How to make a simple cardboard compass. Determine north using a homemade compass

A magnetic compass is a strategically important thing in a camping trip, and even more so in emergency survival conditions. That is why you need to know how to wildlife, for example, in the forest, make a homemade compass using only improvised materials: you can never be sure that all the necessary equipment will be at hand in difficult times.

The simplest compass made from improvised materials - here the needle plays the role of an arrow, and the cork and water are needed so that the “arrow” itself experiences practically no resistance.

The Internet and some survival textbooks describe how to create a homemade compass, however, a careful analysis of this information revealed many inaccuracies, misconceptions and outright stupidity in them. Therefore, I propose to consider not only how a compass can be made, but also to understand the many misconceptions associated with this very popular topic.

How to make a homemade compass

Speaking about the design of a homemade compass, one could simply give an algorithm for its creation and end there. However, it seems to me that despite the simplicity of this approach, this limits the reader in diversity and makes him look at the issue narrowly, excluding the possibility of improvisation in a situation where it becomes necessary to make a compass with his own hands.

In this regard, I propose to consider not a specific algorithm for creating a compass, but its stages, which could be discussed in more detail, understanding their essence and subtleties, and thereby fully revealing their potential.

So, the whole process of creating a compass is divided into several stages:

At the very beginning, a search is made for an object that will act as an arrow.
At the second stage, the magnetization of this object occurs.
Then the homemade compass needle is provided with the conditions of least friction so that it can turn, located along lines of force Earth's magnetic field and indicate the direction of magnetic north and south.

If necessary, for the correct operation of the arrow, wind protection is used, because you will most likely have to work with such a compass not at home, but in nature, where windy weather is the norm.

By the way, one of the first compasses that appeared in Europe was a magnetized needle floating on a cork in a vessel with water.

compass needle material

To create a primitive means of navigation, which is a magnetic compass, you need to have an object made of a ferromagnet - a material that is capable of possessing magnetic properties in the absence of an external magnetic field. Such a material is easy to determine by bringing a permanent magnet to it - ferromagnets will be easily magnetized.

In fact, diamagnets can also interact with a magnetic field, but for this you need to create a very strong magnetic field. For example, there is a well-known experiment where a frog levitates in a magnetic field. It is shown in the video:

The well-known "household" ferromagnets are mainly products made of iron and its alloys. Items such as a nail, steel knife and scissors, safety pin, a sewing needle and a fishhook are all ferromagnetic products, and they are all suitable for a homemade arrow.

The most convenient of them will be those that have a smaller mass and size. This will become quite obvious when we consider the following steps.

However, in the absence of a miniature "arrow", it is quite possible to use more cumbersome options.

Considering the subsequent steps, for example, imagine that a sewing needle was chosen as a magnetic needle - the most popular version of the arrow for a homemade compass.

Magnetization of an impromptu arrow

In order for the needle - the future compass needle - to turn in the Earth's magnetic field, it must be magnetized.

Often, ferromagnetic objects used as an arrow may already be magnetized.

It seems to me that most of the misconceptions are connected with this, where people believe that they were able to magnetize an object, using methods that are actually completely unsuitable for this. For example, they try to magnetize a needle by rubbing it against their hair. In other words, in this case there is an error in determining cause-and-effect relationships.

In the field, checking whether an object is magnetized or not is quite simple: you need to make a compass out of it and see if the arrow turns. How exactly this is done, we will tell further.

In this case, after the “arrow” has completely stopped, turn it either in one direction or in the other. If such an arrow constantly returns to the same position, then it is magnetized and it is not necessary to additionally magnetize it. By the way, the serviceability of a compass made in production is checked in the same way.

If the arrow was not magnetized, then it can be magnetized in two ways.

Method number 1 - using a magnet. This is the easiest and fastest way.

To do this, just put the arrow next to the magnet. In the wild, it is often suggested that you remove the magnet from the speakers of your headphones or phone. However, as for me, this is irrational: the phone can still come in handy. Everything is much simpler: it is enough to put the arrow on the phone itself or the walkie-talkie so that it becomes magnetized, but it is even easier to put it on a steel knife, which, as a rule, has magnetic properties.

