Hovering Hoverboard

My Real Hovering Hoverboard

posted by DonDula

Here is my near completed Hoverboard display that I started working on over a year ago and just finally got around to get working right.  The board actually uses magnets to achieve levitation just like in the Back to the Future movies. My inspiration came from an instillation piece I saw a couple years ago by an artist named Nils Guadagnin who was able to achieve the same effect. I used an electromagnetic kit that has a laser stabilization technology in it to get the magnets to hover in place. Each magnet can hold about 2-3 pounds of weight while still maintaining levitation. The board can handle around a 5 pound object to be placed on top of it while floating. The board is a foam version, which works the best with the magnets. Had to mod the magnet enclosures in order for the stabilizing sensors to be exposed to the bases. This is a work in progress and I plan on making a nice platform to hide all the electronics in. So in the end the board will be floating in place on a pedestal. Alternately, one magnet can be used, which would allow the board to spin displaying all sides of it. The
board will continue to spin until another force is acted upon it.
The magnet kit is from a company in the Netherlands. I bought them a year and a half ago while they were still testing the technology,
this particular setup wasn’t cheap but provides a great effect that can’t be matched by another product yet. They don’t ship to the states for liability reasons so I had to use some other methods for getting my hands on these. I also had to modify one of the magnet bases in order to use both sets on one non
moving piece. It will still randomly lose hover so I’m trying to figure out why. Seems to work better with one centralized magnet, which will also let the board spin as you can see in the video. Hopefully I work out the bugs and get everything perfect.










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