Hovercraft Model No. 2

In this instructable, I'll go through what I did to acheive greater balance than the standard hovercraft. I havn't done anything for propulsion, however this can be acheived without much difficulty. One of my goals of this model was to have the ability to tote it around in my car (a saturn) as well as support my weight.

Step 1 Acquire Materials

This project isn't nearly as inexpensive as my first model. This model cost over $150 with all new parts and took about 13 hours to build and 3 trips to home depot.
3 Pre-cut Particle Board Circles 2 foot diameter (3.68 each)
5 Street Elbow 90° Fittings 3" (3.38 each)
4 Hub to Hub Elbow 90° Fittings 3" (2.19 each)
3 Flanges 3" (2.99 each)
1 Double T 3" Fitting (13.78)
1 Five and a half by 7.5 tarp 10 mil thick (6.98)
1 Ten foot PVC Tube 3" (12.08)
total cost (before tax): 158.41
The leafblower I got as a gift (my friends know me well) but it fit snuggly inside the 3" pvc tube.

Comments

[MillenniumMan]

Marty: Here's your hoverboard back kid. (holding pink barbie mattel board)

Little girl: Keep it, I've got a Abyzaran now :)

[rhino21]

I want to know how much weight this hovercraft will hold up. I see it says it can hold you up, but I would like some concrete numbers or at least estimates

[Abyzaran]

This model held up to 180 lbs.  It was not a very efficient use of the leaf blower, which on another model could hold upwards of 250 lbs.  The trade off was stability.  With the three smaller disks, there was less overall concern about balance on this model.  This simple disk shape was definitely more efficient.  If you're building one, the disk shape is also much cheaper :).
~Greg

[rhino21]

How fast does it go?

[Abyzaran]

I didn't ever get around to propelling this beast, but it would go as fast as I pushed it with minimal drag.  Going ~5 mph I could coast for a while.

[jrgcool35]

Why three trips to Home Depot? Cant you just get everything in one trip?

[eagle_02]

You never just go to Home Depot once. It just does not work that way.

[kcy123]

it depends on how much stuff you need.

[botmaster 10]

depends on the size and capacity of the car

[DeusXMachina]

:laughter: It's not unusual for my build team (ok it's me and my best friend it's still a build team though :-P) to make 2-3 trips to Depot in the same day, over the course of a several day build. I think the most we've been to in a 24 hour period was Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, and Curtis Lumber. It's all within 3 miles so we're not killing the environment.

[jrgcool35]

I have a feeling you copied this from the myrhbusters show when Adam and Jamie both make hovercrafts. This is Adam's model... If you look at them they are basically the same.

[brainiac]

o i think he did

[Abyzaran]

Well, aside from building this before that mythbuster's aired, yes there are similarities. This is largely due to the fact that there are a finite number of configurations a hovercraft can be built on a budget. And to the three trips comment, theoretically yes, 1 trip would have done it, but I was winging this design, so I was short pieces, the list of materials is my final list over the three trips, to save anyone replicating this the additional 2 trips

[Sk8rDuck]

On myth busters they made hovercrafts like this. I think they are so cool. I wish I had the time, money and the stuff to make one.

[mcraghead]

"I wish I had the time, money and the stuff to make one"
Make one of these: Simple Hovercraft ...it works way better than you think; there's nothing like that hovering feeling. No propulsion, but you could use a big stick and push yourself along like they do in Italy. With their hovercrafts.

[Spl1nt3rC3ll]

Just add a small fan to the back, thats what I did.

[instructa-fan]

does anyone know of a quieter and faster fan for this???????

[TheMadScientist]

sorry for the bad picture... i cant draw on paint for crap

[TheMadScientist]

can the air cushon setup be something like this?

[Ian01]

Try fastening the center of each piece of tarp to the board. Also try a ring of small holes instead of 4 big ones.
http://amasci.com/amateur/hovercft.html

[Hovercraft]

Good work man. My first model hovercraft about 15 years ago used lift cells (as I called them) similar to yours. My rational was that I could simply add cells to increase cushion area. However, this idea doesn't pan out due to 2 critical issues. 1) the extra ducting required to pull it off increases the weight of the craft (that's a no no). 2) the key to hovercraft payload capacity is the cushion's total area. Using cells instead of a single large cushion, decreases the total area available for lifting the hull. So, two hovercraft design sins are committed at once. Decreasing the payload capacity (the area) while increasing the payload (via the extra ducting). It looks like it was a fun build though. Keep up the good work but maybe consider the purchase of a book such as "Light Hovercraft Design" by Chris Fitzgerald available from the Hoverclub of America to non-members.

[Abyzaran]

I know normally having greater surface area is better, but I was looking for stability in this model, there's still a lot of work to do, but I've hit a barrier (unemployement & college) so I can't really get my next build going, but I hopefully can before next spring, I've got another cool idea... I'll post as I get to it

[Doom_Goat]

when you say 'off i went' do you mean you had a propulsion system? ive always been curious as to what could propel a hovercraft

[pjax]

a simple fan that blows out back could propel a hovercraft

[Abyzaran]

you need a lot more force than that. I tried using a boxfan on the highest setting, but that didn't work. I've tried a few different methods of propulsion, but in the end, it was too expensive for me.

[cchance]

interesting but technically a small fan shouldhvae been able to move you forwad, it would have required less force if you had gotten more lift probably.