It is not necessary to keep the arrow near such a magnet for a long time: usually a few seconds are enough.

The determination of the sides of an impromptu arrow occurs empirically by the stars or the Sun. That is, the cardinal directions are determined by the luminaries, and then it is determined which part of the arrow points where. And we talked about how to determine the cardinal points by the Sun and stars here (Orientation by the Sun) and here (Orientation by the North Star).

Method number 2 - using a coil and current. This method is more complicated and requires an insulated wire and a current source.

In this method, around the needle in the form of a coil in one layer is wound insulated wire. If the wire turned out to be bare, then the needle can be covered with dry toilet paper or a piece of polyethylene to isolate it from contact with the wire, and the turns should be made so that they do not touch each other.

passed through the coil electricity, as a result of which a magnetic field arises inside the coil, and the needle becomes the core of this electromagnet.

Where to get electricity for this method? It's simple: most often, a battery from a flashlight or a battery from a phone acts as a power source in the wild, although there are other sources. The main thing is that the current is constant, not variable, that is, an outlet without additional circuits that equalize the electric current will not work for this.

To determine which side of the needle is pointing north, you can use the method proposed in the first method. However, there is another option.

To do this, you need to remember physics and the gimlet rule. In relation to this case, focusing on this rule, we can say that the gimlet will move in the direction where the improvised arrow will have the northern end. It is this end of the arrow that will point in the direction of the north magnetic pole of the Earth.

Now that the main part of the work has been done, the only thing left to do is to allow the arrow to rotate freely. To do this, you need to fix it correctly.

How to fix an arrow in a compass

In fact, unlike factory models, it is not at all necessary to fasten the arrow in some special way. Usually, to reduce friction, the needle is either placed on water or hung on a thin thread or fishing line. But there are some nuances here, which we will talk about.

For the water option, you can use a puddle or other natural body of water. But in the second case, there is a danger of losing the needle due to its drowning.

Also good options are containers, such as a plastic plate or an aluminum pot, into which water can be poured and a needle lowered onto it. In this case, it is important to ensure that the dishes do not have ferromagnetic parts. For example, a bowler hat may have steel handles that cause changes in the readings of a homemade compass.

The photo below shows a disposable plastic plate of water in which a needle floats, attached to a piece of waterproof fabric - this is the compass of their scrap materials:

A good option for a "water" compass is polyethylene placed in a recess in the ground or sand and filled with water.

It is also worth making sure that the surface of the water remains clean, because a film formed by any substances or microscopic living organisms can also greatly affect the operation of a homemade compass, preventing the arrow from rotating.

If the needle is very small and, accordingly, light, then it can be slowly put on the water - and it will remain afloat due to surface tension forces. To do this, it is important that before the needle enters the water, its surface remains dry.

However, to keep the gypsy needle on the water in this way will not work because of its large mass. Therefore, such a needle can be placed on a leaf of a tree or shrub, or it can be inserted into a hollow, dry stem of some plant that has sufficient buoyancy to keep the needle on the surface of the water.

Also, a piece of foam can serve as a watercraft for the needle, plastic stopper from a bottle and many other light materials that do not cause magnetic deviations, which we described in detail here (Magnetic compass).

It is important that during measurements the needle on the “boat” does not touch the walls of the vessel or the “shores” of the puddle, since in this case friction will not allow the needle to rotate freely.

Thus, thanks to the water, it is possible to achieve the least resistance, and the needle itself turns and points to the north and south, even when it is weakly magnetized.

If you plan to hang the needle on a thread, then a simple running knot can be made on the thread, which, under the weight of the needle, will be additionally tightened, preventing it from slipping much. At the same time, you need to hang the needle approximately in the middle with a slight offset towards the eye, that is, the heavier part. The exact place where the thread is attached to the needle is chosen empirically.

