Part of the "kit" I bought is a small reference to building ducting out of foam. However, I know that good ducting can promote efficiency, but poor ducting will be detrimental. And secondly, building a cowling out of foam seems like a risk for impact and safety. In particular the propellers attached to the engines are a good approximation of a wooden baseball bat and if anything falls into the fans the pebble or other object will eject radially very fast. And for that I'd like to have some good metal in the way. As such I felt that finding a cowling on an existing fan would provide me with an easy way to get one shaped correctly as well as already having facing material for protecting fingers from the fan.
After some online research I choose two models of Maxx Fan which were the right size for each of the fans on the hovercraft. One 24" model and one 36" model.
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| 36" Maxx Fan |
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| 24" Maxx Fan |
They will fit the hovercraft propellers well:
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| Large Fan with hovercraft propeller |
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| Small fan with lift propeller |
But to use them I need to tear them down so here's some interesting things I found.
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| 5/16" sheet metal screws holding the screen |
With a few quick removals of screws around the perimeter I got the fan out.
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| The motor removed from the fan. |
Here's the full assembly after removing the screws around the perimeter.
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| Attachment point to the back. |
A few spade connectors got the power wiring disconnected from the switch and motor. And a few screws on the back of the motor released the motor from the back screen.
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| Additional bracing internal to the fan. |
There was also two struts attached to the front face of the motor and required one bolt to remove.
The power cord snapped out of the housing with squeezing the appropriate tabs.
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| Removing the power cord |
After which I found this neat removable clamp on the cable. It first clamps onto the cable, then inserts into the housing. To get it out of the housing press the 3 tabs on on the sides. And then it can be released from the cable
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| A neat collar for passing through sheet metal |
Lastly I removed the main cowling from the stand. It was just a single bolt with a hand nut. And a large composite rubber lock washer.
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| Mounting free to rotate until tightened. |
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| Internal view of external mounting. |
