Ferrofluid Motion Documentation

Day 2
2021/11/09

Structure layout:

Mapping the Qie Media logo to a 24 x 21 grid sheet

Magenets：3mm (d) x 2mm (h)
Quantity: 24 x 21 = 504
The whole design: 72mm x 63mm

Day 3
2021/11/10

Prototype 1.0 magnets layout tryout with Ferrofluid toy

Question: Why the Ferrofluid is not evenly distributed?

Thought 1: Because when the magnets stick together, they are counted as one big magnet, and the magnetic field is strongest at the poles.

Thought 2: 3mm magnet is not strong enough for this glass.

Solution 1: all the magnets need to keep distance
Solution 2: try stronger magnets / thinner glass

In the updated plan, the size of the logo should be somewhere between: 96 x 84 mm - 168 x 147 mm

It is very hard to find a rectangle glass container with a sealed top, and just the right size.
There are 4 potential solutions:

A. find a container that is bigger than expected, add a frame outside to trim the container
   - need extra Ferrofluid and suspension liquid
   - need stronger magnets
B. cut and glue 6 pieces of glass together
   - not sure where I can cut glass
   - It might take days for the glass glue to dry
C. use a round container
   - need extra Ferrofluid and suspension liquid
   - image might get distorted
   - the magnets layout will not be flat
D. split the “screen into parts”
   - not sure how it would look when two containers connect together
   - image might get distorted

Day 4
2021/11/11

Container 1.1 Suspension Liquid

Container is a very challenging parts.
The Ferrofluid can easily stick on the glass, and the stain won’t go away.

To avoid that, we need:
1: smooth glass surface
2: a suspension fluid that maintains the viscosity of the ferrofluid

After researching, I decided to try the following two methods:
1. salt water 4 hrs, adding Ferrofluid
2. sodium per-carbonate + water for 2 hrs, pour out, salt water for 2 hr, adding Ferrofluid
Result: using sodium per-carbonate is necessary

Day 5
2021/11/12

Container 1.2 Test Tube Imagery with 16 x 16 grid
The result doesn’t look good, since the tube already distort the image, the tubes do not connect well.

Container 1.3 Self-made Glass Container

I tried a bunch of ready-made glass containers and now decide to build my own.

Day 6
2021/11/13

After the glue was dry, I put sodium per-carbonate water into it for 7 hours, and salt water into it for another 7 hours.

Day 7
2021/11/14

Container test

Day 8
2021/11/15

Prototype 1.4

The side of the magnets and the distance between each other decided if the ferrofluid can be attached on the whole pattern.

Prototype 1.5

Question for the next steps:
1. Shall I fill in the logo? with more magnets?
2A. How does it animates?
2B. Is it just an animation? Or shall I make it more interactive?

Day 9
2021/11/16

Prototype 1.6
The deadline was extended (11/19/2022originally）, and we agreed on bringing more interactive sense into the animation.

Three possible directions:

A. Hand
Hand is the most obvious one. Without the solid background, viewers will be able to see the hand movement behind the glass.
Question: How to make magnets move, without attach to each other?

B. Eye
The middle part of the QM logo is an eye, so I thought it’s a neat direction. Can I stick magnets around my eyes and control the ferrofluid by blinking?

C. Mouth
Lick on the glass? Lip movement?

Eye test failed:
Because human face is not flat, some magnets are closer to the glass, and some are further.

Prototype 2.0 Electromagnet

Day 10 - 11
2021/11/17 - 2021/11/18

Electromagnets Test - Failed

Here’s what I’ve tried:
- thin / thick copper wire
- 3mm-dimension nails / 4mm-dimension long Ikea wrench
- 5v Arduino power supply / 9v battery
- different resistance

the 4mm-dimension is too thick (especially need to leave extra space in between), but the 3mm is not strong enough.

For different copper wire, the one on the left is too thick and very hard to make the coils tight, but the thinner one doesn’t work as good.

The 5v Arduino power supply is not strong enough, I switch to 9v battery. And I have to add resistance, other wise Arduino will just shut down (self-protection), and the 9v battery gives me sparks.
I tried different resistances, when it goes down to 10, my wire melted. And even for that, the magnetic force wasn’t strong enough to pick up the ferrofluid.

So the biggest problems here are the size of iron and power supply. I could just get an adjustable DC power supply, but for making a switch using human body, it’s not safe. I decided not to waste time on this method.

Take a step back, we can still solve the ferrofluid motion problem by physically change the location of the magnets. The movement is not random, it’s making the magnets either getting closer or further to the glass. Hence, we need motor:

plan 1: I ordered some mini push pull solenoids. I’ve never used those, but worth trying. The biggest problem is they’re too expensive.

plan 2: A cheaper way would be to make a Linear Servo Actuator out of our regular servo motor.

Day 12
2021/11/19

Linear servo actuator failed. The 3D printed parts did not fit.

Solenoid test successed.

Direction B Eye process:
1. Cut out an eye shape on the middle of the white foam board
2. When the eye blinks, it triggers the magnets movement.

Day 13 - 14
2021/11/20 - 2021/11/21

Magnet Sheet Test - Failed
My best guess would be, the original fridge magnet I used was one-piece, which has a very organized magnetic field. But by cutting a whole magnet into pieces, their magnetic field automatically rearranged and became very chaotic.

Eye blink animation failed

1. Solenoid
By making AB forward (dark), and CD backward (empty). I knew it won’t look like eye blink as soon as I saw the prototype.

2. Servo Motor
I like the structure a lot but sadly it does not look like eye-blink to me.

Day 15
2021/11/22

Looking back, it is very inefficient of me making structure first and then look at the animation. Need to do it other way around.

Animation Exploration

Lighting Exploration

Day 16
2021 / 11 / 23

Motion Pitch from Qieer:

Day 17 - Day 25
2021/11/24 - 2021/12/2

1. New container
2. Key frame feasibility
3. Building structures to control magnets by hands

updated motion pitch

Day 33
2021 / 12 / 10

Deliver.