Levitating Moon Lamp

3D-printed, magnetically levitated, and amazingly detailed.

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Carolyn Donovan and Wan Chi Lau in RainyDayScience // 0 Comments

The surface of the Moon has been studied, photographed, and explored in ever increasing detail since someone first looked up on a clear night a long long time ago.

"When the MOOOOOON
is in the Seventh House,
And Jupiterrrr
Ali-igns wiith Mars..."

Lunar topographic information of great precision are available from the USGS. When 3D printers becoming widely available, some hobbyists succeeded in using the data to create some pretty amazing models of the orb!!! It wasn’t long before commercially made versions of 3D-printed Moons dropped the price to a point where they were quite affordable.

"Then peaaaaace
will guide the pla-anets
And luh-uhve will steer the stars!"

Recently, we came across an enhancement to 3D-printed Moon Lamps which we thought worthy of a mention…a levitating version from LampDepot.

"This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius!"

(which lasts 2,150 years) (as all ages do) (so I’ve been told)

Unpacking

There are three components to the Moon Lamp:

"Harmony and understanding..."

The lamp is ready to go out of the box. The base is a sealed self-contained unit with a Power button, air vents, and an AC connector. A separate AC adapter powers the base to generate the magnetic field needed to levitate the globe.

"Sympathy and trust abou-ounding..."

The directions for levitating the globe are in Chinese, but the diagrams were pretty self explanatory.

"No more falsehoods or derisions..."

It seems obvious now, but we had to figure out for ourselves that the base’s magnetic field had to be turned on first before the globe could be suspended.

At first glance, the surface of the globe doesn’t look like that of the Moon. The reason is, as the globe is lit from the inside, in order for the light/dark areas to appear correct, the brighter areas must be thinner.

"Golden living dreams of visions..."

So the surface is kind of an inverted version where craters are bumps and so forth.

NOTE: The globe is printed using Polylactic Acid (PLA) filament. It is one of the most common 3D printing materials used in the industry and is relatively rugged. However, cracks can develop if roughly handled or dropped.

FirstLook

“Levitating” the globe was a bit tricky on the first go, but we got used to positioning it properly after a few tries. It is difficult to describe exactly how to center the globe in the invisible magnetic field as it is a matter of “feel.”

Once centered properly, the globe will “magically” float in mid-air!

"Mystic crystal revelation..."

The basic approach we took was, with the AC adapter plugged in, to hold the globe in both hands and move the globe around until we could feel it supported on all sides. Once we feel that balance, lower both hands slowly and see if the globe stayed suspended without moving to any one side.

The details of the 3D printed surface is incredible. When lit, it is absolutely like looking at the full moon on a clear crisp night.

Those familiar with lunar geography will be able to see familiar craters, seas, and other features in high definition.

The Power button is touch-sensitive. Light contact with the finger is all that is needed to turn the lamp on/off. It is also how to cycle through the various LED colors (White, Yellow). Simple and effective 🙂

We found this magnetically levitated Moon Lamp to be totally mesmerizing.

"And the mind's true liberation..."

If we were really careful, we could get it to stay absolutely still, but that actually is surprisingly difficult to achieve! Any slight bump in either direction will get it to rotate. The speed can be a slow or fast depending on how hard it was “nudged.”