There's GOT to be a modeling application for this...

[DKS]

At the moment, it's nothing but a novelty. But I believe there must be some worthwhile applications for this technology. At the very least, a sophisticated roadway system for N and Z scales? Boxes moving on conveyors in an N scale UPS facility? Sub-Z or even sub-T applications? The mind boggles...

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/02/amazing-linear-propulsion.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890

I've ordered a "developer's kit" from the manufacturer, incidentally. Available here:

http://www.idlmotors.com/page.php?g=14

[Sokramiketes]

Holy smokes!  With the magnets on the vehicles, is this some sort of "marching marquee magnetism" in the track? 

This solves the problems of small scale trains... no more continuity problems between tiny wheels and dirty rails, no more problems jamming a motor in a T-scale hood unit. 

Astounding. 

[davefoxx]

Fascinating!  Now, about those globes they show with the small oval of track and running train: What do you do to "rerail" the train, when some jerk shakes the globe like it's a snow globe?  ;D

[DKS]

A T Gauger posted this on Talking T Gauge:

I ordered one of these also. However, I believe the unit I received is defective. All the cars did was jiggle back and forth for a few seconds, then flip off the track.

This is pretty spectacular...

[rswinnerton]

A T Gauger posted this on Talking T Gauge:

I ordered one of these also. However, I believe the unit I received is defective. All the cars did was jiggle back and forth for a few seconds, then flip off the track.

This is pretty spectacular...

So it was either a CSX or PC train then? Most prototypical.....

Seriously though, this is awesome. Imagine if someone made a 'standard' 4 wheel chassis and different car superstructure to go on top.  Maybe some kind of computer generated randomizer so they run at different intervals. Could be sweet!

[DKS]

I can imagine a system of sectional streets that connect like snap track. Could program intersections with synchronized stoplights and such. Makes my head explode thinking of all the possibilities.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

I'm thinking Monorail with this system...but your right, if a two way road system can be worked out using this stuff then we solved one of the last great problems in model railroading...working vehicles in Z that don't require the kind of mechanical Rube Goldburg set up.  Pricing?

At the moment, it's nothing but a novelty. But I believe there must be some worthwhile applications for this technology. At the very least, a sophisticated roadway system for N and Z scales? Boxes moving on conveyors in an N scale UPS facility? Sub-Z or even sub-T applications? The mind boggles...

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/02/amazing-linear-propulsion.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890

I've ordered a "developer's kit" from the manufacturer, incidentally. Available here:

http://www.idlmotors.com/page.php?g=14

[DKS]

I'm thinking Monorail with this system...but your right, if a two way road system can be worked out using this stuff then we solved one of the last great problems in model railroading...working vehicles in Z that don't require the kind of mechanical Rube Goldburg set up.  Pricing? Pricing?

$40 for the "experimenter's kit" seen in the vid. Could get a bit steep for a substantial highway system, but I'm chatting with the developer about this.

I thought about monorails, too, but I still think other methods are practical for monorails.

[sizemore]

I can imagine a system of sectional streets that connect like snap track. Could program intersections with synchronized stoplights and such. Makes my head explode thinking of all the possibilities.

Exactly what I was thinking. This reminds me of the old Faller Car System which is still produced today, same concept, different application.

The S.

[DKS]

I believe the unit I received is defective. All the cars did was jiggle back and forth for a few seconds, then flip off the track.

Heard from the mfg. The unit I received was indeed defective. Replacement is on the way...

[Alaska Railroader]

Mine is also on the way. Had to have one, can think of applications already but will stay mum until I've made it work for me. I did contact the guy about his bullet train but it is, according the the gentleman, a long way to production. Darn lack of funding ruins a lot of ideas from becoming reality...

[sirenwerks]

What, no switches?

[Alaska Railroader]

Got my toy, er, serious nano train in the mail today. As I am typing this post it is circling my mouse with not a whole lot of room to spare. Very tiny and most certainly very intriguing. Taking into consideration that this concept is still in its infancy I am willing to say it is a somewhat smooth runner for having no rails and purely invisible power, albeit this mini train must run at the higher speed to achieve the "smoothness".  Its still a little too jerky when going slow but given time and you animation guys' magic touch it will be a winner soon enough.

If you can block the look of the bulky power pack and too short cable from your view it isn't too difficult to imagine this new mechanism becoming a major animation accessory in the Z scale future. I know I will be getting another one and will be using it sooner than later. I recommend this to you for fun and experimentation.

Looking forward to seeing how you guys adapt this critter into something bigger.

[Philip H]

I'm thinking it would be great for an O scale recreation of Marty and Biff on rocket skate boards from Back to the Future.

[DKS]

Got mine back, and it works now. It certainly has potential, but it also has some limitations. One of the biggest limitations is that the surface on which the cars (or whatever) slide must be smooth--too smooth to look natural for a street or road. You can't add a whole lot of thickness to the surface of the track, either; so, we're down to paint or a very thin material such as Mylar as a covering over the supplied track, which is thin green PC board material.

A vehicle must have at least four magnets for it to work. If you use only two, they still move around the track, but they jiggle side to side. This might be great for a bumper-car ride effect, but useless for vehicles. I tried this only because a T Scale automobile is about the size of a cluster of two magnets, and they're already the smallest magnets commercially available.

I received a couple of additional vehicles; they look like a taxi and a bus, although extremely toy-like. The former is just under Z Scale in size, and the bus is almost dead on for T Scale. So, at worst, one could do a moving bus in T.

As for other scales, I don't think the system is powerful enough to move N scale vehicles. Possibly motorcycles, though! It's more appropriate for Z Scale vehicles, although once again the streets would have to be unrealistically slick (post-rainstorm?).

Having said all of that, there are loads of possibilities for amusement park rides and such. Think waterslides, go-carts, bumper cars, etc. Rollercoasters are out because vertical curves are severely limited--the magnets must always remain in good proximity to the track.

Working N Scale garden railroads might be an option.

A monorail is another possibility, although given the girth of a real monorail rail, there are other methods that would likely be easier and cheaper to employ than this--think larger magnets mounted on a plastic chain inside a hollow tube.

One oddity I noticed is that it works with either side of the track facing up. This doesn't offer any modeling advantage that I can see, other than if it were made into a sectional track-like system, pieces could be flipped over for more flexibility.

A couple of other things I noticed... the track actually gets a little warm, which suggests the control unit is pumping a fair bit of current through it. Also, the switch controlling the speed behavior only works if it's thrown before powering the unit. Even then, the "random speeds" setting has some really odd behavior: it runs fast, then slow, then stops, then resumes at a steady speed from then on, with no further changes. Sometimes, though, it just stops, and you need to reboot it. So the controller does have issues. I'll be anxious to throw the controller output on an oscilloscope, because I'm sure it would not be hard to wire up a custom controller.