3D-Printed Hovercraft

thingiverse

I got the idea to build a Hovercraft last year after reading an article about them. Since then, I've been studying the topic and wanted to build one for myself. This is my third prototype because the previous ones had some major issues. They would rotate around their own axis, making it impossible to control them. They couldn't carry enough weight, and small stones could destroy the propeller of the lifting motor. To fix this, I glued two bicycle tubes under the base. I used Autodesk Inventor 2013 for the design and my MakerBot Replicator printer took around 3-4 days to print the third Hovercraft. The base isn't printed because it would take way too long, but Styrofoam has the advantage of swimming when the engines fail. I also didn't print the bicycle tubes because they have to be flexible and one piece so that no air flows out to the sides. The Hovercraft is lifted by two motors and has one thrust motor. The power for the motors comes from three 2800 mAh Lipo batteries. My plans with the Hovercraft are to develop a cheap mobile research station, for example in the arctic. The advantages are that it has no CO2 emissions and can be controlled from another place like a drone. If you have any questions, just ask! Two articles about my project have been published: http://www.3ders.org/articles/20150709-jan-burstner-shares-design-for-awesome-3d-printed-rc-hovercraft.html, http://3dprint.com/77495/3d-printed-rc-hovercraft-2/, and http://makezine.com/projects/3d-print-rc-hovercraft/. You can also watch a video of my Hovercraft at http://youtu.be/Cyb_-NWIL8A.