware I used for the steamboat. Enjoy!
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