I'm just wondering how much mass plays a part in the Bedini motors. I have seen most of John's devices and videos and see him using mostly plastic. Plastic is mostly thin and has not much mass/gravity. I remember in the original designs he used allot of mass, has something changed?
I have seen others building with wood, steel, aluminum and plastic. Wood does not have much mass, but has some strength. steel I would think, would put too much drag on the machine. aluminum I would guess would cause eddy currents and act as a break.
Also, is it better to go faster then to build bigger? (flywheel size)
Mass is important in alot of his designs. Plastic can be quite weighty if thick enough. I have a 300mm diameter rotor cut from acrylic sheet 20mm thick. Its over 1.5 kg without the magnets. Aluminium is fine as a rotor only, it must rotate with the magnets. An aluminium pillar/support etc will create excessive drag if positioned near the magnets.
As far as speed goes, I think the most important factor is to trigger the raidant pulse and capture it as fast as possible. Obviously this will be easier for a novice builder to do with their wheel going slower (and safer) for the same amount of pulses. Hence a rotor with 20 magnets might go 100 rpm for the same amount of pulses per minute as a rotor with 4 magnets going at 500rpm. (Math not necessarily correct, but you get the idea.)
One thing mass can be good for is maintaing speed temporairly while the main circuit is disconnected from the primary while it is "backpopped".
Thanks Ren !!! ;D