Rare Earth Magnets

[clips221]

I have several rare earth magnets to piddle around with. 2x2x1/2" is one of the sizes. Any suggestions on what we could make with them besides blood blisters on my fingers when I get them 2 close to each other? We're toying with several ideas. Any thoughts?

[jht1057]

clips221,

A lot of the alternative energy folks use them to make generators driven by wind, water, steam. Once you have the generator built you can power it most any way you choose. Check out Otherpower.com, there are a lot of ideas there for using your magnets.

Jim

[Clifton Clowers]

Jim, Here is what Ive been playing with, the last few weeks.
youtube search "ceiling fan generator" enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf923InYeH8
regards, clifton

[HBurk]

Clifton,
Were you ever on Woverton Mountain?

[Sky]

Seriously, if you have strong magnets like earth magnets i would be curious to see what kind of spark you'd get out of a magneto if you could make a magneto with rare earth magnets. I bet you'd have one of the finest running engines on earth if that was possible.

[Clifton Clowers]

They say don't go on woverton mountain if your lookin for old iron! but yes I have. clifton

[jht1057]

Sky,

I like your idea, I need to check out the possibilities. I have a mag with a weak magnet, would be interested to see if by applying the rare earth magnets to the existing magnet if the spark would improve. I'll get back to everyone on this.

Jim

[jht1057]

Clifton,

That is really cool! I have a stator and rotor assembly I have been working on for a larger vertical wind generator. One of these days I need to get back on that project, especially with elec. rate caps going off here soon.

Jim

[krawlr]

Originally Posted by Sky

Seriously, if you have strong magnets like earth magnets i would be curious to see what kind of spark you'd get out of a magneto if you could make a magneto with rare earth magnets. I bet you'd have one of the finest running engines on earth if that was possible.

I did it on a FMJ. It worked great until I took it back apart to clearcoat the housing. Now I have to spin the hell out of it to get a spark. It's pushed in the corner for now.

It actually made it hard to install because the magnets would try to pull it away from the timed position as you attempted to line your gears up.

[Sky]

If the mag was designed expecially for earth magnets though. I discovered just recently as a matter of fact that if you put a stronger magnet with a flywheel magnet and the poles are not matched, there goes your magnetism

Live and learn. sometimes it's painfull. So then you dont make the same mistake over again

Things are made to happen like that.

[Andrew Mackey]

Like poles will repel, and will weaken a standard magnet to the point of reversing, if they are left in place long enough. You have to mount them N to S and S to N, to build the magnetism on the old magnet. Since the rare earth magnets are stronger than the old iron ones, they WILL stick N to N and S to S, due to the fact that they are so much stronger than the iron magnets original charge. If you do stick them N to N and S to S, You will get a stronger reading on the magneto, especially once the original magnets are killed by the stronger Rare Earth type. Of course, you could always place a little Epoxy under the R.E. magnets, and have them permanently bonded to the originals. Then the mag will work fine. As for your original problem, dead magnets, have them recharged at a good mag repair - they should be OK after recharging, as long as their polarity was not reversed.

Andrew

[clips221]

we put 8 1.5"x1.5"magnets on the od of a saxxon hit miss flywheel today for giggles. Held a low tension coil up close to the flywheel as it was rotating and got alittle over 2 volts. Pretty neat.These small magnets are just about manigable but the next size up will get you if your not careful. God forbid if a guy were to accidentally put one in each front pocket. could be bad news.