Justin Beckerman, an 18-year-old high school student from New Jersey, built and wired a fully-functional, one-man submarine, mostly made of the lightweight, yet strong, grooved plastic usually used in piping.
The construction feat is less than surprising to those familiar with Beckerman's talent — he's been engineering products out of various building materials since he was two years old, the teenager told Business Insider.
Beckerman salvages every old or broken device he can find, along with donations from friends and neighbors, and occasional trips to electronics recycling facilities with his dad.
He's built remote-controlled vacuums, miniature model jet engines, and headsets that can play DVDs. The submarine is by far the teen's biggest project to date.
Justin's father, Ken Beckerman, says he learned early on to give his son space, support, and freedom to tinker with things: "[Justin] will tell me something is going to work, and to me it doesn't make any sense or its not possible. Instead of telling him that it can't happen or it's not real, I just let it sit ... I'm supportive in letting him do his thing, and letting him dream."
Justin has been building things since he was a young child. His submarine drew on the knowledge he's acquired over the years. Apart from the mechanical and electrical know-how, Justin worked in some of his interest in aeronautics: He modeled some of the components in the sub off things found on airplanes.
Aside from looking up the underwater pressure at his target depth of 30 feet, Beckerman says he did not do much research online.
He set up a workstation in his family's basement, and even custom-built a cart to hold the sub. His many tools included a circular saw, a Sawzall, a voltmeter, and a soldering iron.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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