By the way, instead of a thread or fishing line, a long human hair is quite suitable. I was able to achieve good results using this particular material. The video shows how to do it:

In order for the needle to slip out of the loop less, I wrapped it with two or three layers of toilet paper. In addition, due to the windage, this option allows the arrow to “calm down” faster, which significantly speeds up the work with the compass.

It is very important for this option to use as thin and long a thread or fishing line as possible, since only in this case it will be possible to sufficiently minimize the effect of twisting of the material, which can cause a large measurement error.

Of these two, the water option can rightfully be called the best, since it is he who gives the minimum errors and allows the impromptu arrow to quickly stabilize.

So we examined the device of the simplest magnetic compass. However, in this version, the compass will be able to work mainly only at home: in nature, the design of a home-made compass will have to be supplemented with a windscreen. This is especially important for a compass using a hanging needle mounting scheme.

Wind protection

Most often, a plastic transparent bottle cut in the middle is offered as a windscreen. This option, as for me, is not very convenient for either the "water" or the "filament" compass. In the first case, it will be difficult to keep the needle in the center of the volume, and it may come into contact with the walls, which, as we remember, leads to measurement errors. In the second case, due to a too short thread, forces associated with the resistance of the thread to twisting will act on the needle, which will also negatively affect the readings.

As a windscreen, I personally would suggest natural shelters combined with additional protection from the wind with your own body. Also, an aluminum pot does an excellent job of this, representing both a container for water and protection from the wind. However, this option is effective only for the "water" compass. For a needle on a thread, you can use a karimat by twisting it into a tube and placing it vertically: this way you get good protection from the wind with a sufficiently long thread to which the needle is suspended.

If carimata, polyethylene or other materials to create an artificial windscreen are not available, the area does not have natural shelters, and the weather leaves much to be desired, then you need to use what is available, or wait until the weather calms down or clears up to move on to orienteering methods by heavenly lights.

And now, as promised, we will analyze the most common misconceptions related to this topic.

Misconceptions and their rebuttals

As a source of the most popular misconceptions, I chose the well-known book on survival "The Book That Will Save Your Life" by the no less famous Soviet extreme tourist Andrei Alexandrovich Ilyin. Who knows, perhaps it was she who caused the myths that spread and entrenched in the minds of people.

So, let's look at the "magnificent seven" of the most common myths associated with the construction of a homemade compass.

Misconception No. 1. When building a homemade magnetic compass, you can use a needle as an axis for the arrow, which must be inserted into the base of the compass with the eye down.

Rebuttal: the design of the compass should not contain ferromagnetic elements, except for the arrow itself. Otherwise, there are distortions in the compass readings associated with magnetic deviations.

Misconception No. 2. In order to magnetize a needle located in a coil through which an electric current flows, you need to spend at least 10 minutes.

Rebuttal: experience has shown that a time of no more than 5-10 seconds is enough to magnetize the needle in this way. At the same time, in order to remagnetize the needle and change its poles to the opposite ones, no more than 10 seconds are also enough. Spending extra time is not only useless, but also harmful, because in addition to temporary losses, the power source is discharged, which could be suitable for other purposes, for example, for kindling a fire.

Misconception No. 3. The north end of the needle magnetized in the electric coil will be the end from which the negative terminal of the battery was connected.

Rebuttal: The north end of the needle is determined by the gimlet rule, also known as the right hand rule. And according to this rule, the northern end will not always be the one from which the negative terminal was connected: here the direction of the winding turns will also play a role.

Misconception No. 4. In order for the needle to lie on the water, held by surface tension forces, it must be rubbed against the hair or between the fingers.

Rebuttal: even a needle completely degreased with ethanol will be held on the surface of the water. If its mass is too large for this, as in the case of a gypsy needle, then no friction on the hair and skin will help the cause.

Misconception No. 5. Metal containers cannot be used for a homemade compass.

Rebuttal: the point is not whether the utensils are metal, but whether the material from which the utensils are made is a ferromagnet. Thus, metal utensils can also be used. For example, neither aluminum, nor magnesium, nor copper, which in essence are not ferromagnets, but para- and diamagnets, will affect the accuracy of measurements of a homemade compass.

