3D Printed Hovercraft

By Tom Stanton

1
Sold to
alen.pak07@gmail.com
Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1
3D Printing Information ...................................................................................................................... 2
Required Parts..................................................................................................................................... 3
Build Instructions ................................................................................................................................ 4
Mount Rudder Servo ....................................................................................................................... 4
Mount Motor and Propeller ........................................................................................................... 5
Electronics instalment..................................................................................................................... 9
Skirt ............................................................................................................................................... 15
FPV ................................................................................................................................................ 28
Tuning the craft................................................................................................................................. 28
Side to side balance ...................................................................................................................... 28
Front to rear balance .................................................................................................................... 28

2
Introduction
So, you want to build a hovercraft? Well this could be your solution.
The aims behind the design of this specific hovercraft are as follows:
- Simple to print (no supports required)
- Quick to assemble (no glue required)
- Low cost (only one motor and electronic speed controller)
- Small size (mainly for indoor use)

This manual will cover the basic 3D printer settings, recommended electronics, assembly
instructions and tips to get your hovercraft performing well.
It is recommended that you have some knowledge of radio control models and can solder.
Although this hovercraft is designed to be as simple as possible, it is still a product designed
for a radio control hobbyist.

1
3D Printing Information
Required build volume dimensions: 180(L)x140(W)x180(H)mm
Filament: PLA, ABS, PETG etc (flexible filament not recommended)
Nozzle Diameter: 0.4mm
Layer height: 0.2mm

STL files are configured in the correct orientation for printing and no supports are required.
The following settings vary depending on the part. The settings in RED correspond to the
RED parts and the settings in BLUE correspond to the BLUE parts.
Number of outer walls: 2
Number of top solid layers: 3
Number of bottom solid layers: 3
Infill pattern: Any
Infill percentage: 15%

Number of outer walls: 1

Number of top solid layers: 3
Number of bottom solid layers: 3
Infill pattern: Any
Infill percentage: 10%

2
Required Parts
Before you start printing, it’s a good idea to order the required electronics because the
printing should be far quicker than any postal service!
The following list contains the recommended specification of electronic components and
then splits off into specific electronics that I have come across/use. Most of the components
I have listed can be purchased from Hobbyking.com. Depending on your location, you may
want to order these parts elsewhere.
Required Electronics:
- 1pc Brushless motor 1407 3600kv
o DYS 1407 3600kv
- 1pc Electronic Speed Controller (ESC) 30A
o T-Motor ESC 2-4s 30A
- 1pc Rudder servo
o HK-922MG
o HK-933MG
- 1pc 5v regulator
o 5v 3A regulator https://goo.gl/iPHZuJ
- 1pc 11.1v 3s 800-1000mah Lithium Polymer battery
o Turnigy 3s 1000mah
- 1pc Transmitter and Receiver (3 channel or more)

3
Build Instructions
Mount Rudder Servo
1. Insert the servo wire through the slot in the rear of the hovercraft hull.

Required Hardware: Other building hardware required:

- 24pcs M3x6 Countersunk bolts - Solder
- 1pc M3x30mm Countersunk bolt - Velcro
- 1pc M2x 10mm bolt - Heatshrink
- 1pc XT60 connector - Double sided tape
- 1pc servo extension 150mm - Small cable ties
- 1pc 3inch drone propeller
- 1pc thin plastic bin/trash bag

4
 2. Secure one side of the servo using an M3x10 bolt.

Mount Motor and Propeller

3. Mount the propeller to the motor. The rotation direction of the propeller in these photos is
incorrect! Use a propeller that rotates anti-clockwise when viewing the hovercraft from the
front. This is required to counteract the offset weight of the electronic speed controller (ESC)
using the torque created by the motor/propeller.

5
4. Slide the motor wires through the tube in the propeller duct.

