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Build your own hovercraft

Build your own hovercraft
Here's another project that I have, it was a physics project for school but I thought I could put an Arduino somewhere in there and make it more interesting, and it worked. The hovercraft has a tubular skirt that I made out of duct tape. It has two 50mm EDFs (EDF= Electronic Ducted Fan), one for hovering and one for propulsion, each with 40amp ESCs (ESC = Electronic speed controller). For direction I used a servo to turn the back fan left and right. The propulsion fan and the servo are connected to an RC receiver and I control them from the remote. The hovering fan( the one that blows downwards and produces the lift and onflates the skirt) is connected through the ESC to the arduino and the Arduino sets the speeh of the fan according to the position of a potentiometer. For the code I used the servo library and I connected the signal wire of the ESC to the arduino as it would be the signal of a servo. I just had to change some numbers in the delay statements and it works just fine. Both the Arduino and the lift fan use a second 7.2v LiPo battery( separate from the one used for the servo and propulsion EDF). Go watch the videos for more info. The first video is an explanation on how it works and the second is a drive. It is a very fun project to play with :)I'll show you how to make your own. Hang on to this instructable.



 
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Step 1What You will Need

In this tutorial I will be showing you how a hovercraft works, its principles, and how to make your own RC Hovercraft.
You will need:

• Some 1/4 inch plywood ( $0- I found some in the workshop)
• A lot of duct tape, but 2 rolls should do it ( You can find it at your hardware store for about 3-4 $ a roll)
• A breadboard (I got mine at radioshack)
• Hookup wire (22 gauge solid core from Radioshack)
• One RC servo ( any size but not too big)
• Two 55mm EDFs (Electronic Ducted Fans)
• Two 30A ESC (Electronic Speed Controller)
• Two 7.4v 1500mAh LiPo batteries
• RC car remote and receiver (2channels)
• Paper
• Some small cardboard boxes ( I used the ones from the batteries)
• A place where you can cut wood. I used my CNC machine, but a bandsaw, a jigsaw and a drill will do the job.
• A reason to build the hovercraft (for Fun ) :)
• One arduino board ( can be any kind of arduino ).
• Vacuum tube
• Double sided tape

All the parts that I put links for add up to a total of $104, and since they are all from the same store you won’t pay much for shipping.
The rest of the parts will cost maximum $70 with the arduino, so you get to a total of $174 without shipping, but it will be worth it.


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9 comments
Jan 9, 2012. 11:56 AMadam01430 says:
Do you think that a pc cooling fan would be able to power it along?
Jun 25, 2011. 1:58 PMjavajunkie1976 says:
If you have an old, obsolete computer you can pull the plugs (printer port, monitor port, etc.) from the back and use those as a temporary breadboard. Not to mention if you have an old printer that has the ribbon cables in them and the fans from the computers themselves. A single computer with the peripherals could easily cut down your costs for parts.
Jun 29, 2011. 3:04 AMBIG_MAN says:
Dude, that is totally awesome!
Keep up the good work!
Jun 25, 2011. 8:39 PMfrank26080115 says:
Will it work on water?
Jun 24, 2011. 9:03 PMtbaumg says:
another awesome use for duct tape!!!

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