Building a hovercraft.

[kf4oij]

So, today, I noticed two vacuum cleaners in the dumpster by my apartment complex... I waited until the cover of darkness and moved them to just outside my apartment door... I think tommorow I am going to see if my fried (who incidently is creator and owner of fakenamegenerator.com (recently mentioned in a popular science article)) if he wants to built it with me...

25....

[singularity]

i built one, but i used a leaf blower, it wasn't actually a hover craft it was more like a hover pad. it worked but when ever i shifted my weight the air would escape. i got kinda board with it and never made a propulsion system, but i think this summer ill work on it again

[c19o]

If I get more money and time I'll make one, maybe if I get a welder, ill add a
valveless pulsjet to it.

[WOW!!]

www.xinventions.com has some plans you can buy. i made one with asome plywood and a leaf bower and a tarp and it worked really good.

[jrrdw]

www.xinventions.com has some plans you can buy. i made one with asome plywood and a leaf bower and a tarp and it worked really good.

Key word "tarp"!

Forms a certin around the base to contain the air stream. Still will bottom out going off of banks/curbs, those are oppsticals to avoid.

[schmanman]

ahhh, well, it might be fun, but if I were you , and wanted to have lots of fun, go out, buy a non-working dirtbike from the 70s'-80s' and fix it up....

helluva fun time!

[paaiyan]

So you'll need something sturdy and light for the platform, some sort of heavy material for the skirt which won't allow air to escape through said material, something to cut and sew the material and bind it to the platform, you've got your source of lift...

Usually the hardest part is propulsion and steering. A leaf blower will work to some extent, but not for a large payload, such as a person. A leafblower does not have any real propulsion power unless it has something behind it (i.e. a wall) to create a pressure difference which would push the craft forward for some distance. You need something with more power. A pulse-jet would work nicely, yes. Weighty though.

[spuzi14]

I have also aquired a vaccum cleaner motor recently. I'm not sure I want to build a hovercraft though. Of course I would need a big extension cord but that's besides the point. I truthfully am running out of room in the basement with an 8x8 foot model train layout, a trebuchet, two onagers and a weight set (my basement has a door by the way)....my mom claims I have taken the entire basement and well she's right

I was thinking about making some type of gun with it. Possible a centrifugal machine but I have no idea yet.

Good luck with your hovercraft. Please post back so we can see progress.




Is it vaCCum or vacUUm?

[jrrdw]

You can stear by lifting the bottom of the tarp/curtin/skirt, just don't lift to much and dump your self overboard, get a movie of that if it happens.

[paaiyan]

Vacuum. And yes, do get a movie. Everyone loves to watch other people make fools of themselves.

As for power, you could rig up a battery system to run it but that would not only add a significant amount of weight, but add a lot of cost to the project as well. A combustion-driven device really is optimum for propulsion if you don't want to hassle with cords. You could always figure out a way to transmit energy though electromagnetic radiation and then reconvert it back to electricity but in order to do that you'd have to be able to focus the EM energy and that would restrict your field of movement unless you had someone to redirect it as you moved about.

And the technology is copyrighted last time I checked, read an article on it today. Copyright infringement bad

[kf4oij]

We built it, here are some pics:



And link to more pics: http://www.joeynovak.com/wiki/index.php ... HoverCraft

Joey

[WOW!!]

The best thing that worked for me is some 1/2'' ply and some concrete tarp. Worked really good.

[gotbass7]

hey i made a hovercraft also. cept i used a leaf blower. and i need bigger holes before it can lift people. AND i didn't have that kinda plastic but tarp works fine. it hovers but it doesn't hover me yet. mostly cause my wait isn't distributed. and lastly i need something to push me forward

[Orpackrat]

http://rqriley.com/free-hover.html

For some free plans.

I have an old gasoline leaf blower that I don't use anymore so it looks like I have a prodject.

Just a though, what about using some foam sheets and some PVC pipe for a frame, light foam for the deck and PVC pipe under it for support. The skirt could connect to the PVC and the foam sheets could screw to the PVC. Light and Strong.

[gotbass7]

the foam, that might not be the best idea. well, it might not support your leafblower. depends on what type of foam though. and if you do that you definitly wont get anyone on it