3D-Printed Hovercraft

I got the idea to build a Hovercraft last year when I read an article about Hovercrafts. From then I studied the topic and wanted to build one for myself.

This is my third prototype because the other ones had some issues.
- They rotated around their own axis -> I could not control them
- They could not carry enough weight
- Small stones destroyed the propeller of the lifting motor -> I glued
two bicycle tubes under the base.

For the design I used Autodesk Inventor 2013 and my printer was the MakerBot Replicator. It took around 3-4 days to print the third Hovercraft.

The base is not printed because it would take way too long. And Styrofoam has the advantage that it swims when the engines fail. I also did not print the bicycle tubes because they have to be flexible and they must be one piece so that no air flows out to the sides.

The Hoveraft is lifted by two motors and it 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 for the arctic. The advantages are that it has no CO2 emissions and you can control it from another place like a drone.

Just ask if you have a question!

Here are two links to articles that 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/
- http://makezine.com/projects/3d-print-rc-hovercraft/

Here is the link for the video:
http://youtu.be/Cyb_-NWIL8A