Normal remote control cars, planes, boats and RC whatever are boring. This Instructable is on how to make a pulse jet powered ice racer! This is a very unique loud and dangerous RC vehicle that you could build in about one day with the right materials and tools and a little experience with pulse jets.
My brother and I both have a great interest in welding and fun dangerous stuff. So a few years ago when we got our first welder and we were just learning to weld, we thought it would be a fun and simple first project to make a small model sized pulse jet engine. That was simple and fun. We then thought what could we do next that would be something like this? Of course we thought bigger is better, especially if its remote controlled and thats what lead us to creating the Pulse Jet powered Ice Racer! Here is the final video of it running!
What is a pulse jet? Well, it is the easiest type of engine that you can make in just a matter of hours and they have no moving parts (the valveless type). They are extremely loud (140+ db) and glow red hot and can run on any type of fuel. Here is a link to a wiki page explaining more about them better than I can. Also, this is the design of the engine we used.
If your going to do this make sure you do it during the day and on a larger lake not in a city because these things are really fricken loud. Running pulse jets at night pisses off the neighbors as you can hear it from miles away...
Let me know if I should clear up some of the steps as it may be just a little confusing.
Here are my answers for the Make to Learn Youth Contest - Most answers regarding how to make it are already throughout the instructable
What did I make?: I made a remote control ice racer that uses a pulse jet to produce the thrust to move and remote control parts from an old RC car. I have a link above as to how a pulse jet works but basically if you have the correct dimensions it will stay lit and continue on its cycle, thus the name pulse jet as it has continuous explosions that create a distinct buzzing sound. The main tool that I used was a MIG welder to weld together the metal frame and pulse jet. I have been welding since I was 13 and I am currently 15.
How did I make it?: My brother and I got the idea from a project we did 5 or more years ago. That project was also an RC ice racer but much smaller and used a motor and propeller from an old plane. A few years ago when we got the welder and were thinking of project we decided to make pulse jets since they were simple enough. That then lead to bigger pulse jets, which then this year led to us making something that actually moves out of one. My brother and I worked on this project for 3 days. At the start we had a rough idea as to what we were going to do but most of our ideas changed as we progressed. Mostly just the design of the frame changed. The front steering was mostly just guess and check.
Where did you make it?: We made it in our garage workshop at home and took it to a near by lake to test it out. It connected with other activities in our lives because we had made the pulse jet a few months before so we finally put it to good use!
What did I learn?: The biggest challenge we faced was setting up the steering and servo. That just took some time and finess to get into the right spot and to make sure it all lined up. I am immensely proud of how the whole thing turned out! We weren't expecting much, but it was above and beyond what we expected. Plus, I am proud of how well this instructable did! If I did it again I think I would change the placement of the tank to the front area and have it sit upright and change the design of the frame and make it narrower to save excess weight. Also, if I had a lot of time, I would make a big pulse jet because the bigger the better! (and faster)
My brother and I both have a great interest in welding and fun dangerous stuff. So a few years ago when we got our first welder and we were just learning to weld, we thought it would be a fun and simple first project to make a small model sized pulse jet engine. That was simple and fun. We then thought what could we do next that would be something like this? Of course we thought bigger is better, especially if its remote controlled and thats what lead us to creating the Pulse Jet powered Ice Racer! Here is the final video of it running!
What is a pulse jet? Well, it is the easiest type of engine that you can make in just a matter of hours and they have no moving parts (the valveless type). They are extremely loud (140+ db) and glow red hot and can run on any type of fuel. Here is a link to a wiki page explaining more about them better than I can. Also, this is the design of the engine we used.
If your going to do this make sure you do it during the day and on a larger lake not in a city because these things are really fricken loud. Running pulse jets at night pisses off the neighbors as you can hear it from miles away...
Let me know if I should clear up some of the steps as it may be just a little confusing.
