MagLev C

[darkwinters]

We finally got around to completing Mark I of our Maglev design- just one problem: it's not moving. We have our track magnets set up as North up and both of our cart bar magnets as North down. What usually winds up happening is that one side gets pulled down/to the side, but the bar magnets themselves never touch the track (the side of the magnet running parallel to the rail and perpendicular to the magnetic strips is doing this).

Any suggestions for how to fix it?

[Phys1cs]

are your magnets on your car parallel to the ones on the car? We had a similar issue where the magnets weren't in line with one another

_______ (car)
_______(track)

as they're directly above one another above

[darkwinters]

are your magnets on your car parallel to the ones on the car? We had a similar issue where the magnets weren't in line with one another

_______ (car)
_______(track)

as they're directly above one another above

Yeah.

It's infuriating just to get everything else working and now we have a cart that sits at somewhat of a diagonal and won't move because it's, in part, pressing rather hard against the siderails.

[Phys1cs]

are any of the magnets under the car touching the sides of the track?

another good thing to do is get a magnetic field detector, and make sure all of your magnets have the same magnitude of force. If even one is higher or lower, the car becomes un-symmetrical, and can be causing the torque on the car.

[darkwinters]

are any of the magnets under the car touching the sides of the track?

another good thing to do is get a magnetic field detector, and make sure all of your magnets have the same magnitude of force. If even one is higher or lower, the car becomes un-symmetrical, and can be causing the torque on the car.

Magnetic field detector sounds like a good idea.

They aren't, but they come really close (and will indeed touch if the cart tilts).

However, they aren't attracted to the aluminum (as tested by putting it up against the siderail above the range of influence of the track magnets).

It's basically doing what the maglev cart does here: http://youtu.be/GyomEAvrUpE?t=1m53s

[iwonder]

This may seem counter intuitive, but if it's leaning from one side to the other, check the spacing of the magnets and the width of your vehicle, it may be too narrow. And as long as you're using the same magnets all around the vehicle and the same all around the track you shouldn't have any significant balance (the track and vehicle magnets don't have to be the same). Also, is your vehicle balanced in it's mass or is all the weight on one side? That could also be an issue

[darkwinters]

This may seem counter intuitive, but if it's leaning from one side to the other, check the spacing of the magnets and the width of your vehicle, it may be too narrow. And as long as you're using the same magnets all around the vehicle and the same all around the track you shouldn't have any significant balance (the track and vehicle magnets don't have to be the same). Also, is your vehicle balanced in it's mass or is all the weight on one side? That could also be an issue

At the time, all the vehicle had on it was:
-The propeller (which was centered on the board)
-Two rows of bar magnets on the bottom (spanning the length of the vehicle, one on each side) each row having one side lined up with the long edge of the main board.

If they weren't perfectly aligned (i.e. one was very slightly tilted), would that have any bearing on the force?

The track itself was built to the Science Olympiad specifications (the track is ~3" wide, the vehicle is ~2.9" wide, and it spans the full 22 cm length).

[Phys1cs]

is there stuff on the car itself beyond the propeller? a motor, the battery, switch, prop collar? If so, take everything off of the car except for the magnets. Put y our car back on the track, and if it's still tilted it's an issue with the magnets. If, with nothing on the car, and it levitates how it's supposed to, you had an imbalance in where the weight is.

Hope that helps!

[darkwinters]

Part of what I noticed is that the torque from the motor spinning also tilts it one way or another.

Lowering it would help mitgate the issue, but has anyone else come up with a potential solution, since we're not allowed to actually use another motor?

[Stingray355]

If the problem is from torque one possible solution is to move more of your weight to the side that is lifting when the motor/prop is running. You can measure the relative height of each side of the vehicle when the motor is on and balance the weights from side to side to get it to sit level when the motor is running. Watch your fingers if the prop is still exposed.