Knex-LIM - CoasterBuzz

save your self the trouble and just push it , hard. ;)

Phydeux: That's not true at all. It depends on how quickly you want your acceleration. If you have a long enough runway, you can accelerate it as slow as you want, which requires less magnets and exerts less force on the tracking.

It might not be the most thrilling launch in history, but any EM launch on a Knex model is pretty sweet if you ask me.

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The legend lives!

I have a short Runway! :) And I need a lot of acceleration. I tried pushing it, but the darn train is so heavy it doesn't reach that high, at most the end of the ramp, where it reaches the vertical tower! The reason why it's so heavy, is cause it has three rolls of seats, handle bars, and all that junk! :)

I've made a little launch system, where there's like a launch car that runs in side of the track where the coaster train runs on. But I have no clue on how to launch the little car.

I'll try and get pictures, but I don't have a really good camera. But I'll try!

ApolloAndy said:
(...wind a coil and...)"Now, in theory, if you run DC current through the wire (you might want to hack a AC/DC power supply for this) and you have enough windings, enough current, and strong enough magnets, your train will go shooting off. I'm pretty sure you want insulated wire or it'll short, but I seem to remember doing this in middle school with uninsulated wire..."

No, you probably remember doing this in middle school with magnet wire, which is usually about 18-22 gauge solid copper wire which has been covered with enamel, which is in fact an insulator, albeit not a terribly good one...enough of an insulator to keep the coil from shorting out, but easily damaged.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Dave: is there a fundamental diffence in the composition of magnet wire and "regular" wire?

I think I'm going to try to build this over the summer, and will most likely fail, but...

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AC?, RB?, MF?, DD?, PR? Who can keep track of it all?

"Magnet wire" is just enamelled copper wire, making it ideal for winding electromagnets (hence the name...). Any other thin copper wire would work just as well. It's just that the enamel insulator makes it so you can get the coils tighter...but for low-current applications you could do just as well by using a thinner-gauge wire.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Thnx. I think I'm actually going to try building a tunnel out of k'nex and wrapping the entire thing in many many windings of "magnet wire." We'll see how it works.

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AC?, RB?, MF?, DD?, PR? Who can keep track of it all?