MOD: Air hockey

[cooper]

Why is it going to be lifted high enough for that to happen?

It's 6.5cm or 2.5 inches of flat plexi that it would need to flip over. It would require the puck to float at least a full inch above the board for that to be conceivably possible.

[Freakish]

That's what I was saying.

[Guest]

Why is it going to be lifted high enough for that to happen?

It's 6.5cm or 2.5 inches of flat plexi that it would need to flip over. It would require the puck to float at least a full inch above the board for that to be conceivably possible.

even if it doesnt flip it will be relatively unstable.

[degoba]

Why is it going to be lifted high enough for that to happen?

It's 6.5cm or 2.5 inches of flat plexi that it would need to flip over. It would require the puck to float at least a full inch above the board for that to be conceivably possible.

even if it doesnt flip it will be relatively unstable.

That was me. Hmmm. I see guest accounts are back on.

[cooper]

Okay, I've ordered a small batch of NIB magnets to see if it can be done. Delivery will take a week or so. When I know you'll know.

I'm gonna see if I can rig something up in my shed to allow this to get filmed in some way, shape or form. Either that or some decent looking photographs.

[cooper]

Okay, the magnets are in.

These things kick ass.

I ordered 20 NIB magnets (10 mm diameter, 2mm high) and they came with a warning sheet encompassing half an A4 piece of paper in a not particularly large font. Some of the warnings:

- Carfully slide the magnets apart, to prevent your fingers becoming trapped between them. If possible, wear gloves.

- Never operate the magnets in explosive environments, since they generate sparks.

- Before use (use here being drilling holes in them and such), always moisten the magnets to prevent spontaneous combustion of the grinding chips.

I thought this was rather funny. :)

Anyways, I can feel the magnets push away at a distance of 1 cm (roughly the width of my finger) of eachother. Placing a piece of metal over several magnets doesn't 'spread out' the magnetic field. It pretty much nullifies it. I placed 2 magnets on a metal computer case cover, both with the same pole facing the metal. Then, on the other side of the sheet, I approached with another magnet. Felt it pull, so I flipped it and tried again. Felt it pull again. So, the metal sheet would be a bad idea.

There's no doubt in my mind that these things are capable of keeping a 20 gram puck afloat at at least 5 mm distance, unless the plexi turns out to have some unexpected magnetic properties.

The thing is, these magnets are rather expensive. We're talking almost 100 euros all inclusive. What I'm thinking about now is placing these awesome magnets only in the puck (well, 3 to 8 of them) and filling the table with small (as in 2-3mm in diameter) magnets of a lesser strength. Hopefully those magnets will be cheaper and allow me to fill the entire table without breaking the bank.

The average CD case weighs 77 grams. I'm gonna tape some of these magnets to a case, and see if I can make it float over the other magnets. I'll post some pictures of this once I've found the time for this experiment as well as borrowed my parents camera. Hopefully tomorrow evening, but no promises.