DHMN hovercraft

[Bob Waldron]

When DHMN has it's own facility, we definitely need to build one of these...    http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/05/ff_hovercraft/

L-Dron

[Mark Nickel]

I wonder if you could beef up the motor and increase the depth of the curtain so that you could hover over more uneven terrain....

:)

[Bob Waldron]

That's the great thing about 'making' -- one can quickly try out your proposed changes and see what happens!

[Bob Waldron]

Here's a couple links re: your 'increase height' question/proposal:

http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/index.php/t-105488.html 

This  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hovercraft  talks about how ground effect vehicles use forward speed to increase height above ground level (AGL).

Here's a 'hovercraft' that says it reaches 20' AGL,  http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/4291030/Flying-hovercraft-could-be-straight-out-of-a-James-Bond-movie.html 

[Mark Finn]

I made a couple of hovercraft back in high school.  The little wood circle ones like in the picture can be made from vacuum cleaner motors pretty easily, you just have to deal with an extension cord.  The only work on very smooth surfaces -- in fact, running over the cord itself caused some painful stops.

I also made one that was around 12x8 foot, powered by 6 electric fans (the cooling fan from front wheel drive cars, but run on 24 volt).  The skirt was sewn out of tarps.  It could run over a curb without slowing down, but I made it WAY too heavy, and there was no means of propulsion, so it wasn't very useful.

If anyone wants any tips on how (or how not) to make a hovercraft, let me know.

Mark

[Alex Hunt]

We'll have to talk.  I've been daydreaming about building a hovercraft with an array of R/C aircraft motors - kind of like that group that built a helicopter:
http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/03/8618609-germans-claim-first-flight-of-manned-electric-helicopter?lite

Alex

[Mark Nickel]

Interesting... could be a good use for those two Rumba motors that I think Mike P. has...

[Mike Putnam]

The motors I have are too small for that application. Neat idea though.

Mike

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 01:37:34PM -0500, Mark Nickel wrote:
Interesting... could be a good use for those two Rumba motors that I think
Mike P. has...

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 1:27 PM, Alex Hunt <al...@ieee.org> wrote:

We'll have to talk.* I've been daydreaming about building a hovercraft

with an array of R/C aircraft motors - kind of like that group that
built a helicopter:
http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/03/8618609-germans-claim-first-flight-of-manned-electric-helicopter?lite

Alex

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 1:05 PM, Mark Finn <ma...@mfinn.net> wrote:

I made a couple of hovercraft back in high school.* The little wood

circle ones like in the picture can be made from vacuum cleaner motors

pretty easily, you just have to deal with an extension cord.* The only

work on very smooth surfaces -- in fact, running over the cord itself
caused some painful stops.

I also made one that was around 12x8 foot, powered by 6 electric fans

(the cooling fan from front wheel drive cars, but run on 24 volt).*
The skirt was sewn out of tarps.* It could run over a curb without

slowing down, but I made it WAY too heavy, and there was no means of
propulsion, so it wasn't very useful.

If anyone wants any tips on how (or how not) to make a hovercraft, let
me know.

Mark

On 05/29/2012 09:26 AM, Mark Nickel wrote:

I wonder if you could beef up the motor and increase the depth of
the curtain so that you could hover over more uneven terrain....
:)

On Mon, May 28, 2012 at 11:15 AM, Bob Waldron <bwal...@gmail.com>
wrote:

When DHMN has it's own facility, we definitely need to build one

of these... ** http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/05/ff_hovercraft/
L-Dron

[Mark Nickel]

Oh yeah... whoops.  the motors you have are for the wheels, not for the vacuum.

haha... maybe a "mini" hovercraft.

[Karl P. Niemuth II]

No wheels on hovercrafts. They hover

Sent from mobile device

[Mark Nickel]

haha!  I meant that use the motors to power the mini-hovercraft.  correct, have to remove the wheels first and just use the motor. 

But Mike is correct... those little motors are WAY underpowered, after thinking a little more thoroughly.