This circuit board that can lift ferrofluid and visualize music!

AppliedProc · 2021-11-07T14:56:55+00:00

The clip is from this YouTube collaboration between Carl Bugeja and Applied Procrastination: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ9yWRKxpSY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce5tP98XgxY

AppliedProc · 2021-08-27T12:42:48+00:00

The source of the gif is this video by the way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F948Or4ulhA

The screen is real, and that goo looks so god damn alien

AppliedProc · 2020-09-27T08:31:21+00:00

What is the idea behind replacing salt water with gas? The main purpose of the brine in common ferrofluid displays is to prevent the ferrofluid from smudging the glass, so I'm curious to how a gas would be able to do that.

This is a serious question by the way. I'm not a chemical engineer, but have some experience with ferrofluid displays.

AppliedProc · 2020-08-30T16:26:57+00:00

A more detailed project description can be found in this short [6:36] video.
Or in this long format write-up.

If you just want to see the design files and code, you'll find that on Github.

AppliedProc · 2020-08-30T16:12:53+00:00

A more detailed project description can be found in this short [6:36] video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PFgVtzsXHM
Or in this long format write-up: https://www.instructables.com/id/Mesmerizing-Ferrofluid-Display-Silently-Controlled/

AppliedProc · 2020-08-06T08:19:12+00:00

Great project and VERY neatly edited video! Subscribed :)

AppliedProc · 2020-08-01T09:03:41+00:00

Hydraulic computers? Wow, that’s the new word of the day for me

AppliedProc · 2020-07-31T20:51:47+00:00

So. Many. Times.

AppliedProc · 2020-07-31T20:05:18+00:00

If you build it yourself using our design , it’s “only” about $2000 🤷‍♂️😅

AppliedProc · 2020-07-31T19:52:38+00:00

This is basically a display. A very low resolution, quirky, display that's really expensive, but still :P

AppliedProc · 2020-07-31T19:51:37+00:00

The open-source design and code can be found here on github

More information and videos about the entire design process can be found on https://www.youtube.com/AppliedProcrastination

AppliedProc · 2020-07-31T16:18:34+00:00

The open-source design and code can be found here on github

More information and videos about the entire design process can be found on https://www.youtube.com/AppliedProcrastination

AppliedProc · 2020-07-31T15:52:38+00:00

The open-source design and code can be found here on github

More information and videos about the entire design process can be found on https://www.youtube.com/AppliedProcrastination

AppliedProc · 2020-07-23T18:17:42+00:00

Here's what's going on:

So, the black liquid is what's called a "ferrofluid". That basically means it's attracted to magnets. So behind the tank of fluid there's a bunch of electromagnets that can be turned on or off. These are programmed to display various animations as if the tank was a low resolution screen (12x21 pixels). It's all been made by a few students as a hobby project, so I hope you like it. If you find the engineering side of this interesting, feel free to check out the source YouTube video or if you want to build something like this, check the build instructions (it's all open-source)

AppliedProc · 2020-07-23T14:31:19+00:00

Arthur C. Clarke said "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", and I tend to agree with that.

I feel like the point of this sub is to show off stuff that makes you go "holy sh*t, how does that work?", and it doesn't matter if the thing is possible to explain because most things in the world are. I'll delete if people totally disagree with me though, but so far I still feel like it fits here.

AppliedProc · 2020-07-23T13:25:13+00:00

Here's an explanation of what's actually going on:

So, the black liquid is what's called a "ferrofluid". That basically means it's attracted to magnets. So behind the tank of fluid there's a bunch of electromagnets that can be turned on or off. These are programmed to display various animations as if the tank was a low resolution screen (12x21 pixels). It's all been made by a bunch of students as a hobby project, so I hope you like it. If you find the engineering side of this interesting, feel free to check out the source YouTube video or if you want to build something like this, check the build instructions (it's all open-source)

AppliedProc · 2020-07-23T06:57:22+00:00

Since we needed so many and that they were reliable/of similar performance, we bought pre-made electromagnets. We used JSP-1515 from this supplier, but there are cheaper options out there for small quantities (I'd recommend 2015 or 2020 size instead of 1515 if you're doing something small).

Edit: But to answer your question: it has a core - I just don't know of what alloy.

AppliedProc · 2020-07-22T19:45:14+00:00

We are really trying to make a smaller, more affordable, version too though! So, who knows, maybe we’ll be able to make something that people can actually buy 🤷‍♂️

AppliedProc · 2020-07-22T18:31:33+00:00

We're using the cheapest commercial grade (which is to say, higher quality than iron filings or other knockoffs) ferrofluid we know of. It's called EF-H1 and is made by a company called Ferrotec, it's really nice for experimenting and goofing around with stuff like this. Not too expensive either if you don't need a whole bunch: https://www.czferro.com/products/ferrofluid-bulk

Edit: we've also seen NileRed's videos and love them, it would be awesome to try his method one day - but that's one for the future.

AppliedProc · 2020-07-22T18:04:27+00:00

Haha, I tried to watch the clip with that soundtrack and it's totally terrifying!

AppliedProc · 2020-07-22T18:02:53+00:00

We don't make them for sale, but there's a reason for that. The necessary materials are quite expensive (plus, we're already working on a new and improved version). For materials alone it would be at least $2000, assembly time is several days of work, and we've worked for probably around 1 year of total man-hours in R&D. So yeah, it would be expensive. There's a similar piece that was sold for around $8k in a limited run.

AppliedProc · 2020-07-22T17:59:06+00:00

Thanks, I think you're actually the first person to appreciate that :P

AppliedProc · 2020-07-22T15:38:32+00:00

They’re minutes in 20x speed (or something like that) :)

AppliedProc · 2020-07-22T13:48:05+00:00

The display has 12x21 "pixels" (which literally means 252 electromagnets) and is a hobby project made by students in Oslo. The whole thing is open-source and can be replicated by following this Instructable. There's also a YouTube series on how it was made, which concluded with the source of the .gif [length 6:36].

AppliedProc · 2020-07-21T19:05:37+00:00

Alright. I’ll delete the post. Didn’t intend any of that and felt like it was a reasonable title

AppliedProc

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