Can someone please tell me how to make a hovercraft out of a lawn mower engine??

-- William Johnson (williamjohnson02@hotmail.com), July 06, 2003

Answers

Depends on the size of the motor, and the pitch of the blades of the prop you use, Even then you may still not have enough thrust, but I could help you if you consider using a bigger engine.

-- G Hibbert (ReelApocalypse@hotmail.com), July 07, 2003.

Hey, Popular Mechanics has a set of plans for building a hovercraft using two lawnmower engins for propulsion. One for lifting and one for pushing. There is also another site that has s really nice hovercraft powered by a couple of snowmobile engines (as I recall). The link to that site is http://www.rqriley.com/plans.html this one costs $35.00 (plans) Hope this helps.

Dave

-- Dave Ward (binraking@aol.com), July 16, 2003.

Things needed to do this- 20 blue plastic barrels, plastic welder, Roto-zip high speed cutting tool, a heat gun, 3 geared speed reducers , the ability to make turbine fan blades, a bit of inginuity, and 3 of your 5 hp lawnmower engines. Take 5 plastic barrels and cut the ends off of them and weld them end to end and them weld ends on each end to form a long pontoon, then cut 1 foot slots spaced 1 foot apart longways on one side of the pontoon from one end to the other. Then take 5 more plastic barrels and do the same. You should wind up with two identical pontoons. Next use the remaining plastic barrels to contruct the bridge or deck that will connect the two pontoons (remember that lighter is better). Weld the pontoons to the deck so that there is one on each side of where you will be sitting when you are operating the craft while making sure that the slots in the pontoons are facing directly down ward. For best results it is best to have them facing slightly inward twards the center of the craft and down at about a 45 degree angle and then weld a plate of plastic across the back and across the front from one pontoon to the other, this will trap air under the craft which is what you want.

Next comes the engines, it is best to locate the pontoon's engines tward the front of the craft but not all the way... I would mount them between the center point of the pontoon and the front end. The purpose for this is to keep the front of the craft down during higher speeds and excelleration on a flat out run across an open water or sand or grass or where ever. You should wind up with one engine on each pontoon and one engine at the rear of the craft for propultion. I am sorry but I don't have enough time or space here to explain what to do with the geared speed reducers and the ducted turbine fans that I suggested for this project. That is where your own individual inginuity and mechanical artistry come in. Once you have the engines in place and the body of the craft built... if the rest doesn't come to you then you shouldn't be builing a hover craft at all... you should stick with a go-cart.

-- Carl J. Stone (carljstone45@hotmail.com), August 19, 2003.

I carnt tell you how to make a hvercraft my self but i know a site that will ,go on www.google.com then type in "how to make a hovercraft" click on LARGE SIMPLE HOVERCRAFT they have a great idear i built one AND IT WORKS ONE A SIMPLE LEAF BLOWER.hope i was some help

-- ed (ooedmoused@aol.com), November 03, 2003.

enter to---> http://www.amasci.com/amateur/hovercft.html

IT REALY WORKS!!!

-- santiago velarde (svelard@hotmail.com), January 04, 2004.

2 rolls of family sized washing up bottles, 6 slices of extra lite kraft cheese slices, 4th and 5th gear out of an allegro 1.3l,

-- qwerty (darrengoddard5@hotmail.com), January 23, 2005.