this sounds like a VERY good idea, could you test some of the conveyor belt treads in water? (i suggest just hovering the tread over the water)
I won’t need traction links soon, i am going to build a small hover craft out of some computer fans that i have lying around and from there i hope to mount a light drive assembly.
I could possibly try this, but I don’t think there would be much of anything to compare against. I think the “traction” would be very dependent on speed, unlike traction on land. I’ll ponder it a bit though…
But now that you bring it up, I do think I should include one or two configurations with the conveyor treads on the land test just for fun. I hadn’t thought of using them for traction, just conveying stuff. 
Cheers,
- Dean
lol i did this at a venture camp once or something like that…it was a styrofoam plate with a DC motor attached to a fan, it worked…kind of
The vex hovercraft is in the works, now the only question that remains is how to steer?
The hovercraft should go extremely fast because it will float above the ground slightly with little friction and massive acceleration.
Can’t wait till it is finished.
Guy i need help
What should i make the skirt out of, it is the part that touches the ground.
Should i make it out of ductape or painters tarp?
How bout a plastic table cloth? I think that its lighter then anithing else you’ll find.
I built a hover craft out of a upside down meat tray and 2 computer fans:D
shower curtian works well
I am having some trouble building the hovercraft lift system.
I tried a huge 150mm computer fan at 2400rpm but it could not lift a wooden frame so i am going to try and build a foam frame. I should be able to pick up some stiff 1in foam board at home depot and adapt it to my design. There is a total of 4 standard size pc fans, 1-150mm fan, and 2 small laptop fans as well as a drive system that i took out of a remote control airplane to build this project.
The drive system from the remote control plane will provide the thrust, it is very powerful and could provide a lot of lift but it is the only fan i have that is powerful enough to get the hovercraft going fast.
The drive system from the remote controlled plane will be mounted on a servo or motor that will move the fan side to side to change direction.
As for getting the hovercraft to float i am having trouble getting enough lift force for a wooden frame but it should be more than enough for foam.
Does anyone have any ideas about how to build a good skirt for the hovercraft? I can cut and super glue pieces together but i have no idea about how to dispurse the air under the craft for maximum lift and minimum friction.
Your problem of not getting enough lift (to get the payload to float on your air cushion) can be attacked more than one way. The Fan/Compressor that pushes air into the skirt will be able to create a certain pressure. That pressure will push up on the payload. The larger the area (of the payload deck) the pressure pushes against, the more force it exerts on the payload. try building a large light weight deck for the payload. You can estimate the size you will need by dividing the weight of the payload (including the deck) by the pressure your fan can sustain.
The bottom line for this approach is building a larger deck for the payload to rest upon, not using a more powerful fan to inflate the skirt under the deck.
About distributing the air inside the skirt; If you aren’t subdividing the area under the payload deck, I don’t think that makes much difference.
About what to construct the skirt from; I suggest something very light weight and flexible (almost dry cleaning plastic bags). I also suggest creating multiple concentric skirts so that the craft doesn’t leak all of its air when the/a skirt is lifted by every small obstacle or bump that the hovercraft attempts to cross.
For this reason (minimizing leakage), you could even consider subdividing the are enclosed by the skirt into quadrants or several adjacent circles (connected to each other by small holes).
I also think that commercial craft make their skirts out of overlapping plates/pleats (sort of) so that the skirt can flex over obstacles more easily.
Hovercraft aren’t about blasting off the ground with power, they are are about gracefully floating up on a big cushion of air created by a small efficient fan (that is powerful enough to recover after some air leaks out, but no more powerful than is necessary).
Blake
That is a great idea. I have an idea for how to let the Vex controller to control it.
If you mounted 2 fans on 2 servos, then took those servo/fan modules and used them to steer the craft…
I know that doesn’t make sense.
Here is a drawing: (I hope it attached)
I am going to start building the hovercraft tomorrow out of foam because it is very light. It should be able to work good but i just want to build a basic hovercraft so its not going to be some fancy hovercraft.
P.S
A hovercraft kit would make one cool vex add on.
Basically a skirt, base, lift fan, and 2 propulsion fans with a pwm cable hookup on all of the motors. And some standoff beams for mounting the micro controller and a metal frame.
That would be sweet.
But then again there would be so many vex products that it would cost a fortune to get them all.
Thanks for all the input, i am going to go shopping for materials tomorrow.
The hovercraft is a really good idea because if it floats above the ground i only need one really powerful motor to drive the robot forward and it will go at really high speeds.
good luck.