Looking good!

Maybe larger diameter ring magnets on the shaft would aid stability at high speeds. My maglev HV esmotor gets to over 5000 rpm and is still stable, and probably isn't as well-balanced as your setup is; it has larger diameter ring magnets on the shaft. But it is also driven by the electrostatic field from the charge deposited on the rotor, which is essentially a constant DC value, not a pulsation like your drive coil produces. That might also have something to do with the stability.

I think the vertical hanging design could be made to be a "full-floater" with the use of an op-amp based electromagnet levitation system at the top. You could use either a ratiometric Hall sensor or an LED-phototransistor or LED-photoresistor pair to sense the vertical position and have the op-amp drive the levitation coil's power mosfet. Or an Arduino can provide even more control, as in my vertical levitation system. Unfortunately I don't have any suitable magnets to make a driven rotation system with my vertical levitator.

@Conradelektro,

                       Here's an "Electromagnetically levitated pulse motor rotor" from Lidmotor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJtzxST5f8A


                       Here's a link to the "Quick and dirty" circuit of Adambus 77:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKx7Wr9fCfc

One more good link for both a simple Infra red and Hall effect sensor levitator:

http://uzzors2k.4hv.org/index.php?page=magneticlevitation

I like levitation, but at the moment I want to build a "ring magnet spinner" which uses as little electric energy as possible. The levitation circuit will use some electric energy and therefore I want to avoid it at the moment.

In case one is not so much interested in "little energy" the levitation of a spinner is a very good way to avoid friction and I am glad I now have some good examples which one could replicate.

My line of "research" at the moment:

1) Build a ring magnet spinner which uses very little electric energy (below 10 mW if possible). I want to spin only one diametrically magnetised ring manet, which I consider the minimum build.

2) Try to recover some electric energy from the rapidly spinning ring magnet by help of strange coils (Rodin coil, pancake coil, ...).

3) Compare the "electric energy spent for spinning the ring magnet" and the "electric energy recovered from the spinning ring magnet".

For all the clever ones out there: I know that conventional science says that one has to spend more energy than one can ever recover.

I saw many ring magnet spinners in the forums and on YouTube and I want to get an understanding of their minimum and exact power requirements.  And I want to do good measurements of a possible energy feedback. I am inspired by the many "spinners" and "pancake coils" built by Skycollection (very beautiful contraptions), but he never did good measurements (neither input to the spinners nor output from his pancake type coils). Unfortunately Skycollection recently erased his videos from YouTube.

Most probable this is all for nothing, but I like ring magnet spinners.

Greetings, Conrad

A lot of levitation ideas on this site http://www.coilgun.info/levitation/home.htm (Thank you TinselKoala for the reference.)

My vertical spinner does not work properly. The axis would need some guidance at the lower end, it tries to escape from the coils. I put some guide at the lower end and it spins but of course the "guide" causes terrible friction. Some needle bearing at the ground end and some magnet stabilisation at the top end would do it. But I do not want to go down that route at the moment.

I will build a 250 mm long and 3 mm diameter horizontal axis, with magnet bearings at both ends (base magnets), and the nice strong magnet (diametrically magnetised) from the non-working vertical model as a spinner (in the middle of the axis). The length of the axis should reduce the interference of the spinning magnet with the magnets of the magnet bearings at both ends of the axis.

My tests and models so far suggest that I need somewhere around 10 mW to spin a ring magnet spinner nicely (3000 rpm or a bit faster).

I also see now that a needle bearing with a magnet as a stabilizer at the top of the axis (as I did in this little motor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqQSJjRJ6EQ ) is the most simple low friction bearing one can build at home. The self made magnet bearings (base magnets) are not without drawbacks (little stability, interference with a central magnet on the axis).

Greetings, Conrad

P.S.: It is easy to talk, but much more time consuming and not so easy to build something.

@Conradelektro,
 
Two diametrically opposed power coils, one reverse wound and wired in parallel with the other, both pulsing simultainiously on each side of the vertical dipole rotor would steady it.
 
@Tinselkoala,
 
A quote from the visual levitator thread,
 
¨The system, developed by Nabeel Shirazee for Magnetic Suspensions Ltd, uses powerful permanent magnets supplemented by electromagnets controlled by electronics circuits. The movement of the levitated mass is tracked and the current constantly adjusted to correct any movement, a system that means large masses can be levitated with very modest currents¨.
 
The Shirazee design coupled with a heavy version of Lasersabre´s 3D precision multimagnet rotor and symetrical pulse coils would allow a comparator circuit along with it´s unique timing feature to really accelerate the rotor to fantastic rates of speed with very high efficiency. It might be possible to evacuate such a setup too.

I tried to stabilise the hanging spinner, but the interference of the big diametrically magnetised cylinder magnet with whatever magnets I place at the bottom is very strong. The axis should be very long to create some distance, but with a long axis the horizontal placement seems to be much more practical and stable.

Also two drive coils at 180° for the hanging axis do net help, because they do not define a clear middle position, one is always a bit stronger. Like with levitation, one would need some electronics to centre the axis.

I think I have now figured out a good combination of axis length and magnets for a horizontal spinner, I just have to get a 250 mm  long 3 mm diameter axis, I used up all I have got for shorter pieces.

One could of course build all sorts of very nice spinners, but for me it has to be something that is possible at home with ordinary tools. Vacuum is beyond my reach, also very precise workmanship is not my strength. I am getting better at it, but there is still a long way to go.

I did a new vertical needle bearing with a magnet near the top to hold the axis straight up (a 230 mm long steel needle). It was very easy to build and spinns nicely. It is intended for an electrostatic motor. For me a needle bearing with a vertical needle and a magnet near the top seems to work best.  This is something I can handle. I could of course build a vertical magnet spinner with a long needle, but the needle being steel would cause again some magnetic disturbances.

The very long steel needles are called upholstery needles: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dritz-Silver-Various-sized-Metal-Upholstery-Needles-Pack-of-Four-/350949938097?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51b63f13b1 (If you look around, you can get them for a reasonable price).

Greetings, Conrad