4 PISTON MOTOR THAT JUST MIGHT WORK. YOUR THOUGHTS PLEASE...

[eavogels]

I was afraid I couldn't stop myself. Now I made a simulation of the

OCTO PISTON DEVICE : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgSZj_eWaYQ
It's a nice serie now: Dual, Quad, Hex and Octo.
i don't know the words for 10 and 12, so this HAS to be the last one.

This will be the last one for now. It's time to do some real design. I want cranks, I want a Geneva Drive. Lot's of thing to think about.

I really see a Torbay device all the time and with more pistons that gets even worse. Perhaps the ring magnet should be replaced to a half ring, so that the 90 degrees rule can take over?
So much to do, so little time.

Eric.

[JohnPK]

Well, I have gotten some really good ideas from everybody. I think the 'Hex" motor is the one to persue. I will have enough magnets and I figured out a way to do it with only 4 gears. But I haven't drawn that motor yet. It is still in my head. so here is a question,
I ordered 3.5 inch diameter gears. I was going to have about a 3 inch stroke. I'm getting the hint from everyone that the gears are going to be to big and should perhaps move towards 2.0 inch gears. remember, the actual size of the stator array is still only .75 inch. My original thought was that I need the mechanical advantage of a larger gear.
But, even at a 2.0 diameter stroke, the magnets will be 99% spent on the ability to repel one another, so what would be the use of a larger gear?
It is only money, gears are cheap. Should I re order a batch of 2.00 gears? or just use the 3.5?
As always, comments welcome. John

[lumen]

This will not work if you place the shield between the magnets.
When magnets are repelling the force to remove the shield increases greatly. You can get around this if you simply place the iron plates on each side (front and back in the design pdf).
This will conduct the field away and into the iron and the magnets can move close together with little force. This also offers the advantage of no pull on the shields as they can be pulling onto the next magnet pair as they are leaving the previous pair.

I have done a lot of testing in this area and this configuration offers the only real hope in shield use.

[eavogels]

I have done a lot of testing in this area and this configuration offers the only real hope in shield use.

I agree. I also felt that drag. That should be reduced som how.

[eavogels]

It is only money, gears are cheap. Should I re order a batch of 2.00 gears? or just use the 3.5?

Wow, in my case the money is always the show stopper.
With magnet motors I like to build as big as possible. That covers smallers errors.
But the 3" stroke sounds good. You must first decied what magnets you use, since they need to handle that stroke.  3" need strong magnets.
I'm not sure yet what is the best.
/Eric.