Hovercraft Building Plans

This is how I remembered building my hovercraft in the summer of 2004 at Buffalo State College. Im sure many other plans and craft are available on the internet. But, If you are interested in duplicating mine.

Materials:

4 by 4 plywood sheet, about inch (5/8 would probably be OK, as would 1. inch might work as well, but I think the inch might bend a little too much. But maybe not. This is physics experiment! Because plywood is commonly available in 4 by 8 sheets, so you could team up with somebody else, split up the wood, and then make two hovercraft, and race them! Plastic sheet, about 3 mil to 10 mil thickness (as far as I can recall) 1 CD that you will never ever use again (AOL advertising CDs or similar ilk work very fine) 1 screw (#20 about diameter, not critical) 1 to 2 long + wingnut for screw 1 large washer (1 to 2 in diameter) to fit around screw. Maybe a smaller washer (~ inches in diameter) (Depending on the size of the washer, you might need a smaller washer ( to inch diameter) to effectively be able to use the screw and the larger washer). These washers spread out the force on the CD from just the screw head. Staple gun and many staples Roll of duct tape (youll probably use at least half a roll) Scissors Pencils and string Leaf blower (Black and Decker cordless works very well: it has a lead-acid battery that can hold a fair amount of energy). This may be the most expensive part of the craft, and cost about $50 several years ago. Drill with bit for drilling large hole (about 2 for the Black and Decker leaf blower, but other models might need a different size) and a smaller hole, maybe inch for the bolt.

Procedure:
If you just got one of the rechargeable leaf blowers, you might plug it in to get it charging. Once your hovercraft is complete, the urge to test is very nearly irresistible. 1) The first thing is to get the round shape of the hovercraft. Drill a screw-sized hole in the middle of the 4 by 4 plywood. Then, put a pencil through the hole, and tie a string around it. Using the middle hole as the center of the circle, figure out how much string it will take to make the largest circle you can on the plywood. The circle should touch the flat sides of the plywood, Using the string as your guide draw this circle on the plywood, maybe by wrapping the string another pencil. The intent here is to make a line showing the outline of the circular hovercraft. Having a perfect circle is not critical. 2) Then, once you have a line showing where you want the edge of the hovercraft, cut the plywood along the line. A power saw (such a jigsaw) can come in very handy here. Again, a perfect circle is not essential. 3) Once you have the plywood circular, drill a hole for the leaf blower. This should be circular, about 2 inches in diameter. You should first check the size of the diameter you need on one of the scrap pieces of wood you cut off the corners when you made the circular shape. The nose of the leaf blower should fit snugly in the hole through the plywood. 4) After you have the circular plywood base and the hole, the next step is to attach the plastic. If the plastic comes on a roll, youll need to unroll it and possibly unfold it. When you have the plastic unrolled and unfolded, you can set the plywood circle on top of it. Then, cut out a circular shape of the plastic. You want the plastic to extend about 1 to 2 feet from the edge of the plywood. As I think about it, 12 to 18 inches would do well. 5) Once you have the black plastic circular shape, it is probably a good time to cut the holes in it for the air flow. Fold the plastic in half, then in half again. Fold it in half two more times. If you cut along the fold, you will be able to make eight holes with one cut. You should cut about 1/3 of the way from the center to the edge, and make your holes about an inch in diameter. The shape of the holes does not matter (diamonds are fine), and you can always make them bigger later. 6) The above instructions will make eight holes. You can adjust the cutting to make six holes instead of eight. 7) The next step is mechanically attaching the plastic to the plywood. This is a somewhat tedious step. You fold the plastic up over the edge of the plywood. Once on top of the plywood, you can try to gather the plastic together to make it look a little more neat. You can use duct tape to hold the plastic in place while

you staple the heck out of the black plastic to the plywood. The plastic does not have to be stretched tightly over the bottom of the plywood. here: just fold it up snugly over the edge. 8) The intent of the stapling is to provide a mechanical connection between the plywood and the plastic. The plastic is going to be under a lot of stress when it is inflated, and so the staples will provide the force to keep the plastic connected to the plywood. 9) The spacing of the staples on my machine was about to 1. But there is lots of overlap. Dont worry about the airtightness of the plastic thats what the duct tape is for. 10) After the plastic has been stapled to the plywood all around using many many staples, it is time to make the plastic air tight 11) Here, you will use lots of duct tape. Tape down the edges of the plastic to the top surface of the plywood. From pieces of tape holding the plastic to the plywood, you want to apply additional strips to the plywood, and also additional strips over the plastic. You also want to cover up the staples so that they will not be sources of leaks and also so they will not poke people sitting on it. 12) It is also a good idea to tape along the edge of the plywood. Hovercraft do not always stop on their own, and so the plastic along the edges tends to get worn. 13) The next step is to attach the middle of the plastic to the bottom of the hovercraft. With the hovercraft on edge, push the screw through the hole in the center so that it goes through the plastic on the bottom. This step lets you know where the hole on the bottom is. Then, take the screw out from the top of the hovercraft. Put the screw through the large washer (or, if you need a smaller washer, first through the smaller washer), then through the CD, and then through the plastic and the plywood. You should have about of the screw protruding from the top of the plywood. You should now take the wingnut, and put it on the screw. Tighten the wingnut hand tight. Now its time to test the hovercraft. Find a nice flat solid surface for your test, and set the hovercraft on it. You should feel a rush of air coming out of the hole from the bottom of the hovercraft as your hovercraft settles on the ground. Put the leaf blower into the hole. you might need some additional duct tap around the leaf blower to create a good seal, or maybe not. Switch on the leaf blower, and you should be floating.