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ART • TEC
Guy Marsden


MAGNETIC LEVITATION KIT

 GALLERY OF APPLICATIONS 

Click here to send images of your application to me to be posted here.
Include as much documentation as you can so that others
can learn from your project.

May 2020
Chuck Swiger made a stand from bit beams and a whirligig that spins from a light breeze. 

Here's a video of his project:

May 2013
 
Tyler Bal said:
Building the magnetic levitation kit from ART TEC was a lot of fun. It was really cool to see what I was learning in my Applied Electromagnetics class come to life with this project. Although I have a background that involves soldering components to a PCB, I would suggest this kit to anyone who wants to learn how to solder, and gain some insight on magnetic fields and magnetism.

Lets be honest, to be able to levitate an object with magnetism is awesome! It is such a successful feeling when tuning the coil and all of a sudden the object is floating on its own. There are many levitation projects out there that are very pricey and usually involve a microcontroller of some kind. This project is all analog and I feel very fairly priced which also I feel makes this project that much more impressive. Go ahead and try it out, I am positive you will not be disappointed and most importantly have FUN!

Tyler posted a YouTube video of his project, click here to see it.

February 2012
  

M Geilich said:
Thanks for the kit. I enjoyed it and am looking into more sophisticated designs for my next attempt. I've found that spherical magnets work well and look cool in the levitator. After smashing a few hall sensors, I came up with this system for protecting it - a little cap like this would make a nice addition to the kit.

January 2012
Colin Bowler describes his creation:
The bird itself (Parrot) is made from balsa wood, shaped and adorned with feathers collected from my aviary. The intention was to embed the neodymium magnets into the head of the bird, but this created problems with balance. I overcame this issue with a large curtain ring which acts as both a perch and a means of suspending the bird at a realistic flying attitude.

Stainless steel was utilized for the main structure. Five wires were pulled through the curved steel tube, two for the coil, and the remainder for the Hall-effect sensor, leaving surplus at both ends for connections. A nylon bush turned on my lathe was drilled and threaded to accept the coil bolt, the bush is what holds the coil to the end of the curved arm. A plastic cap taken from a deodorant spray can encapsulates the coil protecting the sensor and hiding the wires.

The circuit board fits snuggly in the base after first drilling holes to accommodate the LEDs and potentiometer.

A further hole was drilled for a DC input socket. A very satisfying project, worked around an easy to build, inexpensive kit. Highly recommended for anyone who with a little imagination and basic skills could turn the Magnetic Levitation Kit into a piece of art with a touch of magic.

January 26. 2008
Mark Ramsey's levitator
Mark Ramsey said: 
"Thank you for the cool lev kit.  I have built many from scratch in the past using class A amplifiers and infrared beam but none worked as well as your kit.  The efficiency is amazing only using minimal power during levitation it lets the neodymium magnets do most of the work. 
The meter measures coil current it can go positive or negative as you can see it is centered during levitation indicating minimum current.  The copper below is a damper and works very well.

January 1, 2008
Levitating Superman gizmoGravity meter
 

Don built this wonderful box to levitate a Superman toy.  The "Gravity" meter is actually a DC volt meter wired across the electromagnet.  The meter interacts with the toys position by moving relative to the levitated height.  Click here to see it in action on YouTube.


March 23, 2007
 

Jake Baddeley is an artist who came up with a novel use for the kit, counter-rotating turbines driven by the heat from a candle!  Here's what he said:

It works brilliantly. I had trouble with the pen set up, but when I tried the turbine, the extra surface area and associated wind resistance completely stopped the vibrations.  The wider the disk, the stabler it became.  By placing a few neodyniums above the electromagnet  and a wider hanging magnet, I found I could get more weight to be carried. It is now stable enough to spin at a reasonable rate, due to the candle underneath, with turbines spinning in opposite directions.  Still a more powerful version would be better, as I could then have more room for creativity with the levitating unit.  It takes some getting used to watching this thing hang in mid air.  Another thing that would be better is of course a larger gap length, which I understand is not possible, at least with this set up.  All in all I am very pleased.

See Jake's artwork on his web site: http://jakebaddeley.com/


September 26, 2005
 
Rick Hoadley (aka Magnet Man)has designed an add-on circuit for my kit that damps the oscillations.  Scroll down his web page a bit to see his very detailed description of theory and practice.  This is a very clever solution that specifically addresses my kit.


March 15, 2004
 

 Adam Kumpf is another MIT student who was assigned the project based on my kit. 


March 9, 2004
 

Barney Arntz in New Jersey submitted this design.  He made some changes like putting the sensor below a second magnet on the bottom of the levitated object and he designed a circuit that damps vertical oscillations.


You can download his detailed project that includes images and schematic:  Levitator.pdf (Acrobat 217K)
Barney is an experienced electronic engineering consultant specializing in RF applications, here's his web site: Arntz Design


January 7, 2004
 
Dinesh Khatri
built this for a class project at MIT on feedback systems.

He and his classmates were assigned to build a version of my design, then come up with a variety of improvements.  Dinesh explored ways to damp the vertical oscillations using simple circuits between the sensor and fan chip.


December 10, 2003
 



Submitted by Juan Miranda who says "I had good time, is nice."


November 12, 2003
Artwork by Guy Marsden titled: 
"The Mother and Child Reunion"




Made of walnut, ebony and yellowheart this is one of a series of pieces that explores turned wood shapes supported by legs. 


 

A 12V wall power supply connects to the base.  
Electronics and electromagnet are concealed inside the top section.




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