25-06-2003 12:21

WakeZero

Hehe, I would like to see how much weight you can get that thing to support

Should we take bets? I say no more than 5 lbs... if that

I must admit, it would be very cool though. May be a fun off-season challenge.

25-06-2003 14:10

Tytus Gerrish

EEH

It can barley hold its own with thoes Hi-Effency fans

I will build the big one as soon as i get a leaf blower

But i plan on using the edu robot on this little one

25-06-2003 18:28

Andrew Rudolph

I built a mini hover craft out of 2 little motors like tytus used for pushing with the propellors off of rubber band gliders. It rand off of a 7.2v r/c car stick pack and when i hooked up a 12v battery the thing had half an inch of clearance from the skirt to the ground. We were going to build a bigger one using a cobalt magnet motor for r/c planes but the time just went away. hover crafts are suprisingly easy to build.

25-06-2003 18:35

IMDWalrus

Is propulsion by hovercraft allowed for FIRST robots?

25-06-2003 18:45

sanddrag

It's not disallowed.

25-06-2003 19:42

Gadget470

We are considering a Hover-Cart for our robot cart.. but it will probably be scrapped because of the amount of dust it would kick up. Neat though Tytus

25-06-2003 21:38

Ian W.

i ran into two problems when considering something like this as a cart....

1) This point, brought up by a visit to a sponser (Anorad Inc.) who uses large hovercraft-like devices to move large machinary around, had to have a custom built factory, with a perfectly level floor. They had a "spider-bot" that went across the still-wet concrete andusing lasers and crazy stuff like that made the entire factory floor perfectly level. Reason? The hovercrafts have no friction. Hit a slope, it's gone, and you'll have one hurting robot, and many hurting people.

2) You'll need lots of clearance. I'm talking like minimum of 2 inches. More than most robots. There's so many wires / tools / feet in the pits, anything less and you'll get stuck. You could put wheels under the skirt, just in case, but it kind of defeats the purpose of a hovercraft...

Oh, and one more thing. I don't believe gas motors will be allowed, so you'll need lots of batteries.

Get around those and build a robot carrier, and, well, you'll have the coolest robot carrier to date .

25-06-2003 23:41

Tytus Gerrish

COMEON! Guys! Lemmie Dream a little. Hovercraft work i had that thing on my pool and everything It just needs a stronger powerplant THAts all!

25-06-2003 23:42

jason wright

hovver cart

that looks really cool does it work all the time

25-06-2003 23:54

Gadget470

Well... a "Not-So-Hovercraft" would be actually optimal. Everyone remember the equations for higher friction force without changing Coefficiant of Friction? Yes.. add normal force by pulling. Well... to reduce the normal force, you need to push somehow that doesn't just shift the weight somewhere else.

For example, 70lb robot cart, 130 robot. Gotta push around 200lbs right? Well, if your blowers can lift up to 100 lbs, running them while pushing would be pushing a 100lb cart.

So having wheels isn't really a bad thing, just it won't be as cool to see unless the bot is off and just the cart is hovering.

In conclusion, an actual Hover-Cart would be uber cool.. but having a Weight Loss Cart would be cool too.

26-06-2003 00:19

Tytus Gerrish

But wheeles dont work on water do they?

26-06-2003 00:27

Gadget470

Very true, but my post was in response to Ian W. about using one in the pits.

26-06-2003 12:26

Tytus Gerrish

It Works Everewhere

26-06-2003 12:50

Adam Y.

Gear the two drill motors together. That should give you enough power to power a hovercraft. As for batteries I would use NiMH or NiCd batteries. They are lightweight and powerful. Now all you need to do is rip an impellor off an vacuum cleanor and create a box for it to create the vacuum.

26-06-2003 13:33

Rob Colatutto

What are you using right now to power it? And you could also use the big muffin fans they give you each year in the kit. We had a little fun playing with them last year similar to what your doing with this.

26-06-2003 13:52

FotoPlasma

From the pictures he's posted, it looks like he's using three of the standard 120mm*38mm fans, along with an electric hand drill's battery pack.

26-06-2003 13:57

jon

Add a platform and some handles and some stablization, and this thing will own the Segway.

It'd be like in Back to the Future...

26-06-2003 14:21

sanddrag

Well you sure could stand on both of them but only one will go somewhere.

Now, if you get a couple weedwacker engines...

26-06-2003 21:34

RogerR

tytus-

i'm curious as to how you made the skirt, and what material you used. this has always been a problem that grounds my home-brewed hovercraft projects.

27-06-2003 02:36

Andrew Rudolph

I know when i have made my hover crafts ive used garbage bags, It looks like tytus did too. I know in my case i used a bag for leaves and outdoors stuff so its a little thicker and using low temp hot glue doesnt make the plastic melt and gives a nice seal.

27-06-2003 09:55

Adam Y.

Garbage bags souns a little bit too light for anything designed to carry a human. If you want something that can carry a human take a trip to your local army surplus store and get a nylon tent. That should be light enough and strong enough to carry a human.

27-06-2003 11:50

AJ Quick

Well that has been done a few times, here is an example..



They don't appear to ride that high off the ground though.

http://www.airboard.com.au/

27-06-2003 12:44

Tytus Gerrish

Dude, Its just a garbage bag and duckt tape

while were at it
Light poliber sign material
An ovaoltine lid
a 1/4 inch bolt, nut and washers
3 Big victor fans
1 Fisher price motor
1 ptopler taken from helicopter toy
Some ke-nex
1 or two 14.4 dril bateries
Garbage bag
Duckt tape


Total Cost To me......... $0.00


See, its easy

28-06-2003 00:26

Ian W.

those airboards aren't true hovercraft. they have a small "kicker" wheel in the bottom, to give it an accelerated start. when you lean back, the wheel touches the ground, makes you go faster, well, faster. a true hovercraft will never touch the ground once in flight (it's not touching ground, it must be flying ).