Misconception #6: You can't use salt water.

Rebuttal: the presence of salt in water does not have a noticeable effect on the readings of a homemade compass. It is also easy to verify this for yourself by conducting your own experiment with salt water and a magnetized needle.

It is also worth talking about another very common misconception that is not directly related to the mentioned book, but is firmly rooted in the minds of many tourists and preppers.

Misconception No. 7. You can magnetize a needle by rubbing it against your hair or woolen product.

Rebuttal: it will not work to magnetize a metal needle in this way, which can be easily verified by experiment.

Other types of homemade compasses

Of course, in addition to the magnetic compass, you can make other types of compasses yourself. For example, on the Internet you can find diagrams and instructions for making digital and electronic compasses.

However, such designs require "straight" arms and special parts. And if a person can be fine with straight arms, then details, such as a magnetometer, are unlikely to be found in the wild.

It is convenient to make such compasses at home with all the necessary parts and tools, but not on a hike, and even more so not in emergency conditions. Here, the simple model of a magnetic compass, which has been tested for centuries, comes first, on which we have focused.

Summing up all of the above, it can be argued that the easiest model of a home-made compass to perform and use will be a sewing needle or a fishhook, magnetized from contact with a knife and lowered onto the surface of the water. It is this option that will give the most accurate and “fastest” readings, including due to the fact that it is much easier to protect such a structure from the wind than in the case of a hanging arrow. And repair, as such, is not required for such a compass, because there is nothing to break here.

If you wish, you can try to supply a homemade compass with a scale, but I don’t see much point in this, because approximate angles can be determined without special scales and tools.

The idea can also be adopted before each campaign to magnetize needles and hooks, which will be taken with them among the repair kit, fishing tackle and NAZ. To do this, it is enough to put them on a permanent magnet for a few seconds. Such simple actions will help to give the needles and hooks another function, and the versatility of equipment is one of the fundamental principles of completing a backpack for long hikes.

However, you need to understand that a home-made compass is only an extreme measure: it is very inconvenient to use compared to the "real" one produced at the factory. That's why the right choice will buy a ready-made compass, and leave the magnetized needles and hooks only as a last resort, when trouble was taken by surprise, and the purchased compass was not nearby.

When moving along a route in an unfamiliar area, you constantly have to check the route either with some specific landmarks or with the cardinal points. But a compass or GPS is not always at hand. What to do if there is no compass? Do not despair, you can navigate by the sun, stars and moon (how to do this, read our article How to navigate by the sun, stars and moon). But you can go the other way - make a compass with your own hands. Some will think how fashionable it is to make a compass with your own hands, because this is a high-precision device! Making a compass is actually not that difficult, and you will see this by reading this article.

The principle of the compass is simple - one end of the arrow is magnetized and always points north - this is how the magnet reacts to magnetic fields our planet.

How to make a compass with your own hands from a needle and a container of water.

We will need:

Any container, except for a metal one, filled with water (metal ones will not work, as they will distort the magnetic field).
Needle
A piece of floating material (cork, foam, foam rubber)

In order to make a compass, we take a floating material and cut out a platform for a needle from it. The main parameters of the piece - the smaller the better, but the needle should not be above the surface of the water.

As you already understood, the needle acts as an arrow. In order to use our homemade compass to determine the cardinal points, one end of the needle must be magnetized. If you have magnets at hand (they are present in the speakers of the player, receiver, in electric motors, etc.), then you can magnetize the needle-arrow with their help. If there are no magnets, then you can simply hold one end of the needle over the flame for 25-35 seconds, after which this tip will be demagnetized. So, the arrow is ready. Its magnetized end will point to the Serer, and the non-magnetized end to the South.

We fasten the needle-arrow to the float. It is most convenient to gently pierce the float with a needle along the axis of symmetry (if the float is voluminous). Such fastening is simple and at the same time reliable. Next, place the float with a needle in a container of water so that they do not touch the walls of the vessel. The do-it-yourself compass is ready, it remains to calibrate it.

