How To Build A Magnetic Rail Gun

[TheSeg1]

So then force is being applied when you load the gun right? Nice! 

[dennissayer]

Hi lads very interesting project. You say the magnet is north from the front and the north end facing the rail now put me right on this if I am wrong,but if you take the large sides being north and south each end and sides would be split north and south am I right in saying this.Is there any particular way these magnets a magnetized.

[MrAmazing340]

This does work the question is can it be scaled up in size speed etc.

[kafel]

Now build the same way rail but in circle, so the "bullet" will back to its start position and keep going around infinite times :)

[FreakyScaryM]

Hi guys! Would you mind telling me what are the 4 cubes made of? Thank you very much! :D

[antostoof1]

@FreakyScaryM They are neodymium

[user66699]

how both sides be north ? did u join two magnets ?

[antostoof1]

@user66699 If we said that, we made a mistake.

[antostoof1]

The pole that faces the rail us north and the front of the projectile is north.

[user66699]

whats the pole that faces the rail and what are the projectile magnetic poles

[antostoof1]

@user66699 the pole that faces the rail is north and the projectile is north on the front.

[PHDnFUN]

Its pronounced NEE-o-DIM-ee-um

[tomtoonotavaiable]

If this think would realy work , you would get the nobel price. ;)

[johnshepherd2011]

where did you get the ceramic magnets?

[JCloth431]

Andreas got about 4 years older in a day...

[antostoof1]

The two wooden rails are about an inch high and 3/8 wide.

The two wooden rods are .25" square. I believe the total gap is slightly more than that. The channel is 5/8 and I think each rail is 3/8 wide. I can let you know for sure this weekend.

[JohnnyRing0]

Congratulations on the good work guys! This is one of my favourite videos on YT.

You are showing great dignity in ignoring the trolls; well done.

There is a delivery of these ceramics arriving here tomorrow and I will try to replicate this.

If it goes well I will add a couple of mods and see what happens.

Am I right thinking that the two wooden rails abutting the Ceramics are .25" square, giving a total gap of 1 & 1\8th inch?

(The two wooden rods are also .25" square too, right?)

Cheers!

[beapilot11]

@JohnnyRing0 Let me know if antostoof1 holds true and post some videos.

[antostoof1]

@JohnnyRing0 Oh - and thanks for the nice things you said. We hope to have one or two more up this weekend.

[ChilesGreen]

Love the fake Russian Accent,

[ChilesGreen]

Notice the slit in the guide rod between the magnets? A hidden catapult launches the magnets through the magic hat.

[antostoof1]

@ChilesGreen Sorry Chiles, but no catapults.....no reason to trick anyone, this is just a school science project. If you look at the other video, the wooden pieces are taken out - it is just simple wood.

[ChilesGreen]

@antostoof1

Not a catapult per se.

[jcims]

Oh, and btw, you guys look like you've aged 3 years.  :)

[antostoof1]

@jcims Only about a year and a half and still can't drive!

[jcims]

Hey Guys,

Thanks so much for the additional info. Do you recall where you purchased the ceramic magnets? Any idea what the 'strength' of the neodymiums were (N32/N40/etc)? No problems if you don't know or lost the info. I'd like to try to build one of these as well, it's a great project, and as I'm sure you know, has the peculiar property of not trapping the 'projectile' at the end of the run.

[antostoof1]

@jcims Not sure but we bought them on the internet. Good luck building it!

[OnenessApostolicMan]

@antostoof1 Is all the ceramic magnets pointing to the inside north, on both sides?

[antostoof1]

@OnenessApostolicMan All the magnets are north facing in

[OnenessApostolicMan]

@antostoof1 Thanks!

[SealyProductions]

would this work in a circular pattern? keep the cubes in continual motion or something? just an idea that popped into my head. :3

[antostoof1]

@SealyProductions We'd like to try.....we'll see....

[jfilmmusic]

@antostoof1 Here's an idea...build another one..face them towards each other (opposite in direction)..then see if you can tune it to oscillate back and forth. If you incorporated a wound copper coil in between them, then you would have a free electricity generator!

[antostoof1]

@jfilmmusic I think it would die out after a few bounces.