5. Mount the motor to the propeller duct using 4x M2 bolts (these should be supplied with the
motor). Make sure to tighten each bolt at the same rate to ensure the motor seats flat onto
the mount. If this is not done properly, the propeller may rub on the duct.

6. Thread the three motor wires through the large hole in the hovercraft hull.

6
7. Slide the motor and propeller duct backwards until it becomes flush with the rear section.

7
8. Thread the M3x30mm bolt into the small hole in the underside of the hull to secure the
motor and propeller duct.

9. Using a knife or other sharp tool, carefully remove the wires from the servo plug. Make sure
not to damage the wires or connectors in this process.

8
 10. Thread the servo wires through the left hole and re-assembly the wires into the servo plug
(make sure the wires are re-inserted in the correct order). Thread the three motor wires
through the right hole. The underside of the hovercraft should now look like this.

Electronics instalment
1. Take the 150mm servo extension and cut the female plug off. Then cut a 2.5cm (1inch)
length off the end.

9
2. Remove the yellow signal wire (Some extensions use black, red and white wires, in which
case, remove the white wire). Then solder the red and brown (or red and black) wires to the
5v regulator. Make sure to use the 2.5cm (1inch) cut section on the input of the regulator,
and the plug section on the output of the regulator.

3. Once the wires are soldered to the 5v regulator and it is heatshrunk, it should look like this.

10
4. Solder the short wires to the main input pads on the electronic speed controller (ESC).

5. Mount the ESC in the following position and route the wires round the front curve using 4
of the 5 cable tie slots. Route the ESC main power input wires through the hole in the top of
the hull.

11
6. Solder the three motor wires to the ESC in any order.

7. The three wires are now ready to plug into the receiver. The order in which you plug these
in will depend on your receiver, which is why it is recommended that you have some
experience with radio control models. As seen in the following photo, the left wire is for
servo control, the middle wire is for 5v power to the receiver and the right wire is for
throttle control.

12
8. Once the receiver is wired up, mount it to the frame using double sided tape and put the
final cable tie in the sold to secure the wires. If your receiver has long antennas, make sure
to route them round the underside of the hovercraft, but avoid pushing them into the air
duct in case they reach the propeller.

If your receiver is too large to fit in this specific location under the hovercraft, you can
thread the wires through to the top of the hovercraft (using the same hole as the battery
wires) and mount the receiver on the outside.

13
9. Place heatshrink onto the main ESC power wires and solder on the XT60 battery connector.
Make sure the polarity is correct (+ & - should be labelled on the connector).

10. Plug in the battery and bind your transmitter to your receiver using the instructions
included with you radio control gear. Check your control inputs/outputs are correct and test
the throttle. Check the rotation direction of the motor produces a thrust is the correct
direction. If the propeller produces thrust in the wrong direction, go back to step 6, un-
solder any two of the wires, swap them around and solder them back on (This changes the
motor direction)

14
Skirt
1. Print out the temple provided. Make sure that you have disabled any auto scaling options so
it prints to the correct size. Measure the 240mm width to confirm it is 1:1 scale.

2. Cut the template along the dark solid line and tape the two halves together at the dotted
line. Make sure the 160mm dimension is correct.

15
3. Use this template to cut out the skirt. In terms of skirt material, you want to use something
light weight and non-porous. 35-120gsm ripstop nylon doesn’t work well as it is either too
heavy or too porous. Thin bin/trash bags work best and are much easier/cheaper to make.
Your skirt should look like this once cut out.

4. Put tabs of double sided sticky tape around the skirt clamp and line it up with the skirt.

16
5. Fold the longest sides and stick the skirt to the clamp.

6. Rotate the skirt clamp 45 degrees and fold the round section of the skirt up and stick it to
the clamp as show below.

17
7. Repeat step 6 on the other side so that the front comes to a point.

8. Open the point at the front.

18
9. Pinch both sides of the loop to flatten it, then stick it to the clamp.

10. Open the smaller loops using your finger.

19
11. Now flatten these loops and stick them down. The front should now look like this.