If you know which tip of your needle was magnetized and which was not, you can immediately judge where north is by the position of the magnetized tip. If you do not know, then the following facts will help you determine where North and South are: the place where the sun rises and where it sets (Sunrise-East, Sunset-West) or the position of the polar star. Using these signs, you can easily calibrate your homemade compass.

Sometimes, apart from a needle, there is no floating material at hand. In this case, to make a compass, you can pick off any leaf that can keep the needle above the water. Again, the smaller it is, the better.

How to make a compass with your own hands without a container of water

We will need:

Needle or safety razor blade
The container is cylindrical, preferably transparent (no metal again)
Fine thread or fishing line

As mentioned earlier, we magnetize one end of our “arrow” using a needle or a razor blade for this (you can also make an arrow from half a razor blade).

We tie a thread or fishing line to an impromptu arrow in the center of its gravity. We place the arrow inside the transparent vessel so that it is on weight. The vessel will protect our structure from the wind.

We calibrate the resulting compass according to the method described in the last paragraph of the previous instructions and get a device ready for use.

Of course, you can use our compass in the form of an arrow on a string and without a container, but then it would be at least not reasonable to trust this compass in gusts of wind. So in such a situation, we need to figure out how to protect our compass from the wind. You may need to use an awning or jacket as a windscreen.

Making a mini compass at home is not a big problem. The main thing is to make sure that the magnet playing the role of the arrow rotates with minimal friction. Typically, a magnetic pointer is mounted on a point, which, in fact, is a bearing that provides minimal friction when turning the pointer. Another option would be a magnetic needle floating on the surface of the water. It is this option that was used by the author. Of course, for a one-time use, you can limit yourself to a piece of foam pierced with a pin or a piece of a straightened paper clip. But for regular use, you can make something more fundamental, however, also at minimal cost.

Round plastic lids from dairy products with a diameter of 31 and 28 mm are used as body elements, the height of the lids is 10 mm. The covers fit perfectly into each other, forming halves of the body.

Actually, a ferrite magnet in the form of a parallelepiped 10x4x4 mm acts as a magnetic needle in the device, in addition, two short strips of tin 10 x 4 mm are needed. The magnet is taken from an old reed keyboard. For secure fastening in the case, a holder was cut out of packaging plastic, and trimmings of the package were selected, having a groove of the required width for installing a magnet.

Tin plates are bent in the way shown in the photo, so that they are securely attached to the ends of the magnet.

In a cover of a smaller diameter, we install one half of the holder, cut off in place.

We put the magnet.

Lay the top half of the holder.

Using glue "Moment" we connect the halves of the body.

Now, using another compass, we determine the poles of the magnet and apply the appropriate marking.

Floating on the surface of the water, the compass does its job quite well.

A group of compasses can demonstrate the domain structure of a ferromagnet.

Summarize

Of course, this design is not a full-fledged compass, its main purpose is to demonstrate the behavior of a magnet in an external magnetic field, to demonstrate. Naturally, if there is an opportunity to demonstrate it easier on compasses, but in the absence of a large number of compasses, this option is also suitable. Author - Denev.

Discuss the article HOW TO MAKE A COMPASS WITH YOUR HANDS

real compass

Sometimes on long trips there is an urgent need to correctly determine the cardinal points. It may even happen that the life and health of the members of the expedition will depend on this. If you have a compass, no problem. What if it's broken or lost? Then the options are as follows: determine the cardinal points by the stars, the sun, signs, or make a primitive compass on your own. I just want to tell you how to make a compass yourself, using only available materials. We will consider several variations of such homemade appliances. Do-it-yourself compass from a needle and a container of water

We make a compass with our own hands

We will need:

Glass or ceramic container With fresh water(metal will not work, as they will distort the magnetic field).

A piece of floating material (cork, foam, foam rubber)

Assembling a homemade compass.

