Hovercraft
Here's another project that I have, it was a physics project for school but I thought I could put an Arduino somewhere in there and make it more interesting, and it worked. The hovercraft has a tubular skirt that I made out of duct tape. It has two 50mm EDFs (EDF= Electronic Ducted Fan), one for hovering and one for propulsion, each with 40amp ESCs (ESC = Electronic speed controller). For direction I used a servo to turn the back fan left and right. The propulsion fan and the servo are connected to an RC receiver and I control them from the remote. The hovering fan( the one that blows downwards and produces the lift and onflates the skirt) is connected through the ESC to the arduino and the Arduino sets the speeh of the fan according to the position of a potentiometer. For the code I used the servo library and I connected the signal wire of the ESC to the arduino as it would be the signal of a servo. I just had to change some numbers in the delay statements and it works just fine. Both the Arduino and the lift fan use a second 7.2v LiPo battery( separate from the one used for the servo and propulsion EDF). Go watch the videos for more info. The first video is an explanation on how it works and the second is a drive. It is a very fun project to play with :)



@ Sun, 2011-07-31 10:33
Hey cool project
Just an idea for the video... Take it out on the dirt, that would really show the power of the fans... :) I know that the skirt might get damaged on rough surfaces or might not provide the lift, but it would be a really cool video to see. Just a thought.. Nice work... :)
@ Sun, 2011-06-26 01:33
Acepted!
My hovercraft got accepted in the following competitions on instructables.com
http://www.instructables.com/contest/makeitmove/
http://www.instructables.com/contest/micro2/
http://www.instructables.com/contest/toy/
Check those out ^
http://www.instructables.com/member/razvan_iycdi/
@ Sat, 2011-06-25 01:09
Instructables
I'm currently uploading the hovercraft to instructables.com
@ Fri, 2011-06-24 11:13
And once again it is proven
And once again it is proven that MacGyver was right. ALWAYS carry ducttape, it will build EVERYTHING.
Really like this one. Did you try it on water? I guess not, since you've used quite some cardboard..
@ Fri, 2011-06-24 14:54
I haven't
No, I haven't tried it on water, I don't want to get the electronics wet. They are not properly isolated for water use.
@ Fri, 2011-06-24 01:53
Question
Is that remote from hobbyking?
@ Fri, 2011-06-24 02:09
Remone
No, it is a FlySky FS-GT2 2.4G 2CH Gun Transmitter that I got from HobbyPartz.com for $19.50 with receiver.
I also got all the other parts for the hovercraft from them. they have a lot of great products at low prices.
Here's the link for the remmote:
http://www.hobbypartz.com/fs-g2-24ghz-radio.html
@ Mon, 2011-06-27 22:11
Thanks
Thanks for the tip :D
@ Tue, 2011-06-28 00:20
No prob
No problem
@ Fri, 2011-06-24 01:16
Really cool project. That
Really cool project. That looks like a SparkFun box on the back. I like the use of the duct tape.