Zen Magnets

Zen Magnets

I was already excited by magnets as child.

Attraction and repulsion are very fascinating to me.

I destroyed many things in order to get the contained magnets.

Until recently, I believed that I left magnets behind in my childhood

until I got to know magnetic balls made from Neodymium .

At the beginning, I did not pay much attention to these magnets.

They reminded me of Geomag, with the difference that the bars were missing.

My association was that it was a construction set. But far from it!

During my first attempt to put the shapes, I learnt to really appreciate the magnets.

All shapes failed. What had happened? One single misplaced magnet sphere was enough

to destroy the whole shape…. When putting a single magnet sphere, different ends snapped.

Nevertheless, I gained an important insight:

The Neodymium magnets are classical assemble puzzles.

The point is not to think out new shapes,

but rather to achieve given shapes by placing the magnet spheres.

Complicated shapes can be built by simpler shapes. The most useful and easiest shape

is in my point of view the ring. The rings can be combined to linked or coupled cylinders.

In a two-part coupled chain, the magnet spheres are right one below the other.

The polarity of the magnet spheres is in the respective chains opposed.

In a two-part linked chain, the magnet spheres have the same polarity in the respective chains,

therefore the magnet spheres lay shifted. By pressing a coupled cylinder, you obtain a two-layer cubic solid.

The most useful tool is for me a PVC Card. I use it to disconnect a complicated shape at a particular position.

Moreover, it helps me to connect two shapes at the right place.

I built a cube out of several two-layer cubic solids with the help of a PVC Card.

My magnets are from Zen Magnets. The standard set contains 216 5 mm big magnet spheres.

The magnet spheres are covered with a layer of NiCuNi which gives the magnets their metallic appearance.

The magnets are very strong so that two magnet spheres attract each other already from a distance of 5 cm.

The quality of the magnets is top. Even after extensive use, the coating did not go off.

In addition, there are a microfibre cloth, a velvet bag, a PVC card, a stainless steel plate,

a guide and a MDF hard case contained.

For me it was a completely new experience to play with these magnet spheres.

The puzzle is not only creative, but challenging, as you have to think how to achieve the imagined shape.

The puzzle is very absorbing, therefore it is in my point of view the perfect desk toy to distract from problems.

P.S.: There is a cool Bra Video at Zenmagnets, which is worth watching.

You can buy the Zen Magnets on the official website.