http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/tony-hawk-rides-worlds-first-real-hoverboard/
The must have found a source of floatstone.
The must have found a source of floatstone.
Hoverboard
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dusters
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some ppl want to make stuff come true they see in sci-fi films. The boys who have such courage will be remembered. 
Timsup2nothin
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some ppl want to make stuff come true they see in sci-fi films. The boys who have such courage will be remembered.
I' sure there were people wanting to make a hoverboard before it was shown in a movie. I remember 'what if' conversations about miniaturized hovercraft tech from when I was a kid...which predates Marty McFly by a substantial margin. Me and mine never considered a skateboard, as I recall, but only because some sort of hovercraft ATC was more in line with our style. Of course at the time magnetic levitation wasn't even a concept. We were considering the then cutting edge high speed fan air cushion approach.
Holy smokes!
And the kickstarter is funded!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/142464853/hendo-hoverboards-worlds-first-real-hoverboard
And the kickstarter is funded!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/142464853/hendo-hoverboards-worlds-first-real-hoverboard
Timsup2nothin
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Holy cats!!!!!
They are saying that for 300 bucks they will send you a set of hover engines and a small piece of surface to experiment with!!!!
First observation, their tech has to be astonishingly cheap to produce.
Second observation, the classic stepping on a banana peel gag takes on a whole new dimension if you can find a way to slip a genuinely frictionless device under someone's unsuspecting foot.
They are saying that for 300 bucks they will send you a set of hover engines and a small piece of surface to experiment with!!!!
First observation, their tech has to be astonishingly cheap to produce.
Second observation, the classic stepping on a banana peel gag takes on a whole new dimension if you can find a way to slip a genuinely frictionless device under someone's unsuspecting foot.
Yes, $300 and they'll send you a micro version of the technology to play with. That's astoundingly cool
Timsup2nothin
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Micro? I read it as one standard hover engine, the hoverboard appearing to require four. And of course it doesn't mention a size for the sample of hoversurface. At a guess a 'micro version' would be a greater innovation than the promised hover engine.
So, what to do with a hover engine? Obviously it would not make a good paperweight!
gay_Aleks
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Is the science solid? Kickstarter isn't renown for being filled with trustworthy people, what's with the "potato salad" Kickstarter.
Timsup2nothin
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Check the link in the OP. Appears that they have a working prototype.
I just figure it's got to be for a small one. Given the price.
Timsup2nothin
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Upon further examination the 'white box' model has a lift capacity of five pounds.
Still! Repelling off of a copper surface?!? Wow!
Timsup2nothin
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No doubt. And the four engines on that hoverboard have to be rated at least fifty pounds each. I can see a revolution in the world of pallet jacks coming. While the hoverboard is interesting, I think that would be hugely practical. Frictionless movement of materials around a factory floor? Who wouldn't want that?
On the less practical front, if I owned a bar I'd get ten of these little white box development packages, create some sort of shuffleboard like game, and make my bar the famous home of whatever that would be called.
The scientific principles behind it are solid. You can levitate whole trains that way. And to get a working prototype they need to somewhat know what they are doing. That does not necessarily mean they are able to hold up all their promises, but at least it is possible.
It would be interesting to know how high the power consumption is and how long it can stay floating.
Unfortunately, the restriction to highly conductive, non-ferromagnetic surfaces (i.e. copper and maybe aluminum) is going to limit its applications.
Timsup2nothin
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Depends on how thick the copper needs to be. If a reasonably thin layer of copper foil in a substrate is sufficient the flooring won't cost all that much.
I want copper tanks treads that help move a hovertank
Timsup2nothin
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You would only be able to drive it over a paving of their hover engines though.
Unless...
Off on a tangent. Not tanks. Thinking if there would be some advantage to using the hover tech between the tank and the treads...
Leads to...is there some application for this as a shock absorber?
Hard to tell without more details. If you make generous assumptions, copper foil might just about work. Tighten those a bit and there is no way around a real copper plate.
Timsup2nothin
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If you can get by with even a thick foil the cost might not be prohibitive, depending on the value of what you are trying to accomplish of course. Even if you just laid down 'transport lanes' for materials on a factory floor where you could use your frictionless palette jacks, for example.
For regular transport it is going to be hard to beat wheels. If you have something really sensitive to shocks it might be worth it.
Aluminum plates might be more cost effective than thick copper foil, though.
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