It will need to be stronger than plastic. I was thinking maybe carbon fibre that's stronger than plastic I think an lighter than alu by far.
I predict this will one of those classic threads based on an idea that at first sounds insane and unbuildable but... Oh never mind, I have nothing more to say. Good luck with levitating a PC. I don't think it's ever been done before. I wonder why that is?
Levitating an object is easy, ensuring it stays in one place is the hard part. If you have ever tried to keep two magnets together with the same poles facing, you'll have noticed that it's virtually impossible to keep them from flying off to one side instead of staying in one position. One way to deal with that is to add more magnets and possibly a network of sensors and controllers which regulate the strength of each magnet. The other is nylon wire
I probably shouldn't encourage you... but this guy seems to know what he's talking about. Cool article; are you old enough to remember how many gigawatt's the Dorian took to time travel? These guys claim that their clm2 lifts up-to 10kg! It's starting to look very interesting; to my knowlage the only pico-itx made is the via pico-itx. the CLM people seem to have fixed stability issues; so as long as your load is intrinsically balanced then you should do fine... in which case you don't want a tether... or I wouldn't; wireless communication, no problems. Wireless power? Hmmmmm..... now THAT's ambitious! However it would mean that you'd be able to pass stuff underneath it to impress.
There's gotta e a first for everything and people haven't done it because people like you discourage them. I hve a plan but I don't know if it will work and I can't post it yet since it's in my head. Similiar to the ion cube I think it was. What if I levitated it from the top. The weight of the things should keep it upright at least which would solve that problem. Wires would prevent it spinning. With the strength of the magnets I don't think it would be that delicate. How could I keep it there on the xy axis simply without networks of magnets and tonnes of complicated programming? What if I just had the magnets on angles holding it between them?
The reason people get discouraged is that they don't know enough about the subject they're talking about to see the difficulties involved. For example; Magnets attract things so I'll just stick a sodding great magnet above my computer and make it hover, sounds simple right? The problem is that it is in fact much more complicated than that. An object in a magnetic field has a positive feedback mechanism, the closer to the magnet the object is the stronger the attractive force so if the object moves closer the force becomes stronger and the object move closer still so the force gets stronger again until the object it stuck to the magnet. The only way to avoid this without tethering the object is to have a sensor that measures the distance from the object to the magnet and adjusts the force to maintain it's position. You might be able to do it with permanent magnets from below repelling magnets mounted on the case but you would still need magnets on all four sides to maintain it's position. Moriquendi
This thread makes me think of the 4chan trolling phrase: "****ing magnets, how do they work?". The sad part is this guy actually isn't a troll and doesn't seem to be taking any of the advice on board and just seeing you guys as putting him down when actually you're just trying to portray how hard it would be for him to achieve.
I just had an idea. Could you build an external frame, and mount magnets within that on each side. Then build the actual computer case and have that levitating inside the frame? Although, again, keeping it central would probably be a pain, as if it gets nudged and one side moves closer it'll stick, exact problem moriquendi just said, maybe it is impossible without controllers.
I am takin things on bored there was just one post that said im never going to do it. I wa thinking repelling magnets for that reason. Think about a cube on it's corner with a magnet on each face facing down with a base to match that wraps around it with reppeling magnets. Would that work?
Whats to stop the case rotating and becoming attracted to the magnets? I know the base will be the same shape as the case, but the attractive force may be enough to drag it around, lifting the case high enough to fully rotate in the proces...
Wires and the fact that magnets will struggle to lift it and I was hoping to get some that can only lift it 5-10cm which would keep it from flipping. Also maybe putting the heavier parts in the bottom.
No, throwing all the weight to one side is a bad idea. If you're going to build a cube, you want to keep the weight as uniform throughout the cube as possible to keep it stable. The easiest way to do this without controllers imho would be something like this: Support colums keep the case from moving laterallyand levitation is provided my magnetic repulsion between the sets of magets at the base of each support and a magent attached to the case
Below the magnets would help to keep it upright though. One side would nit be any heavier it would only be the bottom. You might be right I'm not sure but to me mine sounds more logical. Say putting a led corner on the bottom so that corner hangs off the magnets should keep or from flipping.
Yes. But the bottom would be heavier than the bottom, you'd be creating a VERY unbalanced cube, good look getting it to stay in one position unassisted. Make life easy for yourself and spread the weight out so all the magnets exert the same force on the case. Or alternatively, use the arrangement in the diagram that way you can make the bottom as heavy as you want, but try to keep it on the centre line or the case will tilt to one side as one side would be heavier Magnets are a pain in the arse, is it really worth all the hassle?
I'm not sure if I'm actually going o build it. This is not a troll but it was just an idea. I think it would be possible with a pico itx board. I might draw something up today to show you what I mean but I can't post it till monday.
