SMAKS

Sequentially Magnetically Activated Kinetic Sculpture

Gigi Mancuso-Jackson, Jeremy Wenger, Liv Dawes, Myles Lack-Zell, Rajiv Perera

Project Objectives

SMAKS is a desktop sculpture with a magnet contained inside a tube that launches back and forth. Our goals for this project was to create an aesthetically pleasing electromagnetic art piece. We wanted something that could realistically be used inside the home so it needed to be small and quiet. Additionally, we wanted to build our own electromagnets and achieve good control of the projectile magnet inside the tube.

Sprint 1

We used the first iteration of SMAKS to test if our idea of making our own electromagnets to move a projectile in a tube as a desktop kinetic sculpture was feasible.

learn more

Sprint 2

For the second iteration, we built an enclosure, increased the number of solenoids to 3 (intended to be 4), and switched from relays to MOSFETS since the relays required power from the Arduino to stay off and made a loud noise when they clicked on. We laser-cut a plywood and MDF box to hold the electronics and used plywood supports to hold up a horizontal length of acrylic tube used as the track for the magnet.

learn more

Final Iteration

For the current iteration of SMAKS, we switched from a horizontal, straight, tube, to an arc. In order to do this, we had to bend our acrylic tube, figure out how to secure it, and add more solenoids to accelerate the magnet against gravity.

learn more