Project #3 from EmptyNester - Hovercraft Control Stick

[EmptyNester]

This is the steering and trim control for the hovercraft I'm building (in the personal projects forum).



It's make from 3/4" conduit.

There are two pieces of 2 x 3 x 3/16 steel on the front end. That is used to mount the control stick. (A stick is in place temporarily for the picture, but will be bolted in.)

At the back there is a peice of 2 x 12 x 3/16". It is used to mount the steering cables. The 12" bar is needed so that a small motion of the stick will result is a larger motion of the control cables for the rudders.

When it's mounted in the hovercraft I'll figure out how long the control stick needs to be. It will only mount with a single bolt so that it can be pushed forward and pulled back. Part of the stick will go below the main body of the steering arm. It will have an eye-bolt on it. A cable will attached to it to control a trim wing.

The more power you apply, the more the nose of the craft wants to go down. So, as you pick up speed, you pull back on the stick to cause the trim wing to go up and counter the nose-down tendency.

[sportbike]

So that is for trim, how do you make it go left / right (or don't you )

Is the throttle something similar to a boat? I suppose it could be pretty much anything, even just a simple lawn mower type throttle.

[EmptyNester]

It is just pushed left or right. Control cables are attached to the flat steel at the back. The cables run through pulleys to get the motion back to the rudders (there are 4 mounted behind the prop).

The bar is long so that a small left or right motion will give you a big rudder movement.