Fri Sep 28, 2001

2 hours

Pictured top right - I epoxied the top of the mount including the wing in place.  Used epoxy on the mount and epoxy mixed with some micro balloons where the wing meets the duct walls.

Pictured 2nd right - a view of the wing with the slot cut for the pulley.  I used fast hardener today because it is a little cooler outside. 

Pictured 3rd right - I am going to use two additional supports for the thrust duct to be anchored by 1/8" x 1.5" aluminum strap under the pillow blocks.  This will act as a 1/8" spacer and duct support on either side of the pillow blocks.  The will be arranged in position similar to the supports on a Weber Starcruiser.

Pictured 4th right - I cut 1/8" ply supports for either side of the thrust duct.  I used epoxy mixed with glass balloons to fillet the top and bottom joints.

Pictured 5th right - A view showing how I supported both sides with duct tape (the handymans secret weapon for those Red Green fans out there).  Tomorrow I will apply a layer of 6 oz glass over these supports overlapping the duct tape.  When the epoxy starts to set up I will cut the fiberglass on along the edge of the tape on both the deck and the duct.  After this is complete I will spray foam into the inside cavity on both sides and under the duct in the middle.  I am still considering using Great Stuff... I may use two part foam and inject it inside.

Earlier this week I sanded the wing and gave it another coat of epoxy completely sealing it.  I didn't get a chance to make any journal entries.  I did do a lot of shopping for stainless steel nuts and bolts.  I found a stainless steel rod marked down from $30 to $10.  This rod will replace the rod on the lift and the the thrust idlers.  I bought some stainless steel nuts to go along with it.  So far all of the nuts and bolts on the craft are stainless steel. The bushings are not and neither is the prop or lift fan shafts.  I am trying to use as much stainless steel on the craft as I can.

Sat Sep 29, 2001

3 hours

Pictured top right - Starting to balance my 54" thrust prop.

Pictured 2nd right - I created a plastic tent and used a ceramic heater to keep the air warm inside to help the epoxy cure.

Pictured 3rd right - I added a second 1.5" strip of 3/4" wood to the bottom of the front and back pillow block supports.  This should beef it up enough so I don't have to use the angle iron which is too heavy.

Pictured 4th right - I fiberglassed each side of this support and cut along the tape edge and removed when the epoxy started to tack up.

Sun Sep 30, 2001

8 hours

Pictured top right - I wired a 240V plug in in my garage today.  Lucky thing my garage has a breaker box with 240 in it.  I am using this to power the 4800watt heater I bought (lower right of this picture).  My garage is well insulated.  I am hoping this heater will heat it. 

Pictured 2nd right - Thrust prop pillow blocks installed.  The large 1.5" 1/8" aluminum strap will be bent up on each side of the pillow blocks to anchor duct braces.

Pictured 3rd right - I am using aluminum strap underneath to distribute the load.

Pictured 4th right - Shaft and pulley in place...

Pictured 5th right - Both idlers in place... Belt tensions excellent.

Pictured 6th right - overview of the thrust drive.... The mount is rock solid.  I didn't need to use any angle iron.

Mon Oct 1 2001

1 hour

Today I ran the engine with the lift and thrust belts attached.  I took the lift fan off so I wouldn't have to chase it around.   If you have a high speed internet connection you can check out the video here otherwise for people on dialup modems click here for the video.

Wed Oct 3 2001

1 hour

Pictured top right - I used two part foam to fill the voids under my thurst duct.  It was easier than I thought.  Injecting with the 2oz syringe was a breeze.  Here is how I taped the front of the ducts

Pictured 2nd right - Yikes I am not a very good judge of how much foam to use... I wasted a fair amount.  I will know better next time.

Pictured 3rd right - I used a handsaw to cut close to the edge (about 1/2" away) and then a razor knife to clean the edges.

Pictured 4th right - I finished by using a palm sander (electric) to bring the foam flush with the back of the craft.

Pictured 5th right - I used the same sander to sand the fronts.

