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Is anyone aware of a similar device to the M5 etc but which is electronic and can be turned on and off with a switch?

If you know what the M5 is then you'll get what I'm referring to... just dont think i've seen any portable, concealable ones.

Does such a thing exist or should i patent the idea! hehe

Thanks,

Nick

nah - cuz the m5 works on polarity you cant switch it on and off - like a compass. you cant switch that.

not possible im afraid

i know that.... but you can create a similar effect with a few bits and bobs from a diy or hobby store... such as wire, batteries, iron etc

I have an M5 you see and it can cause embarassment when you dont want it to so i was hoping an elctro-m might be available instead.... think electric touch meets the M5.

I'm trying not to expose, but I'm thinking a portable yet powerful solenoid.

an electro magnet would have to charge i believe and would take a while to get its "power" high enough - though i may be wrong

also, would you need to have it a lot bigger to generate that amount of power?

man...it has been a long time since i last did physics.....

ha ha yes me too... and i was never good at physics anyway!?!

I've been trying to do a bit of research about the strength of elctros v's NIB's but cannot find anything, hence my hope someone knew of something .

Will hsve to keep searching

An electro magnet is an instant on/off. Add a current to a coil of wire wrapped around a suitable former, and you have instant attraction.

Depending on the power you need to generate, you need a fair old current and quite a large rig up to emulate something the size of an M5.

Unless this device could be easily hidden it's impractical—which is why it's not been done before I guess.

Using a soft iron core, the power of an electro version would depend on how many turns of copper wire were used, more copper wire = more attractive power. Then comes the question of voltage being used used - a 12v car battery and something like 3" diameter of windings when turned on and placed on a suitable metal surface be just about impossible to remove - Robert Houdini used this principle a while ago to impress the 'Arabs of Algeria' and prove French magic to be more powerful than the local variety. If you plan on wearing this gizmo you'd have to compromise on battery size and therefore voltage which would reduce the power but fairly impressive results can still be obtained with 4.1/2 volts as long as you can conceal the rest of the apparatus.

Higher voltage doesn't mean more power... two things govern the force: more turns or more current.

A small 12v camera battery has nowhere near the current of a 12v car battery—although the two have the same voltage.

Generally, more current means a bigger battery.

As an example, I have actually built an apparatus (geek time) which was inspired by the mentalism effect whereby you coax a spectator into thinking you've used powers of the mind to make them temporarily weak... in my example, I devised an electromagnet which sits under a tabletop. The effect involves the spectator picking up a deck of playing cards (which has a large sheet of steel inside).
At first attempt, it's easy, as the magnet is off. On their next attempt, after 'waving my wand', they find it heavy, and near impossible to lift—if at all.

Now, bearing in mind the power needed, to get this to work at all, I actually had 4 x 9v 'old fashioned torch' batteries (the ones with the springs on top) wired in parallel on a home-wound core. Even that was barely enough to cause the effect desired.

I guess that everything is possible, and someone more experienced in windings and efficiency could produce a better effect, but it's portability is what I'd be worried about.

cards4magic have some metal cards (that dont look magnetic) for around 8 quid...bridge size, with a red marble back...

ugly, but they stick like a demon with an M5...

I was basing my comments on those good old General Science lessons at school, where a commercially made electro was demonstrated using a 12v car battery - 12v camera batteries were way off in the future at that time! In comparison we had to make our own versions using a soft iron nail and copper wiring which, when compared to the school one were very low power but they also illustrated that using our own 4.1/2v flat 'torch' batteries (the ones with the two brass strip connectors!) on the school electro would still work but at a reduced attraction due, so we were told, to the lower voltage. Would amperage be an important factor as well?

You are all geeks !!

just kidding.. just trying to make myself feel better as I dont know what the hell you are talking about.

An elecro magnet.. i just assume that its totally impractical due to all the stuff I imagine would be required..

if your m5 gets you in a pickle.. make a moment of it.. kind of like Charlie Chaplin .. thats what I did when I got stuck to the esclator in the middle of Debenhams, drew me a small crowd I did and proceeded to perform, just lkepy away from pk effects as the method would have been pre-exposed

[Imagines ID, stuck to rapidly-ascending escalator in Debenhams.]

[....Bursts into shrieks of uncontrollable laughter...]

[....Looks down at spreading dark patch on crotch...]

[Shakes fist furiously]

DAMN YOU, ID

Thanks for the comments... all i want to do is move things through a table, not make things imnpossible to move, so Seige, your apparatus sounds ideal albeit a little too powerful.

I was hoping the power unit could be jacket pocket sized so battery amount isn't a huge problem, with the solenoid strapped to the usual body part or sewn into a cargo pants pocket.

...a reed switch would make it even cooler! Might have to disect my electric touch i think .. now where's that work bench?