[beapilot11]

It would be very nice to see you shoot that with the board on an angle, such as accelerating upwards. It would also be nice to know how much force you are pushing the bar magnet. Lastly, what is the purpose of the graphite and why do you use it? Oh, and your telling us you have no input electricity or pre-charged bars in the system?

[antostoof1]

@beapilot11 No electricity or any batteries or anything.  The graphite is just to reduce friction on the wood. We never tried shooting it up. We'll try that!

[beapilot11]

@antostoof1 Please send me a video of the results. Did you try considering building multiple replicas of the board, so where the magnet shoots out, it enters the next board of magnets and continues on its straight path? Would you build another replica so it is in front of the end of the first one so the magnet bar can shoot into the entrance of the first replica? I look forward to this other video.

[ilikeamanda]

have you thought to have some wheels underneath the magnet?

[antostoof1]

@ilikeamanda all the time......

[108sharif]

Another idea...

If you guys raise the end of "gun" and shoot in an angle, you can stop the bullet in a simple sand bed and measure the distance. Together with the weight (sorry, mass) of the bullet=train=cubes this gives a real reading of the enegry of the shot. Maybe topic for another physics project? Your teacher could help you with the formular to calculate the energy from this parameters.

Just saying...

[108sharif]

SORRY, typo! Should have been: "required to place the train"

[108sharif]

Hi again! Txs for explaining the "neutral spot". The key question right now for the engineering mind seems to be:

a) Is the force required to plase the "train" (4 cubes) into starting position like pressing a spring and strong enough to produce same "shot" from release of such equivalent spring?

b) What happens with 5 and 6 cubes as the train?

Txs for second video!

[beapilot11]

I hope this is not a hoax. There better not be any type of electrical input in the two rods. If so, then it is a typical railgun, in which nothing new happened. You might be introducing some scientists who will be interested in this.

[ncrozier132]

Does the projectile magnet need to be square?

[antostoof1]

@ncrozier132 I think a rectangle would work. We are going to try a ball but since you need to keep the poles facing each other, it probably won't work.

[antostoof1]

@ncrozier132 No, we think a rectangle will work. We'll let you know.

[antostoof1]

Thanks! do you have any ideas for us?

[tamagakun]

@antostoof1 this Idea is revolutionary regards to both I will try to make my own, lot of thanks.

[ChilesGreen]

@tamagakun

There are details of this little trick they're not showing you. No static arrangement of magnets will create energy gain. There's no such thing as perpetual motion. If they pulled a rabbit out of their hat is it magic?

[tamagakun]

@ChilesGreen well I think that we should try to do the same experiment before give a critical opinion.

[ChilesGreen]

@tamagakun

Let me know how your perpetual motion machine works out;-)

[tamagakun]

@ChilesGreen anyway I will try to duplicate and get out the doubts

[antostoof1]

@tamagakun Good luck and I'm sure you will have a great result. It isn't that hard to make.

[KingJoeKong]

@antostoof1 Hey will just a single cube magnet launch, or does it only work if all four are connected together? Also did you buy the magnets online? If so, what site?

[antostoof1]

@KingJoeKong A single or double magnet flies up and won't break out of the "launch field" Three magnets stay trapped in the field. It seems to need 4 magnets to have the speed/mass to launch out of the field.

[KingJoeKong]

@antostoof1 Thankyou, also, did this device only work when you had 18 magnets on each side, or would a smaller number, like 12, work on each side.

[MrDiggerodelll]

Brilliant and simple. I love it! I don't think however you've fully considered the applied potential of this. What if ...

[tamagakun]

The polarity of the magnets I mean the position N and S, how are oriented?

[antostoof1]

@tamagakun Hi Tamagakun - the ceramics are north facing in and the neos' north side faces the north of the ceramics

[antostoof1]

Hi Oneness - initially a small amount of resistance and then it tries to pull it in. You can find a spot where it is in equilibrium and it just sits there. If you notice at the beginning of this video, that is how the magnets are sitting - kind of in "neutral"

[OnenessApostolicMan]

@antostoof1 Ok, Thanks. :)

[OnenessApostolicMan]

When you first place the magnet in the front. Is it trying to pull it thru or is there resistance?