Make your own compass

The compass is an important part of many people's everyday life to show the direction of the poles - also for us in the magnet industry.

But did you know that you can make your own compass of max. 10 minutes?

No task is too geeky for us as long as it has something to do with magnetism. So of course we have thrown ourselves into a homemade compass, and here are our best tips and tricks for a DIY compass.

How to make your own compass

You need these things:

• 1 sewing needle
• 1 bar magnet (neodymium)
• 1 bowl of water
• 1 small piece of flamingo or thin piece of wood that can float

It takes less than 10 minutes from start to finish , unless you have to stop by an aunt and get a sewing needle or get water from a well...

It should be said that you can use any neodymium magnet for the project, but if you want to make it easy for yourself, a bar magnet is much easier to hold on to.

How to do it :

The first step is to make the needle magnetic, and this is done most easily by laying the needle down on the table (hold it with a finger). Then take a bar magnet and run it over the needle in the same direction and up into a D. See the illustration below where we've photoshopped it all out of proportion to highlight the needle and what to do with the magnet to get it right result.

It is important to keep the magnet in the same direction so that the needle is "swiped" with the same pole from one end to the other , and when you reach the other end, you pick up the magnet and start at one end again. Do this 20-30 times (the more times, the better the result).

Take your bowl of water and place the small piece of flamingo or wood on the surface of the water. Then place the needle at the top of the plate and let it rest. When it is stationary, you will have the needle pointing north and south.

How do you know what is north / south of the needle?

You often need to make your own compass when you don't already have one, so it's no use having to measure North and South on the needle with another compass.

Use the sun:
You may possibly use the sun as a guide: "In the East the sun rises, in the West it sets". East is to the right and West is to the left, and then you can easily calculate North and South and mark your compass.

Use a map:
If it is cloudy, you can also use a map as a guide for the 4 corners of the world. However, it requires that you have an idea of ​​where you are. But let's say you're at home. If you place the map in the same direction as your path points, you will be able to see the corners of the world indicated on the map, and then your home-made compass will show the rest, after which you can mark with North etc. on the compass plate floating in the water.