Home Made Hovercraft

Also see How to Make a Hovercraft Skirt

   I have recently created a hovercraft out of mostly house hold materials. Now this craft is not any balloon and CD hovercraft. This thing reminds me of a toy hover craft I had when I was younger. It is controlled by a PIC 16F767. The main lifting fan was salvaged from an old hair drier my friend gave me. The tail motor was from my old Blade CP Pro Helli ( I have a T-Rex 450SA now). The battery is also from the Blade CP Pro. It is a three cell Li-Po 11.1v 800mAh pack. This battery could be suited for two 9v batteries in series (18v) but this crafts eats 9v batteries so I decided to use the Li-Po I also created a simple RC for it. I ordered a cheap ,$12, 4ch transmitter and receiver modules on e-bay. For now there is only, left, right, forward, and off. Later hopefully I will have a smart TX and use a analog stick to make turning sensitive and maybe change the speed. The tail motor is mounted on a servo also from the Blade CP Pro (it was extra). As anyone who has used Li-Po batteries knows, the batteries can not be discharged completely or they will not recharge, so the PIC reads the voltage though a voltage divider and when the voltage is less then 10v then the hovercraft shuts off and will not turn on until the battery is charged.

   The hover craft uses a relay and a switch to turn on and off. To turn it on the button is pressed witch bi passes the relay and gives power to the craft. If the voltage is above 10v then the relay is turned on by the PIC and the craft continues to receive power after you release the button. When the craft turns off it simply turns the relay off. I chose this way because when the craft is off I can leave the battery plugged in and there is no leakage current because the relay is disconnected.

    If you want any more info or how I built it send me an e-mail at Justin@Rajewski.com

Here is a video of the craft in action!