More engine mounts

So today I worked on the engine mount rubber and a test stand for the lift motor which arrived 2 days ago. $850 delivered and with 2 years warranty.

First was the engine mount rubber. I found a mining conveyor belt company who had scrap bits of rubber called backing or lining rubber. It seemed to have just enough give to use as an engine mount. I found a holesaw which its inside diameter matched that of the inside of the engine mount pipe. The saw worked quite well so I cut out 16 pieces.

Now the holes had to be enlarged to 12mm. As I found out rubber is hard to drill into but I found if I increased the drill press to maximum speed it would drill quite easily. After that I used a 12mm bolt with the rubber disks slid onto it so I could use the drill press like a lathe to put a chamfer on the bottom edge. I did this because the welds inside the engine mount tubing where the washer was welded was risen up slightly.

I am using my old hovercraft trailer as a test bed for both lift and thrust engines so I bolted the engine mount to the back of the trailer.

Next I started the testing engine mount for the lift motor. I want to be able to run the engine before I start the build on the body to test my lift fan and the engine for durability. I made a design on a 3d program to ensure enough prop clearance with my design.

I just used 25mm square tubing and welded all together. The tubing around the sides were an after thought to ensure strength in my design as this will also be mounted to the trailer and driven to and from the place where I am building the hovercraft. Its about a 20km each way. Next will be mounting the lift fan and running it hopefully this Sunday.