How to Make a Low Budget Hovercraft

Intro: How to Make a Low Budget Hovercraft

Through the recent years engineers have made hovercrafts. A piece of transformation that glides on the ground. Most hovercraft are made for the water.  Nowadays, there the smaller toy hovercraft was created. This was targeted mostly for boys at all ages. This toys could cost up to four-hundred dollars or even more. The target of my project is to create a miniature hovercraft using household items, and store bought items. The budget for the project is fifty dollars or less. The hovercraft is a vehicle placed into the ACV, or air cushioned vehicle and ground effects cluster. The way a hovercraft with a fan works is quite simple. The air from the fan is pushed downward toward the air cushion and this causes the pressure of air to push up the skirt. When it lifts the whole vehicle rises above the ground. This also can be cause by regular wind powered air. The hovercraft could be made in different types of ways. My hovercraft will use an old circular food container, duct-tape/hot glue, small propeller, small motor, cable wire and a 

STEP 1: Significance of the Project

The audience of this product will be children around the teenage years of their life. This project; hovercraft, will be a new type of way to get children outside playing and passing time when bored. Another group of people the project will impact are parents and their children as a type of bonding experience when building it, and playing with the hovercraft. The hovercraft will impact the family based audience by getting the children outside, instead of in the house playing video games.

STEP 2: Creating the Body

To create the Body of the Hovercraft you would need to start off using a sharpie to trace out which parts of the circular food container will be cut off. Try cutting to similar half circles of the sides creating a rectangular pieces between the two like a bridge. In the rectangular section cut a circular hole with slits on the ends so you will be able to push up the motor, where it will stay. 

Try creating a diagram on a piece of paper so you know your exact plan, and design of the hovercraft 

STEP 3: Motor and Propeller

Depending on the type of motor you have you should buy a propeller that would be able to fit around the metal tube/pole coming from the top.

My propeller was a little to small so I hot glued the inside and GENTLY pressed the motor into the hole

Let this dry and stick it in the hole upside down (propeller facing the flat surface/ground) and duct-tape or hot glue it into place. 

STEP 4: Let There Be POWER!

Finally use cable wire to hook the ends on the metal flaps or tabs on the motor. Figure out which part will be your positive wire attachment and which would be you negative attachment. 

When you find the positive and negative attachments lightly touch them on the side of the battery the corresponds and see your hovercraft lightly glide and hover off the ground 

STEP 5: Customize

Use sharpies, stickers and fabric to decorate and customize your hovercraft however you would like (: 

Comments

[robinpaine]

There is a 700 page book, with 450 pictures called 'On a
Cushion of Air', (www.Amazon.com or www.thebookdepository.com
and Kindle), which tells the story of Christopher Cockerell's discovery that
heavy weights could be supported on a cushion of low pressure air, and the
development of the hovercraft by those who were there, from the very early days
through to the heyday of the giant 165-ton SRN.4, which crossed the English
Channel starting in 1968 carrying 30 cars and 254 passengers at speeds in
excess of 75 knots on a calm day. It was subsequently widened to carry 36 cars
and 280 passengers with an A.U.W. of 200 tones and was later lengthened to an
A.U.W of 325 tons and capable of carrying 55 cars and 424 passengers. The
amazing point was that from 165 tons to 325 tons only 400 extra hp was
required, although a bit of speed was sacrificed, proving conclusively that
Christopher Cockerell's theory was sound.

Sadly, for economic reasons, the service came to
an end on 1st October 2000. In total 6 SR.4s were built and the two remaining
ones are in the Hovercraft Museum at Lee-on-Solent. See www.onacushionofair.com