A smear of oil along the blade creates an almost frictionless hinge that allows the float to swing up and down but not side to side. Finally, Baker attaches a one-ounce lead fishing weight to lower its natural frequency and the small opaque flag to sense its position. Although you can build the gravimeter frame out of any nonmagnetic material, Baker recommends using window glass because of its low cost, low thermal expansion and ease of assembly. He cuts the plates with a carbide-wheel glass cutter so that the pieces fit together without gaps and then braces the structure with triangular glass supports. He glues them all together with silicone cement.
Mistakes are easy to fix because the parts can be readily separated with a razor blade.
For the electromagnet, Baker winds a coil utilizing two of the unused ceramic magnets as guides. Wrap a pencil with masking tape until the magnets slide onto it snugly. Cover the magnets with more masking tape and position them about one magnet diameter apart on the pencil. Keep a few ounces of tension on the wire and continuously coat it with 24-hour epoxy as you go. Don't stop until the coil's edge is about two millimeters below the edges of the magnets.