The "gold rod" setup
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The above two pictures are of the "gold rod" setup, which was discovered roughly in February of 2000; through simple testing of a variety of magnets. The gold colored magnets themselves are magnetically attracted to a piece of 6" length steel (machinist parallel), that is quite flat. Although the pictures above show 12 magnets, a lesser number can be used. The odd looking aluminum base with the set screws, is actually a old Burroughs computer drive plate which held large discs of aluminum with iron oxide for data recording. The sample aluminum foil wrapped around the 1/2 moon shaped (as viewed from the rod end) spectrographic rod is for eddy current dampening; while the raised squarish "flag" is soley representative of use with light and optical sensing of position changes. One positive aspect of this design is that the steel base is totally flat, and that the magnets themselves interact with the levitated graphite to create a stabilized environment. The aluminum base and setscrews are of course necessary for centering the levitated graphite like all seismometers.