Walkalong Glider / Infinity Plane / Follow Foil

Hi everybody!

I am a home-schooled grade 9, and in this instructable I will show you how to make a walkalong glider, and how a walkalong glider works. I decided to make this because it's a really unique flying toy that uses a really cool principle to fly. And it can be used to teach some basic aerodynamics and plane engineering.

The principle that is uses is something called ridge lifting to fly and it's used a lot in the real world. This project combines science, common household items, and basic aviation in order to create a wondrous, almost magic like device that can fly on a wave of air. I hope you enjoy the journey as I did.

Before you read this, please remember everything that's in bold is for the D.I.Y. hot wire.

Tools:

1. Lightweight tape, Sellotape or Masking tape.
2. Hot wire (If you don'thave one don't worry I will show you how to make one).
3. Computer.
4. Scissors.

Materials:

1. Styrofoam, it MUST be EPS(Epanded polystyrene) The Styrofoam made from lot of little balls.
2. Wire or crocodile clips.
3. Nichrome wire. https://www.amazon.com/Nichrome-80-Gauge-Resistance-Wire/dp/B07CHTY1VV/ref=sr_1_5?crid=15UO5U00J48BN&keywords=nichrome+wire&qid=1695365219&sprefix=nichrome+wire%2Caps%2C300&sr=8-5
4. A base piece of wood at least 20cmx10cm.
5. Battery pack of sorts.
6. Battery connector(optional).
7. Big sheet of cardboard.

A walk-along glider is a very thin sheet of EPS(Expanded Polystyrene) or paper crafted into such a manner that it can ride a "wave" of air.

The reason why this works is because air wants to be together. So when particle A and particle B are in front of the mountain, they get pushed along along. But then suddenly particle A is unobstructed but particle B is lower and it can't go through the mountain.

So what it does is it speeds up to get back to particle A, and this is what creates up-draft. Then right as it passes it creates low pressure, and that creates an air pocket and then the walkalong glider is sucked into the air pocket in front of the cardboard. And that is what allows to stay in the air.

For this experiment we will make our walkalong glider and then instead of finding a local cliff, we will use a sheet of cardboard to fly it.

So now you might be asking yourself "where can I find really thin sheets of EPS?" Look no further. In the steps to follow I will demonstrate how to slice EPS really thinly using a hot wire. "Whats a hot wire? How does it work?" I'm glad you asked! A hot wire is a nichrome wire with electricity running through it allowing it to heat up enough to cut through the foam. "How do I make it?". Well, you can make it by following the next few steps.

To design the hot wire I used Fusion360(This is just the idea, its not to scale). The first thing that I did was I made my board. Then I added some color just so I could distinguish between everything easily.

Then I made the screws. The screws were quite easy, I just put down two circles, extruded them, and colored them in silver.

For the nichrome wire I was going to do a line but it didn't show very clearly, so instead I made a thin rectangle, between the screws and colored it in black.

After that I made two of the color wires. I made them by first sketching a curved line, then I clicked finish sketch. I then added two pipes(one for each line), and colored them in their separate colors.

The switch was a lot harder. For the switch I made a box, then I extruded it. After extruding it I made another small rectangle for the switch, and then made another small rectangle next to it and extruded inwards for detail.

The battery connector was the hardest part. First I made a slightly bigger rectangle, then I put a circle on the one side, and a polygon on the other side. I extruded both sides by 2mm. After that, I drew a smaller circle inside the big circle, and a smaller polygon inside the bigger polygon. Then I extruded both of the small objects inwards by 2mm, and the battery connectors done.

Then I just did one final line and pipe connecting the switch and the battery connector.

Alternatively, Instead of using wires, you can just use crocodile clips and clip those onto the screws. Sadly I couldn't find enough wire so I had to use crocodile clips.

Now that it's designed lets go make it.

Making the hot wire was really easy. First solder everything together, put two screws in a piece of wood. Put the wires and the nichrome underneath the screws and tighten them. Now go and test it.

Okay... so the first test was a complete bust, BUT I have one or two theories on why it's not working. Theory 1: The nichrome wire's fizzling out. So I went and did some research and it's possible. I did notice my wire stopped glowing now that I mention it. I went and salvaged some nichrome wire from an old toaster and it appears to work much better. So it's cutting but, dying pretty soon.

Theory 2: The 9v battery isn't charging long enough. So I let my battery charge all day and that seemed to do the trick. Its not cutting straight. Theory 3: The nichrome wire when heated expands. Again, I looked it up and its 100% true. So to solve that, just get a spring tie it around the loop, stretch it a bit away before screwing it back in. Make sure it's level.

Now you can put a spacer underneath to adjust the height.

Here is a nice video I found if the steps were confusing:

https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?&q=diy+foam+walkalong+glider&&mid=4D7C95F4C3DB7822E5C84D7C95F4C3DB7822E5C8&&FORM=VRDGAR

First I designed my glider in Fusion360. It was pretty simple. I copied the first above photo, uploaded it in Fusion 360 sketched on the lines. Extruded it, and deleted the photo. It looks really cool, but... Do you know what looks even cooler? The physical one! Let's go make it!

I made mine by doing the following: First, I cut my thin sheet of EPS into a rectangle. Then, I cut some tinfoil, folded it up nicely and bent a little bit into an L shape. You can bend about 1cm. Next, I cut some masking tape off and placed on top of the small L. Now take your tinfoil masking tape contraption, and stick it halfway on your glider.

Now fold your glider wings up gently just a little bit and test it. If it glides in a circle then adjust the ailerons.

Cutting the glider was pretty simple. The first thing I did was I cut 2 thin sheets of EPS. Then, I traced the half of the glider and cut that out nicely. After that I taped my guide sheet onto my thin sheet of EPS. Now cut out next to the guide sheet but don't cunt the tape. To fold the ailerons line the edge of your glider up with the edge of the book, close the book and gently fold it up with a ruler. Remember to fold the back one up, and the front one down.

Repeat for the other side. So you should have two individual wings. To stick them together cut off some lightweight tape (I used masking tape so you can see it in the photos) then line the wings up and wrap the tape around gently. Bada-bim, bada-boom! your glider is almost done.

To make it glide nicely you will need to, cut some tinfoil, scrunch it up and bend a little bit into an L shape. You can bend about 1cm maximum. Next, cut some masking tape off and placed on top of the small L. Now take your tinfoil masking tape contraption, and stick it on the midline of your glider.

If you want, you could just scale down the completed so that it will fit onto a smaller piece of EPS. I tried it and it also works really nicely.

Your glider is complete!

Now that you have made your walkalong glider, it's time to fly it. In order to fly it, hold the walkalong glider above your head and drop it. Now take your piece of cardboard and hold it underneath while moving forward. It should catch the wind and ride along it. It does take some practice. The idea is to get just above the board so that it's stable.

Go fly and have fun!!

**Troubleshooting**

Weighting it:

If your glider plummets to the floor cut off a bit of weight until it slowly glides to the floor. Once gliding slowly try bending the weight backwards to maximize air time. And if it stalls, or rocks backwards and forwards in the air then add a bit more weight, or, bend the weight forwards.

Spinning in a circle:

If it spins in a circle try adjusting the ailerons. If that doesn't work, try shifting the weight side to side.

Clinging to the board:

Static electricity build-up. Nothing to panic about just change the board.

If there is anything I missed please comment down below⬇. Until then, safe flying!