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Some might say that it's not safe to post the fact that I'm working on replicating a magnet motor on my blog for several reasons. Regardless,, here it is..
For updates,, go to the bottom of the thread.
As I start this blog, I have not yet been sucessful, nor failed at
recreating the screw magnet motor. I just decided that I'd document
the process that I'm taking to get to my result. You'll notice that my
approach originates from my background as a computer animator. I have
a masters degree in computer animation, which means that I have an
uncanny ability to recreate things that I see in video in 3d software.
In this case, I'm working with Blender , an open source 3d animation
package. All that I have to work from is a video from Xpenzif, the
original creator of the screw magnet motor. In this movie transition from one
frame to the next, you'll see the care that I've taken to recreate the
PVC and screws from the working magnet motor. There will be some
mismatching, as Blender does not take into account lens distortion.
I figured out my lens depth through some trial and error. Note that
to match the perspective of the photo image taken with a 55m
lens on 35mm film (image aspect ratio = 1:1.5) I had to use a 44mm
"Lens" spec in Blender. Can't say why the disparity because I don't
know how Blender's "Lens" settings are calculated. But, this is the
best guess that I can make.
3d matching of Xpenzif's original recording
Here are the measurements that I have estimated at this point. My measurements are derived from a caliper compared against visual software comparisons. I was grateful to see a rib towards the top of the PVC in the original Xpenzif video. This verifies that I have the same exact peice of PVC that he is using.. I believe it's a 4 or 3 inch coupling (available at Home Depot or Lowes in the plumbing section).
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Diameter of the PVC: 4 inches
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inside diameter of the PVC: 3.5 inches
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PVC cylinder height: 2.255 inches
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screw offset: 27.6923 degrees
- screw rows V: 4 rows
- screw rows U: 13 columns
So far, I have disassembled a SCSI hard drive. I've removed the magnetic arm and circuit boards from the hard drive. I've also cut out a significant portion of the hard drive housing to give the PVC some room to turn.
Then, I used a dremel to route out the inside diameter of the PVC so the diameter and depth of the hard disks fit perfectly. Note: This took about 3 hours and a resperatory infection to complete. The result, however, is a peice of PVC that spins as close to perfectly as one could hope for.
All that I have yet to complete is the grinding and gluing of the screws.
I"ll probably have to pick up some new Neo Dimium magnets as well.
Original Video from Xpenzif
In watching the original video some more,, I'm noticing the lean to the spindle when Xpenzif shows us the perhiphrial view of the working model. Someone once mentioned in the forum that gravity might have a finger in the equation. If you look closely at my image match movie, you'll notice that Xpezif's screws aren't lining up perfectly with my screws.. I assure you that my screws are offset 27.6923 degrees for each set,, which is nearly a perfect offset for 13 columns. So, my proposal is, Xpenzif is using an imbalance in his offset and gravity at some point in the rotation. So, if a perfect offset doesn't end up working, I'll try to match a rotation with my 3d model. Then, I can map his entire screw pattern.
Here's a video of my progress to date
Feb 13 2008
Here I've decided to gather most of the steel filings from my work bench after grinding the screws. They will come in handy later for checking out my flux lines.
Well, I finished the first version of the screw magnet motor.. annnd.. no joy.. in fact.. there are big sticky spots. So nothing successful here.
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