Levitation gimmick

I haven't tried this yet, but it's on my project list and I've done a little bit of looking.

There are lots of barebones kits on eBay with just the innards. https://www.ebay.com/itm/DY003-Magn...rnishing-Articles-Kit-220g-DC-5V/391858999161

As long as you could get the balance right, it would be perfect for a small diorama with Luke's landspeeder. You could hide the bottom piece entirely under the sand surface. Or maybe a hanger display. Anything where you could disguise the bottom magnet as part of the presentation would be super cool.

I'd say go for it! Then you can report back on what works and what doesn't :)
 
I've bought a similar, though smaller, magnetic levitation platform thing and have played with it. It's certainly very interesting.

There's one huge problem with it, though. Well, two, if you count the fact that it doesn't seem very well made as I bought a cheap toy online. And the main problem is that if the power is cut or the object gets bumped or dislodged, then it crashes diagonally down to the platform really hard. This is because the floating part is a fairly strong permanent magnet. As soon as the electromagnets get out of sync or turn off, then blam!

Now, if you have a fairly sturdy model that's probably okay. The landspeeder idea that adphill mentioned would probably be fine since it's got a flat featureless bottom. If you made the thing sturdy enough then the occasional slam into the magnet wouldn't be a problem. However, I was looking to "levitate" a model of the Millennium Falcon. If you have the landing gear down, then the sudden violent impact would snap them off. If you left off the landing gear then the protruding lower gun would be vulnerable to damage. So there's that.

There's also the fact that only large ones have enough magnetic power to hold objects a reasonable height off the surface. A lot of them can't really raise things that far, and that only looks so-so. You need to experiment.

There are also ones with inductive charging built in. These transmit power over short distances, so you can light up an LED or whatever. The problem here is that transmitted power falls off with the square of the distance. In short that means that you can't get much power using small systems. Enough to power a low-amp LED, but not that much more.

So in short, it's fun, but not quite as Harry Potter magical as you might want.
 
I didn't even think to check fleaBay! The slow boat from China is kind of a turn-off though...

Definitely would have to be something that doesn't have a lot of greeblies on it. A speeder bike doing this would be mucho-cool but one power flicker and adios speeder bike.
 
I didn't think of the power-loss crash. Maybe it would be possible to do the Tatooine surface in some sort of foam to provide extra protection.

Based on a quick image search for screenshots, it looks like Luke's landspeeder is only separated from the ground by a distance approximately equal to the diameter of the engine nacelles. For my theoretical build, then, I would only need to levitate the model an inch or so.

How high did your smaller magnet float?
 
The one I bought can float the magnet, without any payload, around 2-3cm above the platform, I think. Note that the sandal in the example is basically just foam rubber - pretty light.

Also there are two basic designs. One uses a small CPU to control four electromagnets via feedback loops. These push the magnet appropriately. There's also a design that uses optical positioning, and that kind requires a hole in the middle of the platform.
 
Yeah the guy making them has a project thread here.

I bought the levitator in my first post. Such a stupid design. Let's have an immaculate (close) mirrored surface below the heavy, rough metal encased magnet. As soon as I peeled the protective plastic off, it slammed into the base and dinged it up.

Not too worried as the goal would be to cover this base with something else anyway. Like sand.

It has to be plugged in at all times for it to levitate. The lights can be switched off. As soon as it loses power though, BAM! Slams violently to the base at an angle. I would not leave this on unattended. If I did, I would slide a piece of foam under the magnet just in case. Plugging it into a UPS wouldn't be a bad idea either but I have not tested that.

I put my toy land speeder on it and it looks pretty cool. It also points out that the magnet isn't exactly small and you will need something fairly large to hide it in.

It isn't a perfectly balanced thing either. It is difficult to explain. You can get the land speeder leveled one way and as it spins, it may dip another. So I was constantly adjusting it on the magnet and just had to give up as it will not float perfectly level as it rotates. Close, but never perfect. Another thing that really isn't that big of a deal to me.

It will only spin if you make it spin. Since there no friction, it will spin for quite a while though.
 
I made a discovery. The disc is actually plastic. With much dremeling, prying, and bleeding (screwdriver slip), I was able to get the plastic casing off which revealed a small magnet on the bottom and a larger one on top glued to a 'washer'. The giant magnet was covered with a layer of paper-thin metal foil so it was a pain to get all cleaned up.

The large magnet will float without the smaller one stuck to it so I do not know what the purpose of the smaller one is.

I have also noticed that the base becomes dumb sometimes and you cannot get the disc to float. You have to turn it off and wait a while. After that, the disc floats like it normally does.

This really knocks the overall size down and makes it more concealable.

disc2.jpgdisc1.jpg
 
The weight of the landspeeder and the fact that the seats basically are on the floor make it so that levitation is tricky. I can make it work where the magnet is inside but it makes the landspeeder sit closer to the ground. If I put the magnet under the landspeeder, it looks good but if you look underneath, you'll see it. Don't know which I like better.
 
is there anything stopping you from using two magnets under the landspeeder? I am no physics genius, but i would think that would double your repelling force...
 
It will eventually stop and hover. It takes a while, though, since air resistance is the main thing it has to work against.

As for another magnet, it’s not quite that simple. The magnet’s size and strength have to calibrated to the four electromagnets, which are always adjusting output on the fly.
 
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