remote controlled hovercraft

[reby-14]

Ok so I'm working on building a hovercraft, and I'm using a CPU fan for the lift. I want to make it remote controlled. And i would like to build my own remote control. so any ideas on how to make this work will be appreciated. This is a model of what i want the end product to look like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm_IgpJI1Jo. and i also dont have a ton of money for this project. am i attempting the impossible???

[hhemken]

reby-14,

You're going to have to spend at least a little money. Have a look at ServoCity.com and let us know if that is outside of your price range. If it is, then you will have to hand-make a lot of stuff which will require electronics skills. Do you have much experience building electronic circuits?

Cheers!

Heinz Hemken

[reby-14]

Thank you Heinz Hempken!

Yes, this is probably out of my price range. I have about a 60 dollar budget, which will go up later on in the school year. I have no experience building electronic circuits, but my dad has some. I might know someone who could help us out though.I am a fast learner so if I have plans or can find how to videos then I can probably make it work.

[hhemken]

reby-14,

OK, keep us posted. It sounds like a cool and exciting project that will get a lot of attention!

Good luck!

[hesterchuk]

reby-14

Cool project.

I would recommend spending a little money on the remote control transmitter / receiver, since they are fairly difficult to build from scratch if you don't have any electronics experience.

Depending on home many things you want to control (I assume just a rudder?), you only need a simple remote. You could take a remote control toy (car, etc.) and crack it open and take the guts of the car (receiver circuit board, battery pack, antenna, and solenoid / motor into your hovercraft If you need to control a servo motor, then that takes a little bit more sophisticated receiver, although a lot of cheap plane / helicoptor toys now have small servos in them.

For example, http://www.walmart.com/ip/Air-Hogs-RC-S ... d/16933009 for $20.

Another option is to order a simple / cheap R/C transmitter / receiver from places like:

Robotshop (great store):
http://www.robotshop.com/tamiya-2-chann ... l-box.html $11.
http://www.robotshop.com/robophilo-ps2- ... r-kit.html $42


A much more sophisticated option (and one that you could re-use for future projects) is to use a PS2 controller, with a reciever interface. That allows you a lot of channels of remote control. I used this one:
http://cheapcontrolsystems.com/index.shtml
to make a 2/3 scale robotic / flying R2-D2 rocket: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8QD3YoF ... 67&index=4

It's a board that lets you hook up to 12 servos, and control them with a PS2 controller (see robotshop for one of those). It works great, and doesn't take any electronics knowledge, just plugging in the servo connectors, and using PS2 controller key presses to "program" the servos to move the way you want. When I got the board, is was around $35. They seem to be out of stock right now, but check back later.

There are similar boards at robotshop. If this is a route you want to go, let me know and I can help you select one. Servos from robotshop are good too.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Chris H.

[carlakeegan]

Thanks for the help- it's been great!

I like www.robotshop.com- I've bought a few pieces from there.
It's always worth investing in something that's going to last and be good quality.

I've also bought a few robotic parts from www.activerobots.com who are similar to robotshop.com.