20
12. Repeat this loop and flatten technique for the outer most folds. Then use regular tape to
secure these new folds to the clamp (make sure the tape doesn’t extend past the inner edge
of the clamp or it may stick to the bottom of the skirt). The front curve should now have 8
folds as shown below.

13. Now fold the rear side of the skirt.

21
14. Start by folding the right angled cut out to line up with the inside of the skirt clamp and stick
it down. Repeat on the other side.

15. Open the pockets on either side using your fingers.

22
16. Fold the rear edge of the loop upwards and stick it to the skirt clamp.

17. The skirt is now complete and needs to be mounted to the underside of the hovercraft.

23
18. Use the M3x6 countersunk bolts to attach the skirt to the hovercraft. The skirt should
stretch just far enough to make this possible, however, make sure not to rip the skirt when
tightening the bolts. Don’t tighten the bolts too much as this is unnecessary and can cause
the plastic to strip.

19. Check the skirt for any loops that weren’t stuck to the clamp properly and might cause a
leak.

24
20. Line up the skirt with the underside vented section of the hovercraft as well as the inner
skirt clamp.

21. Bolt the inner skirt clamp to the underside of the hovercraft. The skirt might overlap on the
inside of the clamp, but this isn’t an issue.

25
22. Press the servo horn into the underside of the rudder and insert the M2x10 bolt into the
hole in the top of the rudder.

23. Make sure the servo is centred and press the rudder onto the servo. Tighten the M2 bolt to
fasten the rudder to the servo (don’t tighten it too far or it may jam the servo).

26
24. Add sticky back Velcro to both the hovercraft and the battery to hold the battery in position.

25. Your hovercraft is now complete!

27
FPV
The recommended FPV camera/VTX is the AIO 5.8G 40CH
25MW VTX 800TVL 1/3 Cmos FPV Camera. It should slot
comfortably into the housing, but it is recommended to
add a bit of hot glue or double-sided foam to secure it in
position. The wires follow the rear side of the duct
support and thread through a hole into the motor wire
tube. It can then can be soldering to the output of the 5v
regulator as it runs off 3.3-5v.

Tuning the craft

You have most probably given your hovercraft a test by now and might have had an issue with it
turning to one side (even when the rudder is straight) or it tends to be un-predictable when turning.
This is caused when the hovercraft is unbalanced.

Side to side balance

This is very basic to tune and can be done is a few seconds. Set your rudder pointing straight forward
and increase the throttle. If the hovercraft automatically turns to the right, move the battery to the
left. If the hovercraft turns to the left, move the battery to the right.

Ideally, you might want to add a small amount of weight to one side, allowing the battery to be
mounted in the centre and preventing the need to tune this every time you change the battery.

Front to rear balance

This is slightly harder to tune and requires some trial and error until you like the way in which the
hovercraft handles. You might not be able to fine tune this until you have had a lot of practice with
the hovercraft. However, if you use the electronics that have been recommended, your hovercraft
should be well balanced with the battery touching the bumper in front of the propeller.

The front to rear balance of the hovercraft essentially affects its tendency to oversteer/understeer. If
you move the battery forward, the steering control authority will increase. This means the hovercraft
will turn easier, however, it will also make it easier for the hovercraft to enter a spin. This makes it
difficult to hold a drift without the nose of the hovercraft turning too far and it ending up travelling
backwards.

If you move the battery backwards, the steering authority will decrease, so you will have to turn the
rudder to a greater angle to get the same turning rate. The issue with the hovercraft being too rear
heavy is that it will tend to exit a turn if you let go of the controls. This can be useful in some situations,
for example, if you want to perform a figure of 8, the hovercraft will naturally assist the switching of
direction as it exits one turn.

Once the hovercraft is well tuned, it should travel in a straight line with no control input, as well as
being able to hold a constant drift without spinning or the need for excessive throttle/rudder inputs.

Enjoy!

28