RC hydrofoil

cults3d

June 2017: News!!! The rudder assembly has been reworked to allow for a change in pitch angle. I've installed two servos and mixed them with a V-tail program on my transmitter. To do this, you'll need two 624ZZ ball bearings that are 4mm x 13mm x 5mm. I added new back foils (symmetrical) to the boat. Now it's much more stable! If you don't want to mix servos, you can simply set up the proper angle and secure it in place. That should work just fine. Thanks for your comments! I hope you guys will build this project - it's a great one! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkvLngxzD9I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ5s8Pop9LE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXsFfcyyV-E July 26th, 2015: My latest attempt at building a RC hydrofoil. The profile is a Naca 63-412 (both front and back foils). The back foil has a 5-degree dihedral for lateral stability. It's in two parts, glued together to make it printable without support. My foiler is actually flying, but only on a very narrow speed range. It lifts off the water just enough to not touch the surface, and doesn't go too fast or it starts to cavitate. I'd really appreciate any suggestions to improve this design. As mentioned earlier, I'm working on a new hull in four parts that can fit on most printers. Keep an eye out for updates! Penny Express - Not 1898 pennies, but just one riding in style! This is my entry for the MakeItFloat challenge. I've always wanted to build a RC hydrofoil, and this is the perfect opportunity. I'm new to 123D Design and 3d printing, so this project has been a learning experience. But it's finally starting to come together - after six weeks of non-stop work, endless nights, and weekends spent printing and iterating, I was able to get my boat off the water (video here: https://youtu.be/DgALh0y2N18). I tried everything I could think of to make it fly - changing foil profiles, sizes, angles. But nothing seemed to work until I finally settled on a more conventional marine setup. My latest prototype is much lighter and more stable than the previous ones. The hull thickness was reduced from 3mm to 1.6mm, and almost doubled in size. It looks great and flies well! This model is easily modifiable - just interlock the foils in the hull, and you can remove and change them at will. There are 15 parts altogether, and they can be printed without rafters or supports in any printer that can print a volume of 18cm x 18cm x 18cm. The hull is now in three parts, glued together with 5-minute epoxy. The front foil is in four parts, allowing you to print a large modified Naca 4412-33 profile. There are almost no RC hydrofoil models or plans available, and very limited info on them. I hope this project will serve as a base for anyone interested in pushing it further. Thanks for the learning experience - it's made my old dream come true!