Dowling Magnets Science Discovery Kit: Magnet Levitation, Magnetic Levitation Train Kit (Science Experiments). Item 731100

Kit saved my life lol Had a catastrophic failure on the homemade one me & my daughter constructed. Had to order this one 2days before the project was due, got her an A so it gets 5 stars from me! Haha

My son was amazed and enjoyed playing/experimenting with the kit.

The idea and the concept behind the Magnets Science Discovery Kit are worthwhile exploring and potentially fun to play with. The major disappointment is the assembly part if one wants to entertain the idea of putting together the MAGLEV. The plastic corners, being 3 on each side, need to be closely aligned and properly spaced to allow for the train to move unhindered, which is a major problem. They need to be glued and aligned on the wood pieces, which also need to be aligned. These plastic corners also tend to bend and warp. A problem that could have been easily solved if, instead of 6 short corner pieces (3 for each side), the kit would include instead 2 long ones. You can mess up things with the glue quite easily since the magnetic strips also need to be glued on the train track which is made out of 4 pieces of wood. If these are not aligned (or stay aligned while mounting the rest), the all thing becomes a huge glue puddle trying to adjust all the pieces in position.

I was having challenges collecting the contents needed for the science project for my son and I found this kit. Everything I needed was in this box. The only thing I replaced was the multiple plastic strips and I bought one long strip from ACE hardware store to replace them. We were able to glide the train smoothly on the tracks.

Got this for my kids science project. Had to get some additional items to finish project. Wish they included everything that's needed. Two sided tape and little stronger magnets would have been helpful. Gave 4 star as it needed additional items to finish project.

I'm sure with machine tool precision, this kit would work, but here are the flaws that most people would would face trying to get this thing to work at home: the magnetic strips will not stay straight, since it is packaged all curled up. So good luck trying to run glue along the whole length of the "tracks" to get this to be absolutely straight. You need to have extreme precision to line up the magnets on the "train" and the "tracks." If it is even 1mm off, it will not work and just frustratingly stick on the tracks rather than floating on top. I cannot fathom someone getting this to work without some precision tools to line up the tracks and the train ever so perfectly to have the train actually levitate. I measured everything out with a ruler to have it line up, but given the warped tracks, it is pretty much impossible. So I would advise not buying - you will spend hours trying to line everything up on a trial and error basis and end up tossing it since it doesn't work.

This worked!!!! Science fair success and a hit!! After trying other brands, I should have bought this one. This kit Uses hi-force strips that are hard to find and it worked like a charm! Last kit I bought from another brand, the magnetic strips were so cheap they didn't repell. There was also great, detailed instructions and even a YouTube video....,fail proof! Awesome product!!! Thank you for making my 10yo the happiest ever when he saw it float!

So…. we tried to build a maglev train on our own and bought this as a backup - thank goodness we did. The pieces it included were way better than we purchased on our own, and somewhat easier to do, but still a HUGE pain. Kids and adults involved all found it extremely difficult to build and the whole process was frustrating and almost led to tears and abandoning the project :( there was also no option to buy replacement parts outside of any entire new kit which was disappointing - so while it ultimately saved our project - i would not give this to someone to build unless they absolutely needed to make a maglev train and could not be talked down - that said, this seems to be the best option if you do attempt this…