Hovercraft

Make Club built a hovercraft and here is how we did it.

1. Cut a slab of 1/2 inch plywood into a circle ( approx. 50 inch diameter). We did this by using a nail, ascariasis string and pencil to draw the outline of our circle and then used a Jigsaw to cut the circle out. We used an electric sander to smooth the edges and top and bottom of the wood.

2. We then cut a hole halfway between the center and outer edge of the circle. (Make the circle the correct size to fit the nozzle of your leaf blower). We had

   trouble with this and ended up drilling small holes around the edge of our marked circle and then using a small jigsaw attachment to complete the cut. We then used a rasp to smooth the circle edges and then manually sanded it.

3. Next was attaching the skirt. We used some tough plastic my dad had lying around the farm, but you could use a shower curtain or even tarp. We layed the plywood on top of the plastic and took a guess at how much slack would be needed for inflation – we settled on about 100 cm (total from edge of wood out to cut line). After cutting, the decision was to cut the vent holes and duct tape them (for strength). This was done by finding the center point of the plastic circle and then measuring six holes around the center point. Holes were approximately 2 inches diameter.

    

4. The skirt was then attached to the wood using a staple gun and then duct tape for a nice seal. The final piece was a plastic disk that was attached to the skirt and wood using a drill and screws (we just cut a circle from an old Frisbee using the band saw). Unfortunately the screws went all the way through to the other side of the wood which is a bit of a safety issue.First suggestion to solve the problem was cutting ends of the screws – this didn’t work. Second suggestion was to nail a small piece of wood over the ends – this worked a treat.

5. Last thing to do was make sure our leaf blower worked. We added more duct tape to ensure a snug fit.

6. Right the fun bit! Well it was until we realised the leaf blower was too low on fuel and there was no more in storage. The following week at Make Club we tried again only to realise the leaf blower had been sent off for servicing. Our admin lady Carole came to the rescue nipping home and grabbing hers.

7. Success! Once we had the leaf blower in it worked straight away – much fun ensued. What was great about this project is that we all worked on it collaboratively and I loved how everyone worked together for the benefit of the group. Everyone had a chance to shine and it was such a joy watching how proud everyone was of what we achieved together!