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Marking north. Why panel holes for? Wire-frame base?

PostPosted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 4:22 pm
by gregconquest
I'm thinking of marking most if not all of my magnets. The best idea I can come up with is a simple, thin red ring around the edge of the north end, using black on the south end of the red, blue, and green magnets. I don't want to change the appearance noticeably in constructions. I just want the polarity to be detectable from a close examination :ugeek: Any comments? And the north end would repel the north end of a compass, right :?:

Also, what are the holes for in the panels? Are the large holes just for running other bars through? The only thing I have imagined for the small holes would be a string, but I haven't seen anyone using them for this :?

Finally, a base. Some constructions like the Eiffel Tower or Tokyo Tower have "splayed" legs. Are there any common strategies to prevent the legs from sliding outward from under the overlying weight? I've seen one Eiffel Tower with a ring of geomags around the feet, but this still looked tenuous. I've wondered about a board with holes drilled into the board (like a pegboard, but with many more holes.) But it is hard to imagine what pattern and how many holes to drill. Also the spacing would have to be very precise. An alternative would be some kind of strap assembly to wrap around the bottom feet. Imagine the aluminum chains some necklaces are made from but with a sling at the end to wrap around a sphere and a screw assembly in the center to adjust the tension. Has anyone tried anything like this?

Thanks for any answers.

Greg

Re: Marking north. Why panel holes for? Wire-frame base?

PostPosted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 2:56 pm
by geomagmasters
This is an example of a construction that makes use of the holes in the panels. We call it Floater. The holes in the panels hold the repelling magnets in place to allow the upper portion to float. We can't take credit for creating it but we built this one.

...And, yes this would have been easier to build had we marked the poles on the rods but I don't think we could bring ourselves to marking our rods.

Feel free to check out other magnetic projects on our website at: http://www.geomagmasters.com

Floater-1.jpg


Floater-2.jpg


Floater-3.jpg

Re: Marking north. Why panel holes for? Wire-frame base?

PostPosted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 4:40 pm
by AFKAN
It's also possible to use the outer holes on the panels as well ;-)

Image

Re: Marking north. Why panel holes for? Wire-frame base?

PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 6:04 am
by cappells
I marked all my bars for my daughter's benefit in helping her build her own models. What I did was use a black sharpie marker and color the exposed magnet on the north end of each bar. That way the bars themselves did not appear to be defaced with any markings upon casual inspection from the side, but a quick glance at one end would identify which end you were looking at. I have a picture of my work in another thread...I'll find it.

Here it is:

http://forum.geomagworld.com/download/file.php?id=143&mode=view

Re: Marking north. Why panel holes for? Wire-frame base?

PostPosted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 10:22 am
by karlhorton
Marking North: I desired that for awhile, and thought that maybe I could decode
the letters and numbers stamped into the ends of the bars.

Those markings are just some kind of batch code I believe, and do not indicate
polarity.

After awhile I lost the desire to mark the bars: in ordinary construction if you
build one-by-one the bars tend to organize themselves appropriately. For occasions
where polarity really matters, I use a ball to test a joint for imbalance.

The small holes in the panels are designed to receive the pegs from a "decopanel" which
is a transparent cover that allows you to make stylized panels - cute marketing fluff.