new? magnet/gravity motor

[2b]

> Wait, you should never be "PULLING" these magnets, they should always be pushed.

yes, i think that is an excellent point.  there many ways to think of arranging things, possibly just using powerful shielded magnets on the left side.

you could even use a powerful cylindrical magnet for an axle, keeping the diameter of the wheel within reason.  have the poles along the length of the cylinder - with N facing the lower-left, and S facing the upper-right.

it would be good to have a magnetic foil for shielding.

[BasementExperiments]

Nice animation above, exactly what I pictured.

Analysing it, I realized that having the cylinders come so close to one another in the center may not work. Too much potential magnetism there.

Keep the cylinders further out from the center.

[BasementExperiments]

btw, I've experimented with cylinders and rods before. The best configuration I found was to use aluminium knitting needles. They work great. They fit on the needles like they were meant to go there. I got the magnets from magcraft. Just pick one up and take it to the knitting store and buy a bunch of them for the spokes. 

[2b]

> The best configuration I found was to use aluminium knitting needles. They work great.

they might cause a slight problem because they will resist magnets sliding on them just as a copper-wire wound coil resists spin in a magnetic field.  when you have a magnetic field moving thru a conductor, it generates a current and electro-magnetic fields that will resist that motion.  it's actually quite strong - if you drop a cylindrical magnet down a 3ft metallic rod, to the best of my memory, the magnet will almost stop from the current induced electro-magnetic fields.

[sm0ky2]

the best method of "shielding" that i have experimented with is multiple plates. (steel,iron, ect)

at least 2 plates, separated by 1-2mm air gap works great. this is used in the outer casing of Microwaves,
and that is also a perfect source for this type of shielding, it can be cut and bent to fit any design.
there are tons of old microwaves junked daily.

first plate redirects the lines of flux within the metal, the secondary (and subsequent plates) consume the stray flux radiating from the sides of the first plate. leaving you with NO magnetic fluxuation outside the plates.
(that is, assuming you do not achieve satturation with the field strength vs. plate-mass)

@ 2B  -  what you would have to do to counter that type of "back EMF" is to use a magnetic mass larger than the mass of the 'rod'. this will cause the rod to satturate long before the repulsive force fully counters the downward motion.  using aluminum needles is probably a good place to start. would work better than say.. Brass, or some denser metals.