Pictured 6th right - I still need to seal the back and the fronts of the foam with fiberglass.

Sat Oct 6 2001

8 hours

No I didn't work on the hovercraft today... I did hover it out onto the front lawn.  Got a fair amount of attention from the neighbours moving in two doors down.  I moved it out onto the lawn so I could clean and organize my garage.  It was so messy that I couldn't find anything.  The other day it took me 15 minutes to find a robertson screwdriver. 

Pictured top right - I wired a second jack to my 220V breaker.  This one will power my vacuum pump.  I want to be able to run my vacuum pump and heater at the same time.

Pictured 2nd right - I had quite a few pieces of particle board left over from creating the duct former discs.  I decided to mount them to the walls of my garage.  I then mounted a number of my tools onto the wall.  This will definately help me work cleaner. 

Tomorrow I will do some actual work on the hovercraft.

Sun Oct 7 2001

3 hours

Today I cut and fit the additional duct supports. I used 1/4" ply and positioned them similar to those on a Weber Starcruiser.

Pictured top right - bending the aluminum under the pillow blocks to the correct angle.  I just eyeballed it to what I thought looked good on one side the measured it and translated to the other side so both would be equal.

Pictured 2nd right - I measured and cut the supports and then slotted the duct at the appropriate positions.

Pictured 3rd right - another view of the supports... you can barely make them out.

Pictured 4th right - This shows how I bent the aluminum underneath the pillow blocks to act as supports for the thrust supports.  I cut the holes large enough in the supports so I could drop the whole assembly (pillow blocks, shaft, and 12" pulley) into position from the top.

I just need to sand the leading edge of these and then glass with 6 oz cloth.

Mon Oct 8 2001

8 hours

Pictured top right - Here is the new pulley all ready for mounting on the prop shaft.  I made a template this time so the screws would fit properly.  Template left, pulley with bushing right.

Pictured 2nd right - Here is the other side of the pulley illustrating the aluminum mounting hub.

Pictured 3rd right - I sanded and fiberglassed the two angled thrust duct support fins.  Here is one of them.

Pictured 4th right - Here is the other.

Tue Oct 9 2001

1 hours

Pictured top right - I cut the excess fiberglass off of the two thrust braces.  I sanded them flat and applied another coat of epoxy to seale the edges and smooth out the cloth the didn't get coated.  Notice the piece of pine.  I am using it to hold the brace so it stays straight while the epoxy cures.  The wood is a little warped.  Not sure if this will work or not.  We will see tomorrow.

Pictured 2nd right - The other brace.

All these other pictures are of my 54" thrust prop.  I am posting them to hopefully help Greg with his prop build.

Sun Oct 9 2001

4 hours

Ahh.. feeling better today... I have been sick since Wednesday... This morning I got an early start and accomplished a few things...

Pictured top right - I bent some extra supports out of aluminum to support the other side of the brace.  I bolted it through the prop shaft mounts.  The assembly is very strong.  This only leaves me with 1/8" of adjustment now on the pillow block bearings.  This should be enough as I only have 1/8" tip clearance on the prop.

Pictured 2nd right - I used epoxy and glass bubbles to glue the supports into the slots as well as fillet the joints.

Pictured 3rd right - A view of the thrust duct with the mounts in place.  I am pleased with the look.  I have had a lot of good suggestions regarding these supports.  On my next hovercraft I may try foam.  Most suggestions were to use foam with fiberglass to save weight.  I used 1/4" ply which is quite light and fiberglass.  The braces weren't very heavy.

Pictured 4th right - This is a view of the prop shaft supports from below.

Pictured 5th right -  I removed the duct former from inside the duct.  I unscrewed the screws from the two halves of the disks then removed the halves one at a time.

Pictured 6th right - Here is a view from the front.  I needed to remove the 1/8" spacer from under the pillow blocks.  The prop has nice 1/8" clearance all the way around.  Centering it in the duct is challenging.

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