IN follow up.. to my last post..

the way i imagined it..

For a repelling design..


immediately after the magnet passes the shield, the shield would open, forcing the rotor to spin, when the rotor is at around 179 degrees, the shield covers the magnet again


this could be accomplished with a cam...


for an attractive version its similar, at 181 degrees, the magnet opens, causing attraction, just before the magnet crosses the shield, it covers it again, allowing momentum to carry the rotor past..

You have that right, the issue I have as well is if you have a magnet on the rotor then the rotor magnet has an effect the shield, will the rotor magnet pull on the shield, it would have to be at right angles to avoid drag. Im going to try magnets in attraction first, I don't like repulsion it weakens magnets,then soft iron plates on the rotor.

I already stated that the shielded magnet will attract another magnet even if the poles are opposing.  But when you pull the shield off - wham! Just like that.

Here, try this:
Get a couple of identical magnets and a piece of steel large enough to cover the entire face plus enough to hang off the side so you can slide it off with your fingers.

Mark the "like" poles with a marker, and wave the like face past each other and you can fell the push before and after the faces are aligned.

Cover this pole face of one of the magnets with the steel.  If the steel is thick enough - the faces will now "attract" - don't get too excited - devices using that little feature date back to the 1800's.

Now cover half of the face of the one magnet and wave the other past it.  You feel a pull on the shield side, a flat spot in the middle, and a push at the uncovered side.

You will always have the flat spot in the middle unless you can shape the field to only go one-way.  Covering the face of fixed magnet allows the rotating magnets to face the opposing magnet without being pushed away.  Once the magnets are facing each other, the shield is moved to expose the face and the repulsive force pushes the rotating magnet away.

The tricky part is to find a way to time the shield and to move the shield with very little force.


A word about "trajectory" - if you bring the magnets close with the opposing faces at and angle that minimizes the opposing force and then rotate the on coming in or push it out at a different angle - you'll get what Shaun is talking about.

kent i just read your post- maybe I do like repusion? the rotor magnet would be attracted to the shield first,the shield opens, then repulsion.The attraction gives it the extra pull, but will the magnets weaken?

yeah I imagine the magnets would weaken,

I'm trying to draw up another design, using attraction.. but the only Idea I have would involve 4 magnets, all poles facing together at the center point of the rotor (this would also weaken the 4 magnets.. so i'm trying to come up with a 1 magnet attraction method)