Does anyone know of a device like the movement of a solenoid but is in two pieces. For example, a command is sent and the two pieces (about 2cm away) are attracted and another command causes them to repel. Is this a relay/electromagnet? Was hoping to use arduino to control it. Thanks
Correct...magnets are similiar to what I imagine but with magnets, it's difficult to control the attraction/repulsion without turning the magnets around.
If I could try asking again, hopefully in a more clear manner, is there something simple like two pieces of magnets that could attract/repel that is controlled by an arduino. I am trying to make a platform move up and down in the z-axis but wanted to do it without stepper motors or solenoids, which is one piece that slides up and down. :-[
I see what was confusing....yes, we only need something to move in a fixed distance, about 1 centimeter everytime. Agree that the solenoid may work but it's bulky and would work by physically pushing/pulling an element up and down. I thought there might be a relay?/electromagnet? that could send an attractive/repulsive forces to pull up/down another piece which was glued to a magnet...I think this would be more elegant...there must be a solution to this, no? I thought I saw something like this in 3rd grade, but like back then knew nothing about electronics! :-?
What you're describing is basically a solenoid
The spring holds the plunger in place until you enable the electromagnet and it slides the plunger towards it, when power is removed the spring pushes the plunger back into place
like a speaker? it would take a lot of current (the voice coil would be 4 or 8 ohms) but that might displace ~1cm (if you got a big enough speaker) and the voice coil and speaker don't attach by a rod.
You could also just take a permanent magnet and wind your own coil.
If you need to attract and repel a magnet, then get or make an electro magnet and connect it to an h-bridge. If your gizmo needs to be small, then you may be able to use components from a small relay.
To me... I think it depends on if you need to do something like slide a rod left or right or actually repel... like move a ball on a pinball machine.