Levitating Top: See description for how to information and tips

Well, it took many trials, but we made our kit top levitate on a home-made bed of magnets arranged in a hexagonal array and mounted on a home made leveling table. Used a top and launch pad from the Smithsonian Magna Gyroscope kit and built everything else modeled after the design showcased by the the YouTuber Yatemitta referenced below.

My inspiration / affliction to build my own levitating top all began when I saw this on YouTube: https://youtu.be/y23wgm61LDg

Thanks Yatemitta for your helpful how-to video. Instead of using a clear CD case with screws attached for leveling, I mounted my disc magnets (24 in total) on a 10 inch cardboard cake circle glued to a 3/16 inch foam board cut out in a disc and festirimg Yatemitta’s prescribed hexagonal star shaped jig pattern to serve to position the magnets in stacks of 3 (1 underside, 2 top side) evenly every 60 degrees, and set this on top of a round wooden leveling table I made out of plywood. Marked concentric distances from the center on the cake round to facilitate even spacing. Set a 10 inch diameter clear acrylic disc (1/4 inch) thick on top, and then placed 6 epoxy coated black disc magnets over each column. Another 10 inch acrylic disc (1/8 inch thick) mounted with a round tupper wear lid with a hole cut out in the center to accommodate the clear plastic top launch pad (also from the Smithsonian kit) was centered over the magnets to help start the top spinning at the optimal height and centered above the array of magnets. This whole apparatus was set on top of a 3/4 inch plywood round set with 3 Huayy felt adjusting feet pads, which allowed for precision leveling.

Be sure to orient the magnetic poles correctly. Each stack of disc magnets, when mounted on the card board cake round should exert a repulsive force on the bottom of the top, and an attractive force if you flip the top over and point the spinning handle side toward the magnet column. If you lower the top in the center of the magnetic array (picture donut shaped magnetic field lines), as the top is lowered toward the center, there’s a subtle repulsive zone. That’s the height where the top floats in equilibrium with opposing gravitational and magnetic force vectors. The gyroscopic effect keeps the top from flipping right away. As you lower the top, the repulsive force dissipates, and a strong attractive force pulls the base of the top toward the center of the board.

1000 or so trials later, I got it working! I kinda cheated using a kit top. Made a few magnetic tops, but so far haven’t gotten them to levitate. Helps to have a very stable top capable of spinning with minimal procession/wobble and an assortment of nylon and thin aluminum washers and small rubber bands (like they use for braces) to allow for making fine adjustments in the weight of the top. It would be easy to give up, but don’t. If the top doesn’t have enough lift to stay afloat, jettison some weight and/or decrease the radius of the magnets in the array. If the top systematically veers off to the left after gaining lift, slightly lower the right side of the leveling table or slightly raise the left side. Make analogous adjustments if the top flies off away from you, by lowering the side of the leveling platform nearest you. For best results, wait to lift the launch platform until the top is “quiet” with minimal procession/wobble, then very slowly and deliberately raise the top until it levitates.