Feel Flux - Skill Set: A Scientific Toy that Feels Like Magic (Grey)

This does exactly what you expect it to do. If you’re looking at this thinking “what does it do?” then YouTube it. If you see videos of it in action and still don’t really understand why someone would want it, then it’s probably not for you.A few common complaints addressed:- “It’s expensive for what it is.”There’s no denying it is costly and it does only have one simple function. If you don’t have the money to burn for a fascinating party trick, then I wouldn’t invest. Yes, of course I would love if it was half the price (who wouldn’t?), but given the materials (ie the purity of the copper and the bespoke magnet which I was unable to find identically elsewhere) and the love that’s gone into this, as well as the extensive research the makers have clearly put in to provide us with the best possible experience... I understand why it’s priced the way it is.- “You can make one yourself with just a piece of copper pipe and a magnet”Yes, you CAN, but it won’t work quite as well as this one for the following reasons:1. The thicker the copper pipe, the better the effect and the slower the magnet will fall. For it to work as well as this one does you would need a copper pipe of equal thickness (around 1cm) which are surprisingly hard to come across.2. Standard copper pipe is less pure. It’s around 99.9% compared to the 99.99% of the Feelflux, which gives it around 85% of the conductivity of this product, meaning the magnet will not fall as slowly in a pipe of the same dimensions.That being said, if you could get your hands on a very pure copper pipe of such diameter (or make one yourself by winding up lots of copper wire or sheet copper), here’s a few tips regarding the magnet.1. The strongest magnets work the best so you want to go for the highest grade (N52) of Neodymium magnet. You can get N55 but it’s hard to come across a decent sized one at the moment.2. Cylinder sized magnets are easier to find than decent ball magnets. Ideally you want it to be reasonably close to the size of the internal pipe diameter. So for a 30mm inside diameter you want a cylinder with a diameter of around 25mm (these are the same measurements as the Feelflux)3. Bigger magnets are stronger, but once you go past the cylinder being as wide as it is tall (25mm x 25mm), the excess magnet doesn’t really add much more besides extra weight (which we don’t want) when it comes to this experiment. Therefore a cylinder (or ball) that is equal measurements wide and tall is ideal.So yes, you could make one yourself, but for all the time, expense and labour involved, it hardly seems worth it, and you’ll probably be left with a far less aesthetic looking end product. Still, if you don’t care about that, then sure, go for it.Back to the Feel Flux... here’s a few important points.1. THE COPPER WILL TARNISH AND DENT. That’s what copper does, so whilst it looks super shiny when it’s new, it will start to patina after a couple of days of human contact and the magnet will knock little dents into it each time you drop it onto one of the sides (these are purely superficial). Be aware of this in advance, it doesn’t look brand new for very long.2. THIS IS NOT A CHILDS TOY. The copper pipe itself is surprisingly heavy (800g or so), and the magnet is incredibly strong, deceptively so for its size and dangerously so for young fingers. Yes young children can play with this, but only with supervision and away from any metal objects.So to sum up:For what it is, I think it’s a great product, and personally, I absolutely love it. It’s been fascinating me and my wife regularly since I bought it, and I’ll be showing it off to every single man woman and child (with supervision of course) who walks through my door. The effect doesn’t wear off with time, so you can pass this down from generation to generation if you feel so inclined.A fascinating little gadget, which personally I will never get bored of.

Beautifully made and an excellent example of Lenz’s Law. Every other Engineer at work was not in the least bit surprised, ha ;) But to every non-Engineer “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” :)

Looks very good and nice but its is very big, and low quality!Clearly not worth the price!!!But it is entertaining me when I am board!

Amazing toy

I bought this as a gift for my son and he loves it, very high quality unusual gift.

These are a fantastic science toy. The slowness of the ball as it drops through the aluminium is quite bizarre, and it makes sense to get the two tubes, as with this kit as this leads to tricks, and even just stacking the tubes means you get twice the distance and time for the ball to drop. Highly recommended.

The copper flux tube is noticeably slower, but having two tubes turns this one into a toy. I love it and it really does amaze people, even those who remember their physics and know how this works.

After 5 minutes of playing with the flux and teaching my children about eddy currents, I noticed there were already alot of dints and marks where the magnet had made contact with the aluminium tubes. Anyone who has worked with materials will know Aluminium is a very soft metal, so not a good design choice in my opinion. I believe a rubber covering over the top of the flux would be beneficial.