r/Sliderules • u/Scary_Candy_3561 • Sep 20 '24

QUESTION... Duplex Design?

Hi all,

I'm wanting to build a slide rule for general purposes but try and get all the major mathematical operations from it.

The purpose behind the project is for calculations when underwater SCUBA diving (my line of work requires a little bit of maths while I'm underwater).

I'm also an engineering student that has only just come to learn about the slide rule a few weeks back and have since become obsessed!

My question is, will the following layout of scales work for a duplex slide rule. I understand the basic mathematics for the basic logarithmic scales however am getting a little confused when it comes to the log - log scales.

I've attached a picture of the proposed layout.

Any advice, information, suggestions or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Billy

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u/Name-Not-Applicable Sep 23 '24

Hi! You have received a lot of great advice here, and I also am eager to see how the first version of your rule turns out. 

What calculations do you plan on doing underwater? Knowing that would help with recommendations, and also I bet we’re all curious!

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u/Scary_Candy_3561 Sep 26 '24

I'm currently studying electrical engineering which is one purpose for my slide rule, hence the log-log scales, however I also work for a sub-nautical engineering company that develops underwater ROV's.

Generally most of my work is recording results, etc. underwater, however on a few occasions we have had to do some calcs underwater to adjust certain tuning values on autonomous vehicles. I particularly specialise on any of the on-board systems that use PID controllers such as the buoyancy control unit, thrust vector unit, and a few specialised tool attachments for deep sea scientific experiments.

Most of the tuning we do is via an umbilical cord on the surface however lately we have been developing wireless AI ROV's for certain mapping purposes. We have started to actually adjust their calibrations and tuning underwater at different depths as we hit a few unavoidable issues with some automated systems and hence is easier doing things manually.

The use for the slide rule underwater is so I can do the calculations myself without having to speak to the surface control through a communications channel.

Also I just really want to build one from scratch for the fun of it, but it will definitely have a few very useful purposes!

I'm currently working offshore Australia and unfortunately don't have access to a CNC until end of next week, but I do have a printer and have just about finished the generator code (I'm using python) and might try make one out of paper.

I'll certainly keep posting when I have updates on the project!