Introduction:
Hi, my name is Jake and I am a rising sophomore at Basis Independent Silicon Valley. Prior to Bluestamp I had no engineering expirience. Before exposure to engineering I was interested in medicine but Bluestamp made me more interested in engineering. I am now more interested in mechanical engineering.
Reflection:
Bluestamp was a great learning expirience for me and gave me a good introduction to engineering. I learned a lot about soldering for my starter project. The hovercraft taught me that there is always a solution to any problem you have. There wasn’t a single thing that couldn’t be fixed. Sure, I spent a lot of time trying to solve certain problems but I eventually found a solution. I really enjoyed the mechanical parts of the project because I didn’t seem to run into as many issues that I did with the electrical part of the project. I chose the hovercraft because it looked interesting and I used to love driving R/C cars, and I thought a hovercraft would be fun to build and use even after Bluestamp.
Final Milestone:
After the first milestone I sewed the skirt and e-poxyed it on the hovercraft. I made the skirt thinner at the bottom to top in air and form an air cushion to help provide lift. I secured the servo on the servo mount and put all of the ESC’s(electronic speed controller) and receiver in the chassis. I also tried a bigger battery to increase the time it works for but that battery wouldn’t work for some reason. I also found a way to program the remote so that both motors can be controlled at once. The default remote only has one setting for ESC’s so I had to program the other ESC to a knob on the controller.
Milestone One:
For milestone one I built the skeleton out of foam board and used epoxy as adhesive. I also have the motor providing lift glued into place. I built a mount for the servo to hold the motor at the right height. It was hard to make sure that it was level because applying the glue pushing the platform down. I had to measure so many times to make sure it was completely level. There are slots in between the first and second layer to provide airflow under the skirt and provide lift. I also filled inside the cracks with a lightweight slacking. I have also started manufacturing the skirt that will provide the lift but I have not completed that yet.
Hovercraft Schematic:
Foam cut parts of the hovercraft:
Bill of Materials:
Here are all the part I needed to complete this hovercraft
Starter Project:
The starter project that I did was the empire State light kit. This project has 20 LED’s that blink in a certain pattern that is determined by the micro controller. This project also consisted of resistors that reduced the current in the circuit. During this project I learned how to solder and desolder. I had some trouble with taking solder off of the board. When i solder the LED’s into the board I got some solder in other holes that other LED’s would have to go through. I solved this problem by heating the solder up and sticking the LED through the board while the solder was hot and then have the solder melt around it.