Hovercraft B/C

[IcsTam]

Given that the track width is much wider than the max width the hovercraft can be, does the hovercraft have to start in the exact center of the track? It isn't specificied in the rules, so does that mean we could start our hovercraft close to the sides so it keeps our hovercraft straight?

As my hovercraft had a tendency to not go straight, being able to start close to the walls means the difference between a successful and failed run. Is there an official statement about this or does it depend on the event supervisor at the event?

You can start on the sides.

[Elliott.skifam]

Alright, so for some reason I have a bottle cap of about 10 penny roles, I'm fairly sure its because of my skirt design, I've tried so many different designs. Would anyone care to enlighten me on how their skirt works.

[Lazerchix]

First time on the forum....
Are we allowed to use a voltmeter to help calibrate the power to our hovercraft fans (division B)?

[Adi1008]

First time on the forum....
Are we allowed to use a voltmeter to help calibrate the power to our hovercraft fans (division B)?

I think that's perfectly fine

[bt03]

Alright, so for some reason I have a bottle cap of about 10 penny roles, I'm fairly sure its because of my skirt design, I've tried so many different designs. Would anyone care to enlighten me on how their skirt works.

Ahh, the skirt. https://scioly.org/wiki/index.php/Hovercraft#Skirt gives types of skirts, which gave me inspiration on what to use.
The way I did my skirt was use bags that we "borrowed" from the nearby grocery store, make sure that it is airtight from the top, and poke holes on the bottom to reduce friction.
In all fairness, K.I.S.S. Teams that use a plain old trash bag with a solid base and great fans do better than teams with a fancy finger skirt and a mediocore base and fan.

[asingh4688]

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/ ... ND/2560506

^this is the LIFT FAN that I plan to use for my hovercraft. It has a pretty good CFM rating of 250 or so while being not super expensive. Tell me if u think i can propell the full max penny load with this, or if you found a better propeller that is relatively cheap. Im not tryna drop $100 for a fan. lol

[Tesel]

Alright, so for some reason I have a bottle cap of about 10 penny roles, I'm fairly sure its because of my skirt design, I've tried so many different designs. Would anyone care to enlighten me on how their skirt works.

Ahh, the skirt. https://scioly.org/wiki/index.php/Hovercraft#Skirt gives types of skirts, which gave me inspiration on what to use.
The way I did my skirt was use bags that we "borrowed" from the nearby grocery store, make sure that it is airtight from the top, and poke holes on the bottom to reduce friction.
In all fairness, K.I.S.S. Teams that use a plain old trash bag with a solid base and great fans do better than teams with a fancy finger skirt and a mediocore base and fan.

I haven't found the base to make a ton of a difference, while the skirt can lead to significant improvements. I'd recommend a fairly simple base design that allows you to test multiple skirt designs.

[Tesel]

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/ ... ND/2560506

^this is the LIFT FAN that I plan to use for my hovercraft. It has a pretty good CFM rating of 250 or so while being not super expensive. Tell me if u think i can propell the full max penny load with this, or if you found a better propeller that is relatively cheap. Im not tryna drop $100 for a fan. lol

I think that's pretty similar to what we use, so you're probably fine.

[Lazerchix]

Thank you Adi1008 .
So if I can use a voltmeter to calibrate, can it stay on the craft? Is it not considered an integrated circuit?

[Tesel]

Thank you Adi1008 .
So if I can use a voltmeter to calibrate, can it stay on the craft? Is it not considered an integrated circuit?

They're fairly specific about which types of electrical components are allowed on our devices this year. I'm not familiar off the top of my head with which components are allowed, but I would question whether a voltmeter is allowed in the rules.