Video #17, "Rick's Pipe Dream" Magnetic Motor - Generator

[100roberthenry]

hi rick, have you tried a linkage to the wheel so it will move the upper magnet for you as it spins...and therefore drives itself?...with an initial spin of course... thanks. interesting stuff.

[TheRickoff]

@100roberthenry - Hi Rob, see video #23 for a demonstration of such linkage. After some testing, I abandoned the tracking method for moving the stator because of the force required. My current method does involve moving the stator, but by a means which requires very little anti-rotational force be applied. The new movement is in an up-down motion which closely mimics the hand movement seen in video #3.

[rabidcat2104]

honestly, you sound like Dave Mustaine

[TheRickoff]

@rabidcat2104 I assure you that I am not Dave Mustaine, the lead guitarist, founder, songwriter, and vocalist for Megadeth, but thanks for the comparison. I just listened to Dave speaking on a YouTube video from a Jeopardy show that he appeared on and didn't quite see the resemblance in voice, but I know that we don't hear ourselves the same as others hear us.

[ggibney0856]

Wouldn't it be better on the gravity force if you set the wheel at 45 degrees vs the 90 degrees of it being upright ?

[TheRickoff]

@ggibney0856 This apparatus could certainly be used for gravity wheel experimentation, but in its current configuration tilting the wheel would only show benefit from an imbalance state (such as by removing one magnet group, or adding an additional fixed weight) with a heavier portion of the wheel moving downhill. Once you pass the bottom of the slope, however, you would have to move that weight uphill and therefore nothing would be gained as your advantage would be nullified.

[paultomasi]

This video shows nothing but a flywheel being (indirectly) 'cranked' by hand. The side-to-side movement of the magnets itself require energy (by the hand) - energy which you may just as well have used to spin the flywheel directly!

[TheRickoff]

@paultomasi Yes, it does require hand energy to move the stator magnet, but the requirement is smaller than what would be needed to mechanically hand crank the wheel into rotation.

[TheRickoff]

@EmailWillLee "I really wish you got someone else to speak for you."

Are you applying for the job? If so, please leave your "got's" out of whatever you have to say. 

[TheRickoff]

@EmailWillLee "Great job making the wheel though."

Thanks for the praise, but I did not make the wheel. It is a standard 26 inch steel rim bicycle wheel, as pointed out in an earlier video from this series.

[aspardeshi]

thats great, put the DC + /- on the steel pipe on 0:02 and see what happens, you will be surprised at the speed of spinning.

[TheRickoff]

Are you sure you are commenting on the right video? There is no DC current being used here, and no steel pipe either.

[Drdump1]

Your mechanical movement of the stator arm design more or less is same with this video , the oni difference is applly on small CD rotor version watch?v=gogl_lm_n0A

[gaussme]

Try use you flywheel as the cam to push you stator in and out. Probably be better if the stator was hanging above the rotor on a needle bearing as a pendulum. and light weight return spring and a stop block.

[TheRickoff]

Hi Gauss, glad to see some people are thinking relevantly and offering ideas that do have merit. Already, several replicators have completed the basic apparatus build, so this will allow us to each try out similar but differing methods of achieving the movement that is desired. Love to have you join in the fun - are you willing to build this device? If so, e-mail me and I'll see that you receive the complete plans.

[gaussme]

Rick, unfortunately I am in Costa Rica and do not have access to the magnets here. I will try find some electric motors that I can salvage some parts. But until then I am just a cheerleader for you and the replicators.

[TheRickoff]

You should be able to order the bar magnets online from K&J Magnetics. They are part # BC62. The HD magnet for the stator can be salvaged from a scrapped computer found at your local recycling center. Older computers have the best ones - larger and more powerful, and they are easily removed from the hard drive. Look for ones that are 1/4" in thickness, as I am using. The newer ones are mostly all 1/8" thick. If need be, you can use a thin one and attach a double stack BC62 at each end.

[TheRickoff]

I considered several different methods for achieving movement, including the method you describe, but my first tracking test will be done while moving the stator in a straight line back and forth across the wheel rim at a constant height above the rotor magnets. It is important to maintain the height, and this isn't possible if using a pendulum unless the rotor surface and magnets are concave. Also, with a pendulum, it requires lifting the weight of the stator magnet as the arc moves upwards.

[TheRickoff]

A straight line movement, on a horizontal plane, avoids those 2 problems. I also want to do this without the drag effect that use of a spring would bring into play. The other critical factor will be using a very lightweight track riding/stator carriage, wherein 90% or more of the weight being shifted will be comprised by the weight of the stator magnet. The new stator carriage will look nothing like the bulky arm that I have been demonstrating. That was only for preliminary testing, R&D.

[gaussme]

yes a linear bearing would handling the lateral movement.

[onthecuttingedge2005]

You have to use a superconductive stator, the stator sits in a bath of liquid nitrogen, when the magnets on the rotor begin to spin they will induce a current into the superconductor(S/C) that will react back to the magnets causing them to self perpetuate, the current in the S/C will build up to the point that the rotor would continue to rotate so long as inductance occurs in the S/C. there are also ultra-conductive polymers that are superconductive at room temp.

[TheRickoff]

Hi o.t.c.e., and thanks for your comment. I understand superconductor technology, but I think you are missing the point of this project. My aim is not to use cutting edge scientific methods, and expensive and difficult to obtain materials and supplies that are best suited to well equipped laboratory researchers. This project is all about using proven techniques that can be inexpensively and safely replicated by anyone having just basic skills and a few common tools.