>Hi Tony!
>
>Yes, the Levitron is interesting and I tend to ignore all the sales
>pitches about perpetual and ufo....I have the Super Levitron and I as
>well as a lot of my friends have never been able to get it to spin
>more than about 2 seconds
snip
I have had a levitron for a year and have had varied results with it. In
different locations it can be quite difficult to get it to go, but when it
finally does it's amazing.
I took it to show my folks and spent 2 hrs. trying to show it off. In
frustration , and with my fingers worn out from trying to spin it, I used my
left hand and spun it anti-clockwise and it worked every time.
The longest it has spun is just over 2 minutes.
In regard to the perpetuator, I would love one too, but I assume that you
would still have to have the levitron "flying" before you could switch it on
to keep it going.
You have to regularly change the weight on it while trying to get it to go.
The idea seems to be to have just enough weight, that when you lift the
launcher table gently upward, a few mm. at a time , then slowly down, to
find the point where the levitron will float off gently, only rising a few
extra mm.
If it leaps off 5 or 6 or more mm. it will crash pretty smartly. This is
where you find out if the base is level or not. Watch which way it goes and
then wedge up the base to compensate.
I thought I would cheat and use a spirit level to get the base level before
I started, but that was most unsuccesful.
I started to think of all sorts of esoteric reasons as to why the base being
perfectly level didn't help but suspect that it is simply that the field of
the base magnet is not perfectly symetrical, nor could I expect it to be.
Even once it is "flying" well, you regularly have to adjust the weight to
get a succesful launch.
Regards. Roger Weichert.