I’ve long been fascinated by phyllotaxy – the arrangement of leaves along a stem.
Making the magnetic trees
I encountered several challenges along the way. I thought I’d describe those here in case anyone winds up making these fun little things. The first problem I encountered was finding a means of holding the dowel while I drilled out the center of it so it could sit on the “trunk.” The dowels kept spinning once the drill bit was about a quarter inch in, which burned the bottoms. I was able to successfully drill a few of the first ones, but once the sides were smoothed out they were able to spin easier. The next problem was that I opted for a 1/4″ trunk and the dowel I initially bought was 3/4″ in diameter. This meant that the walls of it were just 1/4″ thick, which wasn’t enough to support the cylinder while I was drilling it (particularly if a growth ring cut through it). I solved the first problem by building a jig with a groove cut through it that I could then clamp tight to grip the dowels in place while I drilled. I also moved up to 1″ diameter dowls so it had 1/2″ walls. This worked much better.
- Mark out 1″ dowel at 3/4″ intervals (accounting for 1/8″ kerf of blade).
- Also marked out middle of each interval
- Drilled cross holes for branches running the diameter of the dowel at the mid-point of the length
- Cut dowels down to 3/4″ long
- Sanded edges to smooth them out (this reduces friction allowing the repelling force of the magnets to overcome static friction)
- Drilled center hole with 3/8″ bit fit onto the 1/4″ trunk dowel
- Drilled 1/4″ hole into base, then fit 1/4″ dowel into this
- Glued magnets into the holes for the branches
- Observed results!!
