im trying to construct a hoverboard can ne1 help me

Yes. I once read that probabilistically speaking, the chances are that there are life forms on other planets, but that we have just never found them as they are too far away from the Earth for us to detect. On this basis I advise that you go find these other life forms, hope they are more technologically advanced that us... and then hopefully you will listen to them when they tell you that you cannot make a repulsive gravity hoverboard... it is impossible!

 

You could make a lifter, which works on ionic winds: http://jnaudin.free.fr/html/lifter1.htm

here's a little about ionic wind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionic_wind

and here's how to build one: http://jnaudin.free.fr/lifters/howto.htm

although that will only lift it's own weight - a few grams. It really does hover though (by some defintions of the word "hover")!

 

Otherwise if you place a board on a helicopter then it would "hover"... does that count?

 

What exactly are you looking for?

a very small hovercraft with amazingly powerful motors... proabably greater power to weight ratio than is possible

What you need is a way of storing a lot of energy in a small space. then you need to create something that can transfer this stored energy into kinetic energy in a reaction mass (most likely a gas of some type, whether exhaust as in a jet or rocket engine or air as in a propller).

 

The amount of thrust you get from pushing this reaction mass will need to exceed the force of gravity pulling down The Board, the Rider, The Engine and the Fuel.

 

You will also need to have some means of forward motion (it could jsut be your legs ) and some method of stabilization (attitude control thrusters).

 

I would also recomend a computer system to provide the stabilization as it can react far faster than a human. You might think aobut the stabilization systems on the Segway scooter as a good starting spot. However, this stabilization computer will also take up weight (more thrust, fuel and more powerful engines needed, which in turn require more thrust, fuel and engine power).

 

In other words, you have a lot of technical chalenges.

Yes. I once read that probabilistically speaking, the chances are that there are life forms on other planets, but that we have just never found them as they are too far away from the Earth for us to detect. On this basis I advise that you go find these other life forms, hope they are more technologically advanced that us... and then hopefully you will listen to them when they tell you that you cannot make a repulsive gravity hoverboard... it is impossible!

 

That makes it odd that you can buy one. IIRC, they work exactly the same as a hovercraft....only smaller.

What about a magnet stuck to the underside of a skateboard, place on top of a magnetic surface of the same charge so the magnets are repelled and the skateboard is suspended in the air?

What about a magnet stuck to the underside of a skateboard, place on top of a magnetic surface of the same charge so the magnets are repelled and the skateboard is suspended in the air?

 

Sound like a cool idea - although I think the board would flip. Although if someone was standing on it they could apply pressure with the feet to stop it happening I suppose. You'd need some sort of magnetised rink to skate your board on.

i really like the idea and the speed that magnetic hoverboard could achieve... not like some usual skateboard... So if you could get magnetic field it should be rather easy to build it

That'd have to be quite a big field, and yes the flipping would be hard to stop the person stood on the board would have to be constantly shifting their weight...

That'd have to be quite a big field, and yes the flipping would be hard to stop the person stood on the board would have to be constantly shifting their weight...

Well if you had the centre of mass below the location where the replusion is taking place, then it would not flip as easy. But, when someone got on, then this would effectivly raise the centre of mass and the board would flip. An onboard computer that could vary the replusion force between the onboard magnet and the rink (electro magnets, or even just changing the angle of them?) could allow for an automatic stability control system.

 

As a hypothetical (for safty reasons), could a neuclear battery (maybe a heat exchanger system warmed by radioactive decay) generate enough electricity to power a series of electro magnets (or even type of vectored thrust engine)?

Or the person could just learn to balance?

Or the person could just learn to balance?

 

I suspect that would be really rather hard... esspecially when trying to turn corners...

i havnt read all the replies but...i made a "hovercraft" last summer.

http://amasci.com/amateur/hovercft.html

gas leafblower works better. these are loads of fun. doesnt hover since its prupultion but i think this is kinda what you are looking for, just put it in board form?

actually. when using magnets you can turn only by using different magnetic field on ground... because disballanced magnet board does not work like usual skateboard... but of course little propulsion motors would help on turning

What kind of hoverboard? If you want it to hover barely off of a flat floor, that can be done much like a miniature hovercraft -- just blow some air down, and have the bottom shaped in a way to retain the airflow. That will work kind of like an air hockey puck. If you want a magical vehicle as powerful as a small helicopter but as light as a skateboard, you are SOL.

I designed a hover board but have not had the money yet to work on it. Use some nitro rc car engines and rig them to a series of impeller blades that will compress the air into grooves in the bottom of the board around the perimeter. You can do it it just costs money.

I have been thinking about some sort of vehicle that would hover repelling the earths magnetic field, but then i realized that it would require a god awful amout of power (like the amount of power an entire country uses) so you would have to build one that would take air and push it down, and if you were going to test something like that you wouldn't want to use something explosive (like rocket fuel, someone has told me they wanted to try that, you can if you want to die, but i wouldn't) because you will more that likely crash a few times so use an electric powered fan that spins at god awful speeds or something along those lines.

Are you familiar with hovercraft?

Try MAGLEV on Wikipedia. You should find that interesting.

you can make a simple hover craft

they did it at my school

 

You have to make the air come out and hit the ground with enough force so that you can cancel out the Weight force of the hovercraft

 

F = m.a

I assembled a hovercraft in the lab for moving stuff.

 

http://blogs.scienceforums.net/swansont/archives/689

I remember way back in science camp, the counselors made mini hovercraft using two vacuum cleaner motors (with attached blowers), a large plywood circle for a frame, and some type of plastic sheeting for a skirt.

 

The blowers forced were attached to the plywood, and forced air under the board...and from there it works like a hover craft.

 

Except it is tethered by an extension cord.

I remember way back in science camp, the counselors made mini hovercraft using two vacuum cleaner motors (with attached blowers), a large plywood circle for a frame, and some type of plastic sheeting for a skirt.

 

The blowers forced were attached to the plywood, and forced air under the board...and from there it works like a hover craft.

 

Except it is tethered by an extension cord.

 

That sounds like the "industrial" versions of the air casters I had investigated.

It was strong enough to lift even the heaviest of the counselors, who they could then push around almost frictionlessly.

Well, I think that this would be the only way, because weight has to be number 1 in your experiment. So if you made a huge magnet platform, took a skateboard, and put the same poled magnet on the bottom, and removed the wheels, it would..

STILL definitely not work. Seriously I don't think it's really possible to make something that will keep you up, that's easy to balance on- it is going to be hard.