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Levitating CD Player

 A CD player that spins a disk in midair
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By attaching a small ring with fins on it to the outside of a CD, it should be possible to create a CD drive that uses air to lift the CD an inch or so above the drive, and spin it there. (The economy model could attach a small clamping mechanism to the center of the CD with a "leash wire" limiting the CD's altitude.)

Not very useful, but I'd expect that the Sharper Image would sell out quite quickly.

—tspyz, Apr 25 2002

Levitating Globe http://shop.store.y...niverse/tt-272.html
You could use this sensitive electro-magnetic technoligy to float the cd in the air... [oxygon, Apr 25 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

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       If its only purpose is a "cool factor" then I am "sure" you could pull it off...   

       You would have to attach a small metal ring to the center to use the technoligy in the provided link...   

       I wouldnt use air... to noisy and wastefull of energy...
—oxygon, Apr 25 2002
   

       This all sounds good, and I would probly think it was awesome looking in a sharper image catalog, but one quick question: How would you make it stable enough for the laser to read the tracks?   

       Howabout this: a very thin metal pole (think 1/32") that stabalizes and spins the disc? That way the laser could stay in the base and still read the disc (adjusting for focus, of course)
—JackandJohn, Feb 05 2003
   

       It might actually need to be a powerful magnet ring... I don't know exactly what amazing maglev technology this thing uses, but I've seen two similar ways of doing it. One involves a feedback circuit and electromagnets, the other diamagnetism(I think).   

       But it would look really cool! Especially if you attached funky colored lights or lasers that reflect off the bottom of the CD to make a light show... Build in a mist generator and you're all set to fire up that bowl!
—Crazy Bastard, Feb 05 2003
   

       I've seen those globes. They're neat to look at, but not all that useful. Sort of like this idea.   

       I bet the same people who bought the globes would buy this.
—galukalock, Feb 05 2003
   

       If I had that kind of money to burn on levitating globes, I'd buy stuff that I could build one with and waste my time tinkering with that and learning the relevant physics.   

       I am sooo lazy though.
—Crazy Bastard, Feb 06 2003
   

       Say, what you could do is just have a white light or laser or whatever shining from the device, but have the cd have intricate coloring embedded in the plastic(while still letting it be readable by the laser), to manipulate the reflection of the shiny light. That way you could "program" the way the light changes as the cd spins. It could develop into a whole new art form :-P
—Crazy Bastard, Feb 09 2003
   

       I think this could be baked and i'd buy one:) the Globes work with an electromagnet on top and a hall effect sensor underneath when the hall effect sensor senses the magnet in the globe falling it applies more power to the electromagnet up top, I figure the hall effect sensor could also be used to control the focus of the laser compensating for the disk bouncing around a bit. You would need some type of magnet setup to put in the hub of the cd, then there is the problem on how to spin it. The diamagnetic setup could also be used but considering diamagnetic force is so weak you would probably need to enclose the whole unit in a case. Anyway the idea is kinda baked the other way around in hard disks only thing is the read heads are levitating and not the disks.
—mawgadog, Sep 19 2005
   


 

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