Cut off a small piece of floating material. The most important thing is that it should be of such a size as to ensure the buoyancy of the needle attached to it, and at the same time, that it be of such a size that the forces of the surface tension of the water and the drag forces are negligible - this is necessary to ensure the accuracy of the readings.

The needle will play the role of an arrow. First you need to make sure that one end of the needle is magnetized and the other is not. If you have magnets at hand (they are present in the speakers of the player, receiver, in electric motors, etc.), then you can magnetize the needle-arrow with their help. If there are no magnets, then you can simply hold one end of the needle over the flame for 25-35 seconds, after which this tip will be demagnetized (if you were interested in physics at school, you understand why this happens). So, the arrow is ready. Its magnetized end will point to the Serer, and the non-magnetized end to the South.

We fasten the needle-arrow to the float. It is most convenient to gently pierce the float with a needle along the axis of symmetry. Such fastening is simple and at the same time reliable. It remains just to place the float with the arrow in a container of water so that the walls of the container do not interfere with the rotation of the arrow. The compass is ready, it remains to calibrate it.

Do-it-yourself compass without the use of liquid

We will need:

Needle or safety razor blade

Transparent bottle

Fine thread or fishing line

Construction assembly

We make a compass needle and magnetize it, as described in the previous instructions. To make an arrow, you can use a needle or a safety razor blade. You can also make an arrow from a half of a razor blade. We tie a thread or fishing line to an impromptu arrow in the center of its gravity. We place the arrow inside the transparent vessel so that it is on weight. The vessel will protect our structure from the wind.

Homemade compass from a safety razor blade and a bottle

It happens that you need to know exactly which side is south and which is north. At home, this can be useful when tuning the antenna, and travelers cannot do without such knowledge, especially in the wild. Of course, the easiest way is to use a regular compass. But what if it is not at hand? How to make a compass at home and outdoors? It turns out it's very simple. You will not need special tools - only the materials at hand that every house has, or they are easy to get in the forest.

How to make a compass at home

1. In order to make an irreplaceable attribute of a tourist, you need a needle, a small piece of foam rubber and a mug of water. First you need to take foam rubber, about 3x3 centimeters. We will need it so that the needle stays on the water and does not sink. We pierce the foam rubber with a needle in the center and place a simple design in a mug of water.

2. In order for it to become a real compass, it remains to magnetize one tip of the needle. Finding a magnet in an apartment is very simple. It is in the headset that holds the doors or in the speaker of the music center. To demagnetize the needle, it is enough to bring one of its tips to the gas burner and hold it over the fire for 20 seconds. Thus, the magnetized tip of the needle will show us the north, the demagnetized tip will tell us where the south is. Again we place our design in water.

3. To understand where is north and where is south, stand facing in the direction of the needle. Remember which window the sun shines in in the morning (it will be east), respectively, the sun sets in the opposite direction - this is west. Now stand along the needle so that the east is on the left and the west is on the right. So you will find yourself facing south, and your back to the north.

Outdoors

Sometimes when hiking, for example, in the forest, it is important to know the exact direction of the path so as not to get lost. It turns out that it is also easy to understand where the north is and where the south is, using improvised means. Consider two options for how to create your own compass in extreme conditions.

1. For the first option, you need to find something metallic. Any nail, wire or needle will do. To magnetize our arrow, just rub it against your hair. Next, the nails must be tied to a thread or fishing line and hung on a static surface (for example, a tree branch). It is important that the length of the thread is at least 40 centimeters, otherwise the result will be inaccurate. Now the arrow will accurately show the magnetized end to the north. You already know how to determine the rest of the directions.

2. For the second option, you need a bowl of water. We magnetize one end of the arrow and put it in a bowl, laying it on a piece of bark. The arrow will definitely tell you where the north is.

So, now you know how to make a compass in any situation. This procedure will not take much time, even in conditions modern apartment, even in a dense forest. It just takes a little ingenuity to find suitable materials, create a simple device with your own hands, and you will always know exactly in which direction to move. Now you are not afraid of any troubles while traveling.