06:00 in the morning and on the way to work :yawn: so it's just a quick and dirty pack... probably with dublets too :D

http://www.mediafire.com/file/bnmu8a...Finder_Mix.zip

Thanks bro, I really appreciate it:yeah:

Printable Manual

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...o=file&id=4419

Hi am looking to building one of these tools in the near future.

However am looking for advice on materials to use.

1. What thickness in microns for the various disks

2. What type of transparancies to use ie would acetate be ok and if so what thickness.

3. What thickness of laminate pocket to use 125 or 250

4. The most important how to fasten all the pieces together assuring that they will all turn easily

Really appreciate any and all help in this matter

Cheers

I used...

1 heavy paper.
2 overhead transparency in a laser printer
3 dunno, its a 3m product, one sheet is heavy plastic, the other a thinner plastic with adhesive.
4 a #6 bolt, fender washers, and 2 nuts with a split washer between them.

The bottom has the lamination used as intended, all others I only used the adhesive sheet covering the printed side. That includes the transparent sheets, both to protect the printing and to make the disk more rigid.

As a kid these things were all around the house (other circular slide rules that is) and they were made of anything from navy card stock to metal.... My grandfather was an engineer in the 1940s onward so we had slide rules as well as "data wheels" where you made a selection and read the answers from a window on the tool.

Thanks for the help TG,

Would you be able to post / link all the relevant template files for both sides of the whiz wheel. Or any other slide rules that you may have the templates for that would make playing the game feel more "authentic" :)

Also is this wheel primarly for SH4, can I use it for SH5 too.

Many thanks

http://www.hnsa.org/doc/attackfinder/index.htm

This link contains still valid download links to all the template files of the US Is-was Attack Course Finder on the hnsa.org site. Somewhere in there is also a photo of the original device. (only black on white, seems perfect in low-light conditions, considering) The first link in the first message of this thread is dead, and should have pointed to this. But somehow ended up linking to some Google Group and died in the process.

I also uploaded them in different packages (untouched, probably downloaded them back then from the now dead links) to my website:

Range/Speed/Sine/Time sliderule disk (rear side):
http://ricojansen.nl/downloads/Printable_IS-WAS.rar

Course/Bearing solver (front side)
http://ricojansen.nl/downloads/Subma...er_-_White.pdf

As an added bonus I still have a Shockwave file somebody made (don't know who, probably mentioned in this thread somewhere), with which you can play around with the Course/Bearing solver in your browser:

http://ricojansen.nl/downloads/iswasxc2.swf

It can be used with ANY game that is based on the proper mathematical rules and nautical concepts and units. It's only specific for SH4 in the sense that it (initially) focused on the US submarines. But could technically also be used in SH3 or SH2 (atleast the angle solver) and certainly SH1. I think Destroyer Command too worked with yards. It's just a replica of a mathematical device used in the real world back in those days. You just have to consider that the range scale is in yards. Speed in knots is standard among most games.

Big thanks for these. I'll get right on with making them :)

So. Have made the thing, with enough gear left over to make an onmimeter too - Thanks to everyone who took the time to make and upload these files - and thanks to Don and Hitman for this little gem, which is going to be extremely useful....

A minor modification
 

I have a feeling I won't be the first person to think of this, so all those for whom this is old hat, my apologies, however I found it useful and it doesn't seem to have been mentioned in the thread so far, so here goes.....

You can use the reverse side of the SACF to do simple TSD calculations by lining up the distance in yards with the time taken to travel it and reading the speed off the sine scale at the pointer; but lining the time and distance scales is dependent on a good eye, which I don't have. Anyway. it's a relatively simple matter to make another index pointer and mount it on top of the time scale/inner wheel, which is what I did. It's really useful for say getting speed by timing the target through the crosshairs, because all you need to do is use the floating index pointer you've just added, to line up target length and time taken, at which point the speed can be read off the inner wheel pointer.

I haven't tried it yet, but I imagine it would work just as well for points obtained from say, a radar plot, or active sonar maybe.

Anyway, like I say, I doubt it's an original idea, but it's handy and it doesn't get in the way and is worth considering, I think, for anyone planning to build one of these.

In lieu of a thousand word description, here's a photo. It's set up to show 117 yards in 25 seconds = 8.5 knots or thereabouts....

*Edit* Overstating the obvious, but because it's a logarithmic scale, this could just as well be saying that about 42 minutes at 8.4 kts will get you 11800 yards, or as close to it as makes no practical difference. Slide rules rock :)

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3890/...729ae87d_c.jpg

Brilliant!

IVV, how do you fab the plastic parts and put the markings on them? What kind of stock do you use and where do you get it?

The base is foam board, the transparent parts are printed on inkjet OHP transparencies and the other bits are printed on card. I used contact adhesive to stick several thicknesses of card together [after printing] for the moveable wheels - the bases get enough rigidity from the foam board. All the parts get laminated with self adhesive laminating film, but the transparencies get more - I think I gave them about five layers in all. I glued the first base scale to the board and then cut it to shape. I stuck a pin through the centre and used that as a guide for sticking the second base scale to the other side. Not everyone will find this as tricky as I did, but be aware that if you're using contact adhesive it grabs as soon as it touches - hence its name. I forgot this obvious point and ended up with the reverse scale at 45 degrees to the first. Not difficult to stick another one over it, but one does feel a bit of an idiot doing it :) A slower-drying adhesive might be better for that one operation.... My big problem was making the holes the same size and perfectly central. - I tried cutting them first and the result was OK - but not best. I ended up buying a cheap hole punch and dismantling it, then using one of the cutters to punch the centre holes. A nut and bolt holds it all together. pretty much everything came from the office supplies shop in the shopping centre.

It is brilliant - I wish I'd thought of it. Huge respect to everyone who did what it took to get this out of the museum and into my hot sweaty hands. Shame I'll never meet any of you in a bar - This is definitely worth beers :)

As soon as I first made one, I saw the value in adding the extra cursor. I made a second, more sturdy one, and added it. Ever since then, I've wondered why it wasn't built in in the first place. Folks, if you're going to make one of these, add the extra cursor!

I love the smell of vindication in the morning.... :)