What Is the Hexagon Sculpture?
In this video Papa Bale shows off something a little different from his usual pure-performance experiments — a hexagonal arrangement of magnetic discs that functions as both an art piece and a physics demonstration. It looks more like a sculpture than a traditional pulse motor experiment, but it moves, and that movement tells a story about magnetic force.
The setup uses multiple discs of varying sizes stacked on a vertical pole, with ring magnets (ferrite donut magnets) positioned at the outside poles. The result is a structure that levitates, wobbles, and spins — all from permanent magnet interactions alone.
Ring Magnets: Lifting vs Pulling
One of the key insights Papa Bale demonstrates is the dual role ring magnets can play depending on orientation. In this hexagon build, some of the ring magnets are set up to lift — pushing upward against the disc above them. Others, based on the disc configuration, end up pulling toward the disc.
This push/pull duality is one of the most useful properties of ferrite donut magnets in disc-based levitation experiments. By carefully choosing the facing of each ring magnet, you can tune how much lift versus how much attraction exists at each pole position. Too much pull and the disc will slam down; too much push and it flies off the pole.
Papa Bale is still dialing this in on the hexagon sculpture — and that's the point. It's a live experiment, not a finished product.
The Levitation Pillow Effect
At one point in the video, Papa Bale pauses to appreciate the moment: "Look at that — it's just resting on a pillow with magnetic energy." This is one of the most vivid descriptions of levitation you'll find in amateur magnet experimentation.
The levitation pillow is the zone of repulsive magnetic force between two similarly-oriented disc surfaces. When all the magnets on a disc face the same direction, the opposing field between adjacent discs creates a uniform, cushion-like zone of repulsion. The upper disc floats in this zone — not touching, just resting on invisible energy.
This is fundamentally different from conventional bearings. There's no contact, no friction surface, and no wear. The disc simply floats. The trade-off is that the system is sensitive to alignment — any tilt or off-center force and the disc will drift sideways or latch to the pole.
Stability and Wobble
The hexagon sculpture struggles a bit with stability. Papa Bale acknowledges it: there's notable wobble, and noise from the discs as they oscillate. This is a common challenge when stacking multiple discs. Each disc introduces its own magnetic interaction with the ones above and below it, and if those interactions aren't symmetric, wobble is the result.
The hole alignment issue Papa Bale mentions — where two sandwiched discs have holes that don't perfectly align — is a real engineering constraint. Even a millimeter of offset can cause the combined disc unit to precess around the pole rather than spinning cleanly. The fix is either tighter tolerances in disc fabrication or using an adhesive to lock the disc pair into perfect alignment before mounting.
Adding weight to the system, as Papa Bale attempts, is an interesting approach. More mass increases rotational inertia, which can smooth out wobble once the disc is spinning. However, it also increases the gravitational load that the magnetic levitation must overcome.
Spinning Multiple Discs
Papa Bale tries to get the six-inch disc spinning, noting it "looks like it wants to move the other one." This hints at a concept he explores in other experiments: can one spinning disc induce rotation in a neighboring disc through magnetic coupling alone?
In theory, if the magnetic fields of adjacent discs overlap in an asymmetric way, rotation in one could create a torque impulse in the other. It's a fragile effect — easily overwhelmed by friction and alignment issues — but it's a real phenomenon. Papa Bale is probing the edges of what's possible with simple permanent magnet geometry.
Lessons Learned
The hexagon sculpture might not be Papa Bale's longest-running experiment, but it demonstrates several important principles. First, that magnetic levitation is achievable with simple disc-and-pole geometry even at complex multi-disc scales. Second, that stability requires careful attention to hole alignment, magnet orientation, and weight distribution. Third, that "not the best but looks cool" is a completely valid experimental outcome — aesthetics and physics can coexist.
Every Papa Bale experiment — even the wobbly ones — adds to the body of knowledge about how permanent magnets behave in these configurations. The sculpture is a testament to hands-on learning: you don't need a lab to explore magnetic physics.
