Hey guys, I was thinking about how suction cups are used on cars/glass/windows and I wanted to understand why they wouldn’t work on walls – I imagine it’s the rougher surface of the walls with air leaking (might be wrong) but I’d like to hear a better explanation from someone here.
Following up on this would be is it possible to find a way to use suction cups (e.g. attaching a camera to them) on walls -without having to drill holes etc
In: 0
Yes, suction cups rely on forming an airtight seal with the surface. It keeps the pressure inside low so that the cup is forced against the wall, where friction does the rest. Small irregularities in the surface texture ruin this.
Some walls *can* be suctioned to. You could prepare any wall to be suctioned to. Your best bet would probably be to coat it in resin and then sand and subsequently polish it down to an optical finish.
Yes, you are right about the surface roughness being the problem. Tiny air leaks will cause it to lose suction.
Attaching something expensive to a wall with suction cups isn’t a great idea. You could smooth the surface and it might hold for quite a while, but eventually it would likely fail. And then your expensive camera falls and breaks.
You’d be better off using removable adhesive strips. They can hold moderately heavy things indefinitely, and can be removed without damage to the surface (usually). Or if you don’t care about damage, superglue.
Latest Answers