Here are my answers for the Make to Learn Youth Contest - Most answers regarding how to make it are already throughout the instructable
What did I make?: I made a remote control ice racer that uses a pulse jet to produce the thrust to move and remote control parts from an old RC car. I have a link above as to how a pulse jet works but basically if you have the correct dimensions it will stay lit and continue on its cycle, thus the name pulse jet as it has continuous explosions that create a distinct buzzing sound. The main tool that I used was a MIG welder to weld together the metal frame and pulse jet. I have been welding since I was 13 and I am currently 15.
How did I make it?: My brother and I got the idea from a project we did 5 or more years ago. That project was also an RC ice racer but much smaller and used a motor and propeller from an old plane. A few years ago when we got the welder and were thinking of project we decided to make pulse jets since they were simple enough. That then lead to bigger pulse jets, which then this year led to us making something that actually moves out of one. My brother and I worked on this project for 3 days. At the start we had a rough idea as to what we were going to do but most of our ideas changed as we progressed. Mostly just the design of the frame changed. The front steering was mostly just guess and check.
Where did you make it?: We made it in our garage workshop at home and took it to a near by lake to test it out. It connected with other activities in our lives because we had made the pulse jet a few months before so we finally put it to good use!
What did I learn?: The biggest challenge we faced was setting up the steering and servo. That just took some time and finess to get into the right spot and to make sure it all lined up. I am immensely proud of how the whole thing turned out! We weren't expecting much, but it was above and beyond what we expected. Plus, I am proud of how well this instructable did! If I did it again I think I would change the placement of the tank to the front area and have it sit upright and change the design of the frame and make it narrower to save excess weight. Also, if I had a lot of time, I would make a big pulse jet because the bigger the better! (and faster)
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1: Design
It took quite some time to decide on what the design should be and where to place the pulse jet and propane tank. We ended up laying the metal pieces out on the ground to get a rough idea of what it should look like. Almost all of the angles and lengths we kind of just guessed on and would round off to the nearest whole number. Surprisingly though, everything turned out perfect and symmetrical! Although you may criticize us for not measuring it worked out just fine and didn't need to be exact, it wouldn't have been much of a big deal if it was off by a tiny amount. Additionally, we were in kind of a rush to complete it as my brother was going back to college from winter break in just a few days.
What took a long time, was we had to figure out where to stick the propane tank, as we wanted the pulse jet to run down the middle of the frame and we didn't want the tank to sit on the front and put a ton of weight on the control arm and front skate. Plus, we just wanted it to look as cool as it sounds!
What took a long time, was we had to figure out where to stick the propane tank, as we wanted the pulse jet to run down the middle of the frame and we didn't want the tank to sit on the front and put a ton of weight on the control arm and front skate. Plus, we just wanted it to look as cool as it sounds!
Visit Our Store »
Go Pro Today »
Went to my Blog:
http://faz-voce-mesmo.blogspot.pt/2013/02/maquinas-de-pasmar-e-uma-crowdourcing.html
The V1 cranked along at 600+ Kmh
hehehehe dont we all love pissing off our neighbours!!
Once shot from my big capacitor bank will wake up the neighbourhood too; so I think I'll just read this instructable and imagine the sort of fun one could have with a pulsejet powered racer :) (yes I have had the cops visit when I "detonated" a poor hapless transistor with my cap bank - once is enough!) Peak energy output is around 3.9 kJ, and the report is like a gunshot.
I DO like this project however - fun, LOTS of noise and a bit crazy (mabye you can lower the centre of gravity by putting the propane tank below the engine; or do the same but use the smaller camp stove propane bottles).
Ha Ha Ha! That sounds like the voice of experience!
Nice instructable! Thanks for sharing.
Great Instructable, BTW.
Very cool project btw!
Well done ;-)
Welcome to the club.
I thought skates were of a high carbon steel, so welding them may encourage cracking.
BTW I have, or can get, all the materials except the ice. I'll have to change the skates to wheels I think ;-)
Well done.
Ice, jet engine, remote control....