How to Make a Flying Saucer Spacecraft (hovercraft)

How to Make a Flying Saucer Spacecraft (hovercraft)

Russell C. Osantowski          Carter Elementary
                               5740 S. Michigan Ave.
                               Chicago Il 60637
                               (312) 535-0860

Objectives:

     The objectives are:
     To make science teachers more respected because they make 
students fly, since they can fly in the school above the floor you are 
almost a God, to create a higher motivation to study science, to show 
science is fun, to increase their physics and math knowledge, 
including Bernoulli's principle. 

Materials Needed: 

One 4 foot x 4 foot (ft.) circle or square shaped 3/4inch (in.) thick 
plywood 

1 piece of 2 mil plastic sheeting or dropcloth about 5 ft. square

13 and 1/2 ft. of garden hose for a plywood circle and 17 ft. for a 4 
ft. plywood square - to be a bumper around the edge of the board later 

12 inches of foam tape

1 screw head bolt about 1 1/4 in. long and 1/4 inch in diameter with 2 
washers and a nut that fits the bolt 

1 roll of 2 in. duct tape

box of strong wood staples about 3/4 in. long with ends about 3/8 in 
long 


5 inch plastic cover from a coffee can

hammer

drill and a 1/4 inch bit and a 1 1/4 inch bit, or heat a thin poker 
over a fire 

6 feet of string

25 to 50 foot extension cord

access to any vacuum cleaner that can have the hose blow air out 
instead of only sucking it in such as any "Shop Vac" brand vacuum 
cleaner. 

Strategy:

                              HOW TO MAKE IT. 

     You can buy all of the above items at any hardware store except 
for the coffee can cover (ccc).  
 1. Connect the string to opposite corners tightly and draw a line 
    near the center.  
 2. Do the same to the other 2 corners and draw the line to make a 
    cross that SHOULD be in the middle of the board.  
 3. Tie a pencil on the string and measure 2 feet from the pencil.  
 4. Put a nail in the middle of the board through the end of the string.  
 5. Draw a circle that goes to the edge of the board on all 4 sides.  
 6. If you want to, saw the plywood into a 4 ft. circle.  Otherwise 
    you will have a 4 foot square hovercraft and that is probably ok.     
 7. Drill or burn a 1/4 inch hole through the middle of the board. 
 8. Drill or burn a hole 13 inches in from the edge of the plywood 
    the size of the blower (vacuum) hose end.
 9. Staple plastic to board on the side that will be the bottom part, 
    and keep the plastic tight as you staple it into the edge of the 
    board. 
10. Make sure that the blower hole is in the middle of a slice of 
    the pie not in the middle of a line that you are about to draw.  
11. On the plastic with an ink marker, divide the circle into 6 equal 
    parts and draw the lines so that each line is 60 degrees from the 
    next line.  Therefore you divide the circle into 6 equal pieces of 
    pie.  
12. Measure in 9 in. from the outside on each line and this will be 
    the center of a 5in. circle you will cut out of the plastic, but 
    not out of the wood.  So you will have a 2 1/2 in. radius that you 
    draw for each 5 in. hole you cut.  You will cut 6 circles of 5 in. 
    each and they are all 60 degrees apart. 
13. Slit the hose lengthwise and put it around the edge of the 
    plywood. 
14. Hammer staples through the hose from the outside into the plywood 
    edge. 
15. Insert the bolt through 1 washer, then through the center of the 5 
    in. plastic coffee can cover with its edge facing down.  Put the 
    bolt through the plastic and the board.  Put the last washer on, 
    put on the nut and tighten it.  
16. Tape the plastic pipe into the hose of the vacuum cleaner.       
17. At the bottom end of the hose, move up 3/8 of an inch and draw a 
    line around the pipe. 
18. Tape the foam tape above the line you drew on the pipe so that the 
    pipe can only go into the hole from the top of the plywood about 
    3/8 of an inch so it won't hurt the plastic on the bottom. 
19. Put duct tape over the foam tape.  You just made a flange.
20. Put vacuum cleaner on top of board.  Make sure it blows not sucks. 
21. Connect up an extension cord to the wall and do not drive over it 
    later or you will have to repair the rip in the plastic with 
    scotch, mastic or duct tape. 
22. Put a chair on the board.  Sit on the chair. Plug in the vacuum 
    cleaner. 
23. Get a trustworthy child to stand behind your chair to push you, 
    slowly and not down the stairs. 
24. TURN ON THE CLEANER AND TAKE A RIDE.  LEAVE YOUR WORRIES ON THE 
    DOORSTEP.
HOW TO FLY IT

CAUTION; DO NOT LET CHILDREN RUN AND PUSH IT. THEY RUN TOO FAST, AND THE SAUCER GOES AS FAST AS THEY RUN OR FASTER. THEY MUST WALK AND PUSH. DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO FLY IT NEAR STAIRS. IT DOES NOT FLY DOWN STAIRS. CHILDREN WOULD BE HURT. FOR KINDERGARDENERS, PUT 3 SMALL CHAIRS IN FRONT, THE VACUUM CLEANER BEHIND THE MIDDLE CHAIR AND 2 OTHER CHAIRS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE VACUUM CLEANER.

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