Magnetic OU principle, You should really take a look at this !

[Charlie_V]

Pulling the magnets away from the washers is not going to be easy.  You'll have to exert a large force to do so.  I would imagine this force is greater than the force that pushes the washers away.

[Butch LaFonte]

Pulling the magnets away from the washers is not going to be easy.  You'll have to exert a large force to do so.  I would imagine this force is greater than the force that pushes the washers away.

Charlie,
You forgot about the positive work done by the magnets when they were pulled to the washers in the first step. That positive work will cancel the negative work of having to pull the magnets off. Also look at the test video on Youtube, it shows the work to pull off during the time the washers are grouped together is substantially less than when they are spread apart. The total energy balance in this sequence is substantially positive.     
Note: The washers in this sequence just shown are square.
Thanks,
Butch

[petersone]

Hi Butch
           The net result looks,on the face of it,to be positive,good luck to you ether way,you are not afraid to put your head on the block,imho it's the way to be,I wish I was,I have 1 or 2 ideas,but I have't the balls to come out with it,like you.
peter

[broli]

Broli,
Any way you could put step # 5 in the animation?
Thats where most of the work is done.
Thanks,
Butch

Step #5 is the same as step #1 butch  .

Pulling the magnets away from the washers is not going to be easy.  You'll have to exert a large force to do so.  I would imagine this force is greater than the force that pushes the washers away.

Just like butch said when you close in they will pull on you so that's energy gain. You'll just have to give that energy back when you spread the magnets back open. On the other hand you can use a clever trick to not feel any push/pull by doing the below thing. Basically you have a set of magnets that always repel each other attached to this main apparatus. I was thinking of ways how to store the energy effectively when the poles come to each other. Springs wouldn't work nicely as their forces are linear with distance. I need something that had a 1/distance relationship. Then it struck that one could just use magnets in repulsion. That way the attraction from the main apparatus will get canceled by the repulsion of magnets attached to it. Same poled electrical charge could also be used if you worry about demagnetization.

[Butch LaFonte]

Hi Butch
           The net result looks,on the face of it,to be positive,good luck to you ether way,you are not afraid to put your head on the block,imho it's the way to be,I wish I was,I have 1 or 2 ideas,but I have't the balls to come out with it,like you.
peter

Peter,
Go ahead and put your ideas out there. Helen Keller once wrote, "There is no safe place in this life."
Regards,
Butch